XJ550 Misfit Build

Hello Everyone, I picked up an 81 XJ550 Maxim a few months back for a winter project. I have wanted to do a project bike for a while and this one was the right price and in good shape. I wasn't totally sure what I wanted to do with the bike. I had originally wanted to do a Cafe Racer but decided on a Brat or tracker style. My philosophy with this build is to reuse or modify existing parts or found parts as much as possible. I am not going for a clean look, I want this bike to look used and abused but not nearly as bad as a rat or Mad Max bike. Part of my inspiration was the Classified Moto Walking Dead bike. I am also using this project to learn Mig and Flux Welding. I took a class on Oxy-Acetylene many years ago but just got a new wire feed machine and want to get better. (so yes, my welds are very ugly) I did some sketches to try to work through some ideas.


I settled on something like this:


The last owner had received the bike in a trade and didn't know how to get it running. Someone had removed the air box and a few other pieces including the ignitor. I ordered a replacement on ebay and the bike fired right up. Here is the bike as I received it.

I am creating an electronics box for under the seat. I'll figure out exactly how to handle the airflow later. I am thinking I'll 3d print an intake plenum and put a filter on each side of the bike just under the back end of the tank. For the electronics box I am working with foam and modeling clay to create a mold and then I will use to make a fiberglass box with aluminum inserts. The right side will also house the ignition switch.

I started a tear down to find everything I needed fix and start on the mods. There is not much wrong with it. It has some surface rust and some bad paint on the motor. After I tore it apart, I bobbed the tail and de-tabbed the frame. I mocked a few parts back up after i did some work to see its new stance.

I still need to build a seat pan and shape the foam better.


I am going to change the angle on the rear hoop to allow the fender to mount up a bit higher in the back and match the wheel arc better.

I'm not using the handle bars like that, I just flipped the stock ones to get a sense of the look of lower bars. I'll probably use the stock bars and cut about two inches out of the vertical rise and maybe change the angles a bit. If that wont work I may get some low rise moto-cross style bars.

Everything I have done so far:
- Bobbed tail
- Shortened rear fender, haven't mounted it yet
- Flipped and re-welded headlight mounting arms to drop it about an inch. I still need to move the tilt adjustment nut which is keeping the bucket pointing up now. Then I will make a new bracket to lower the gauges. I may end up doing a whole new mounting solution if I cant get the gauges low enough for a clean look.
- Welded in a patch on rusted through exhaust collector
- Sewed up and distressed new seat and saddle bags
- Cut and welded license plate mount to fit new angle.
- Drilled holes in exhaust heat shield and chain guard
- Replaced all rusted and stripped screws in the carbs
- Rust removal, painted a few small parts
- Added a crossmember to mount the electronics box

Thanks for looking.

 

I like the walking dead bike. Passes me off when they use vtwin sound effects for it! Norman Reedus (plays Darrly) also did a motorcycle show called Ride with Norman Reedus. Cruising around the states, visiting custom shops, ect. Bikes are his first love, worked in a shop before he became an actor. Pretty cool guy.

I don't know much about bike engineering, but I've heard that chopping the rear section out can compromise frame rigidity. I like the aluminum covers you fabbed. Good start!

 

wow that was a beautiful maxim

 

Was thinking the same...

 

the sketches ,alone ,are a work of art.
stu

 

T

Thanks, I always start with sketches to work through my ideas, it dosnt always help unless I do through scale drawings as sometimes angels and scales don't always match up the way they do in my mind.

 

Sorry, I know how you feel. I have a 300ZX TT and hate so see people make irreversible modification to them. I don't think I could have cut into a Seca, I just don't have that same feeling with the Maxim. It's just very far from my style.

 

Thanks, I am adding some additional bracing back into the frame. I will add two cross pieces in to bolt the new electronics box to. I also figure the part I removed included 3 folded sheet metal cross braces so the new two plus the 1 inch OD new hoop should make up for it. I have seen several other bobbers that simply cut off the rear and leave the ends of the tubes open.

 

Yeah I'm with you - you can only improve a Maxim..

 

thats why you only got the "seca" 550 in the UK.

 

Very likely.. Mind you quite a few(Maxims) found their own way over..

 

likely those were from military bases.
gotta say I do like the UK 550 with the swirly wheel as opposed to the US seca 550 with the straight wheels.

 

Hi all, Its been a while since I posted. I have been working on the bike a bit here and there and wanted to post some updates.

I changed the rear hoop and turned it up at about 20 degrees. I couldn't find any style I liked and decided to go without any kind of rear fender. I made a quick mount out of some sheet steel for the rear tail light and license plate. I still have to add a cross bar for the license plate.




The headlight mount is made out of some rectangular steel tube I have from an old desk. I welded it around to use the mounting points from the stock plastic lower triple tree cover.

The tail light and headlight are among the few pieces I decided to purchase new as I couldn't get the stock units to meet the look I wanted and couldn't fabricate something of my own. The tail light is from Dime City Cycles and the headlight was from Amazon. I was really surprised by the quality on the headlight for $23. I made sure to get one that had a real headlight bulb, this one is H4, as many use a brake light dual filament bulb that coulden't possibly put out enough light.





