82 650 maxim project

Hey there! Two or so months ago, I came across a guy who needed some cement work done, and was bartering for his bike in exchange. I've wanted a bike for a VERY long time, but have just never had the spare money to get one. Anyway, upon talking more to him, I find it is an 82 xj650 maxim. I start researching the model, and instantaneously stumble upon this page. So, long story short, I've been lurking the forums for the past two months, until I finally laid the concrete, and drove home with my payment. Now....seeing as how this is my first bike, I have a few questions I need a little bit of help on.

I want to take of the grab bar, and change out the seat. I'd like to chop the back end of the frame off, pretty much right where the shocks meet the frame. So, If i were to cut the frame there, what do i do? Do i need to weld a bar between the two ends for support? I dont know if i explained that well enough, so i may need to re-word it down the line...

I would like to pull off the gauges, and get a tach and spedo off that site you guys always bring up (can't remember the name off the top of my head). I want the gauges that have the LED indicator lights. Can i have a mixture of leds/incandescents? for instance, if i have leds on the gauges, do i therefore have to change my blinkers to led also, or can i keep them the same?

These mirrors suck. I see a great view of my shoulder, and not much more. I've seen people on here complain, and somebody mentioned bar end mirrors. I found these sweet ones online that are chrome bar ends, with LED blinkers on the back side. my question here is, can these bikes use a barend on both sides, or will the side with the throttle spin? i've seen bikes with them on just one side, and on both, and never understood why.

I'm sorry if i overwhelmed you guys, I'm just pumped to get this going!! I'm open to any suggesions also.

 

Hello,

Welcome to the forum. I'm not an electrical wizz, but am battling through my own mods at the moment with the electrics. You can have a mix of LEDs and regular bulbs for sure, if you go with LED indicators then you will have to fit an aftermarket relay to enable them to flash due to the low current draw from LEDs the original relay won t flash. There is lots of chat on the forum about various LED related questions. the guage draw with LEDs should be fine with regular indicators though.

Hopefully someone with some good electrical knowledge will be along shortly to give a better answer.

Regarding the bar end mirrors (Or indicators). You can stick them on both sides. Usually they come with a self tightening clamp. Like a wall socket, you place the clamp in the end of the bars and as you tighten the bar end hex key or adjuster, it forces between a wedge in the clamp and forces them further out fixing into the bar end. To fit mine I had to cut the end of the rotating part of my throttle grip. slacken the mounting adjuster on the throttle handlebar assembly and move them towards the yolke a cm or so. This left the bar end open and i was able to fit my bar end mirror. On the other side it was just a case of chopping the end of the grip, removing the bar end bung and sticking the bar end on . Hope that helps

 

Forgot to mention,

there is nothing particularly structural behind the top shock mounts. The 'inverted u' cross member there is mostly for support of the pillion seat. Alot of guys on here chop the back off just after the top shock mounts and report no issues.

Purists would say, don't chop it if possible so that it may easily be restored to original in the future if you change your mind. The structurally minded or safety conscious may suggest you weld an additional cross member in there, but there is one close by anyway.

Cafe racer folk often opt for a bend on the back weld on to rejoin the two sides but this is again for seat or hump mounting and not specifically for the integrity of the chassis.

Keep posting the pics as your mods progress, its inspirational to see what others are up to.


Cheers

hoops

 

Many people chop the frame and stick a short fender on there. I personally don't like the look of exposed chopped frame rails witch are usually left open and allow water to get in and rust out the frame.
I think that the better route would be to place a fender on top of the exposed frame with the necessary frame shaping mods. That way the fender has the support that it needs, the frame isn't exposed to the elements and looks better too. If the space between the tire and fender is too much, all you have to do is put shorter shocks on it.