XJ550 Seat, Ride Height, and rear fender

I just bought a 1982 XJ550 Maxim. Bike is in great shape. But I want to make some modifications..

First, I am not crazy about the stepped seat that these bikes have on them. I want a more low profile seat. Can I swap in a seat from another yamaha model like a Seca?

Also is there a way to lower the ride height of these bikes? Can you swap in shorter shcoks on the rear? Or convert it to a rigid by removing the shocks and fabbing a steel brace to go there?

And last, does anyoen have any ideas for putting a larger rear fender on these bikes? And by larger I don't mean wider... Just lower at the rear?

Any ideas would be great!

-caryweaver

 

Oh yeah... I forgot about another thing. I would like do a set of custom guages... Maybe small, white-face speedo & tach, with at least a neutral indicator... Any ideas on what might work?

Thanks again!

-caryweaver

 

Yeah, that kind of fender... I really like that look... And want to try to make something towards that...

 

Not too sure on the 550's, but I know on the 650/750's to swap to a Seca seat, you'll need a Seca tank, and then the rear of the seat won't match up to the stock grab bar. I'd say if you want to go for more of the cruiser look (I'm assuming that's what you're going for since you want a lower fender), I'd say find the fender you want, and get the seat to match it, then modify the seat and fender to fit your bike. Also, by getting the matching seat to the cruiser fender, it should be a lower seat. That's what I plan on doing with my Venture 1200. Personally I wouldn't hardtail it if you plan on driving any long distances, but then again I don't have much room to talk since I haven't actually ever ridden a hardtail...

 

Joel07 - That's exactly what I want. I had a 2003 Shadow Sabre 1100 that I was forced to sell 2 years ago because of finances. I really got the itch to get another bike and found this 82 maxim 550 that looks good and runs great! But it isn't really the style I like... I like the way the newer bikes look. So, I was thinking of trying to customize this one to make it what I want - for MUCH less money than a new bike...

I've never ridden a hard tail either... Not sure what that would be like... Might fab up some solid braces and try it out - if I don't like, I can always go back to shocks... But I haven't found any shocks short enough to lower it the way I'd want to...

My plan is to use this bike primarily for transportation back and forth from school. My wife and I just moved to Memphis so I could go to seminary, and any break in MPG over the gass-guzzling Dodge Hemi I drive will be a relief... So I wouldn't be riding long-distances necessarily.

 

I think if you get the fender and seat that you want, you might get the look you're going for without lowering. Like you said, you can always try it, and making some struts wouldn't cost much, so you wouldn't lose a lot if you didn't like the ride. I don't think you'll find shocks much shorter than what's on yours now, at least based on what I've seen.

Some good options for fender and seat might be a Rebel, Kawasaki Eliminator, or one of the other small cruisers like that. I think anything bigger might just look kinda goofy on the little 550...

 

I fabbed some struts yesterday... The bike looks so much better sitting low. I took her for a ride and she felt fine... Like you said, on long trips it might get old, but I will mainly be using the bike to ride back and forth to school...

I found a guy on ebay that makes custom shocks. He had some that were 10" eye-to-eye. So now I have to decide if it's worth the $250 to add those!

 

If you can deal with the strutted ride, no point in paying $250 for the same look! :lol:

You could always swap the shocks back on if you plan on doing any long rides, doesn't take more than a few minutes anyway. Good to know that the ride isn't that bad, we're thinking about doing the same thing with a friend of mine's 650 that will be chopped...

 

Chaparral shows a set of lowered shocks for Viragos in their new catalog, might want to look at those too. Good luck.

 

Well, I saw an xj550 on ebay that a guy had customized - Raked forks, lowered rear, a bunch of mods. Anyway, he used the factory exhaust mounts (The triangular mounts that also hold the passenger footpegs) as struts in place of his shocks. It looked way cooler than my homemade steel ones, and he said it worked great on his bike...

So, I made the same mod. It does look way better. And I fabbed up some simple steel brackets to hold the exhaust.

I will try to add pictures when I get a new digital camera.

 

Got a link to the auction? I'd like to see some pics of that! Definetly an interesting way to go about it, might be an option for the XJ 650 chopper that me and a friend have been playing with...

 

Sure, check this out...

XJ 550 chopper

 

Is it me or is there something kinda missing on that bike.



I guess you WILL get noticed on it, once you wrap it around a tree or guardrail..... 8O 8O

 

Looks like he also raked it and added some longer forks. I remember seeing that one now a while back, I just didn't really pay much attention to the rear suspension! :lol:

I think it would look better with some shorter forks and drag bars, but otherwise a pretty cool lookin bike!

:?:

 

Who needs front brakes? That is pretty crazy, It looks cool I guess, but yeah that is deff. unsafe.