I cut and welded the stock handle bars. I took about four inches of rise out of them and changed the rear sweep to about 9 degrees for a medium rise motocross shape. I got the angles pretty close but the left side is noticeably closer to the tank at full turn. Im still trying to figure out how i want to mount the gauge cluster.

For the seat and saddle bags, I sewed up some heavy duty fabric I found on clearance at JoAnne's. I used UV resistant outdoor thread they had also. I wanted a worn look and decided to age it. I wanted it a bit darker and thought that rust dye would do the trick. I used steel shavings, hydrogen peroxide, and vinegar in a plastic tub to create a quick overnight rust dye. I used a bit too much hydrogen peroxide and it caused more bleaching and burned through the fabric in a few spots. I decided to sew up the burns and it looks really old and abused now. I still wanted a darker color so I applied a dark brown dye. I used the same process for the saddle bags as well but I did not leave them in the "rust bath" overnight, probably for about 6 hours this time. I didn't get any burn through and only a bit of bleaching I also used the brown dye on these. Overall they match the seat but with a more subtle texture. I used some nylon webbing and plastic snap fit buckles I pulled off of an old backpack to mount the bags. They can go under or over the seat. I used d-rings and some small spring clips I found on a key ring for the closure.

I made two different seat pans. I was always going to try fiberglass but I didn't have any resin around but had a bunch of thin plywood so the first version was layered and bent plywood. I still have to add mounts to the fiberglass version and shorten the "wings" that comedown over where the tank meets the frame. I also need to make a wider foam block for the new pan. The top pick is with the fiberglass pan and most of the others are with the plywood one. The plywood one works fine but has a bit of lateral movement at the back while the fiberglass one sits down in between the frame rails a bit and wont move with weight on it.




The old chain was shot I decided to repurpose it and replace the foot pegs. I used some pipe I had around and welded the chain around it. I will add some sort of an end cap to them once I find something I like. I also modified the stock chain guard by cutting of the back portion after the rear strut and drilling it out. I fixed the pegs since the pic where it is tilted down a bit it is now parallel to the ground.




Im still trying to figure out the exhaust. I think I am going to try to fabricate some new headers with an H pipe to mount my new mufflers on. I will keep all of the stock parts for now and try to fix the collector later if I cant make the new headers work.

 

May I make two suggestions?

1. Don't plan on riding in the rain.

2. Comsider adding a small LED auxilary light to the right of the headlight. That will help balance the look of the front, conceal the brake line better, and still provide some cool-looking asymmetry (BMW GS Style).

 

1. Thanks, yeah, no riding in the rain for now. I had debated doing a swing arm mounted fender with one strut, but Im trying to keep cost down. I may end up doing that in the end. I'll sketch out some ideas and see if I can figure out something I like.

If i were to add a fender, how many degrees back from 90 (straight up from the axle) would be sufficient? Or do you think the seat would be enough to protect my body and I would just need something short off the swing arm to keep my legs from getting splashed?

2. I am still deciding on that mounting point. I can move it to the other holes in the bar as well. I am also working on a design for a cover to go between the triple trees and hide the brake line and wiring. I had considered using led bars for a bit but it seems like they provide more of a short throw flood light than a beam. I was also thinking of adding one under the bar as an extra driving light. I wonder how a vertical rectangle led light bar would look on the left of the headlight.

 

Get these from eBay.......you'll have to look to find them, I just saved a pic to keep in mind for future------seems to me they should be too hard to make yourself.

 

Your cut/welded bars look like 700 bars now

 

the fender is not just to keep you dry.

those are some nice rims

 

Yeah.... stones hurt worse than water spray

 

And around here we have to be concerend with those wet spots the cattle trucks leave behind. It ain't water.

 

Do you have picture of the finished project?

 

Do you have pictures for the finished project?

 

Wish my XJ was in that kind of shape! Nice XJ!

 

+3
I hope he has e-mail alerts set.

 

Has anyone seen this XJ550 before, found it on an Italian site called "Inazuma Cafe Racer"
Cheers, 50gary

 

That ^^ is truly awful - words fail me.

 

I don't like to be negative, because everyone has their own style preferences, but that's really not for me either. I really hope people mod bikes and then ride them because they like what they did, not to sell them.

 

It isn't just the style, where the tank looks like the frame is wearing one of those tiny backpacks that girls love, or how it'd look like you were pooping out a taillight, or that whole "patchwork quilt" section with the plate unter the seat, the seat, and that diamondplate thingie bridging the gap between tank and seat. And is that little dohickey hanging off the back of the tank the petckock?
It isn't the functionality either, where your hands get crushed on the tank in every corner. It's the name that bugs me. Cafe Racer?! Obviously the chopper look is what they were going for with the trailer style fender, the tall tank, and especially the Maltese Cross mirrors.

Oh, who do I think I'm kidding? I'm angry about it all!

And I haven't even mentioned the pods..

 

I always liked the shifter setup for the euro 550.
there I said something good about it

 

They've even manged to f*ck that up - all connected arse about face.

 

I tried

 

Stoked to follow this thread