83 Maxim changing handlebars

So, I replaced the Buckhorn/Mini Apes in my 78 XS650 Special which is pretty much like the 83 Maxim's bars.
Its so much nicer to ride and looks so much better.
I still have the stock bars on my 83 Maxim and thinking of putting these into the Maxim.

https://www.mikesxs.net/7-8-yamaha-xs-style-handlebars-chrome.html

Anyone have opinions or can show what bars they switched to and how they liked them?

I do not take long rides (less than 1hr) on either the XJ or XS so long ride comfort is not a concern.

 

7/8 inch diameter handlebars are pretty much the standard on Japanese motorcycles which makes them easy to swap between bikes.

 

The biggest issue is going to be the brake master cylinder. Yamaha angled the Maxim master cylinder to work with the stock bars so with the flatter bars it is tipped way forward and will not work well, if at all, and will look goofy even if it does work.

 

Yes correct, I tried a seca (twin disc) one and found it too hard, eventually found an RD 250 one, slightly soft but happy with it. The other issue was clutch lever and cable and brake flexi hose, you have to change both.

 

Yes, I was concerned about that too when I did the XS650, but even with the buckhorn/mini apes, it was leaning back a bit anyway.
Using the bars on the XS, I should be able to figure out a before and after angle. On the XS, I turned the bars so it was pretty level, put the fluid in like that to the max level.

BTW, what happens if you fill up a brake reservoir OVER the fill line?

 

I did the swap to flatter bars back in 2016. Loved the change. Yes you *should* change the MC out to a "flatter" one. There are plenty of aftermarket 14mm bore MC's out there.

Here was my write up, FYI do not do what I did and get a Turbo or Seca MC. While the orientation was perfect and had the Yamaha stock look, the piston is bigger therefore it took more pressure on the lever to stop.

https://www.xjbikes.com/forums/threads/handlebar-swap-ditching-the-horns.94195/

 

There a couple of not nice possible issues with overfilling the m/c reserve. As things warm up with use the fluid will expand, it might cause pressure to build causing the brakes to drag. Like the return port plugged. The hotter it gets the worse the issue. The other issue is the fluid leaking out, dripping on painted surfaces, causing the paint to be ruined.

 

Coincidentally, I found this thread in my "New Posts" feed less than an hour after I finished installing a set of EMGO "Daytona" bars on my 1980 650 Maxim. It's part of a larger program to turn this bike (which I would not have sought out, but which fell into my garage for the princely sum of zero) from a cruiser to something more like a standard UJM. Fortunately, Yamaha didn't fit the Maxim with forward controls, so the pegs, shifter and brake are already in the right place. Raise the rider portion of the seat a few inches (to accommodate my 34" inseam and fake hip), replace the goofy buckhorn bars with something reasonable, and there we are...

Anyway, the EMGO bars seem to be about right ergonomically (especially after mocking up a raised seat). I found about the same as others who've done this: the throttle cable is no problem, the choke cable works with a bit of fiddling and re-routing, and the clutch cable is a problem. I snaked it around so that it comes up at approximately the right angle, but it's got enough curves in it to create a fair amount of drag (which translates into rapid wear). Already located a 7" shorter cable for a Seca, cheap and should be here mid-week. The brake hose... I replaced the original with a Galfer stainless line, and while it's obviously several inches longer than it needs to be, it's flexible enough to do a sort of S curve behind the headlight, and a few zip-ties (to the headlight support) should keep it away from the lump on the front of the steering neck (fork lock?).

The mirror mounts are of course worthless. I figured I'd go with bar-ends. For the time being, I used some old bar-end mounts (originally intended for hand guards on my Himalayan) and a bit of angle bracketry to mount the stock mirrors on the ends of the bars. Finished around 9pm, so I haven't had a chance to shoot a picture or take it for a ride... Will post some photos after a test ride.

As for the master cylinder... I am still trying to figure out why the slanted reservoir is a problem for anything other than changing or adding fluid (a problem I think can be solved by lifting the front end and temporarily rotating the bars a bit). One of my other bikes is a Harley Road King, and (with that bike's stock buckhorn bars, which are also long gone) the M/C reservoir was also at a ridiculous angle in normal use, and it worked just fine. It's true that 14mm-bore masters are readily available and cheap, and I may yet end up replacing mine over the winter, but I am not yet convinced that using the stock slanted M/C on a bike with flat bars poses any operational dangers (assuming, of course, that it's properly level when the reservoir is filled, and the reservoir is filled to the correct level).

 

Hi everyone, I have just a quick, can we install this Harley handlebar on an XJ 650 Maxim, do they have the same dimensions to get installed, and is it worth adding a Harley handlebar on it?

 

HD bars are typically 1" diameter and those look to be as well. Since Yamaha (and practically all) Japanese handlebars are 7/8" you'd need to find a way to mount them onto the steering stem and use an HD throttle tube, grips, master cylinder and clutch cable mount. In other words, LOTS of parts would need to be replaced besides just the bars themselves.

Doable but one heck of a lot of time, money and hassle! Keep looking, for the price of those bars I'll bet something fitted in 7/8" could be found much cheaper the first place

 

Indeed, more hassle than its worth, given the cost of 7/8ths replacement bars of any shape..

 

Oh yeah, switch housings would need to be replaced too!

 

So, as I reported a week ago, I installed the EMGO "Daytona" bars, which cost a whopping $28. Next day I got out for a test ride:



I had really hoped this picture would show details better. Oh well. At this point, my bar-end mirrors were just the stock items attached to mounts I made from a bit of angle stock and a pair of plastic expansion bolts that came with some handguards I bought for the Himalayan. The worked OK but stuck out a bit further than I wanted. Still the ride proved the important thing: that the bike rides and feels a lot better with "standard" bars than it does with those goofy mini-apes.

My next project was to trim the mirrors a bit. For this, I cut the stalks shorter, threaded the cut end (7/16" SAE was a bit tight--the stalks are 12mm--but close enough that the die worked), and bolted them to the bar-end mounts I had made earlier. While I was at it, I replaced the plastic bar-end expanders with aluminum ones that are a bit shorter and more solid. Here's a couple better pictures:





The last thing I did was replace the extremely notchy steering head bearings with a set of tapered rollers from All Balls. In the process I tucked in all the wires and hoses (except for the clutch cable, as the 7" shorter Seca cable hadn't yet arrived), cleaning up the appearance a fair amount. I didn't shorted the wires, just in case I sell the bike at some future date to somebody who wants the buckhorns.

With the lower bars, higher seat (so far just mocked up) and new head bearings, this bike is really a ball to ride!

 

Scottfree, can you tell me where you got the Clutch cable and what the part # was?
or was it just a cable spec'd for the XJ650 Seca that I need to look for?

On my XS650, I moved from 2 seperate lines on the front w/ the center junction block to a single length line.
Clutch line was the same as the XS650 special (also had the buckhorn bars) I just routed it in front of the speedo down the right side, then back to the left (clutch goes to left side of an XS vs the right on the XJ). Since I could stand to get a new clutch cable anyway, I may just get one for the XJ.

 

A big improvement on the standard maxim imho. But it's still a wide thing with those mirrors out there, would be no good in the UK. Brake master still to be fixed?
I found getting the right clutch lever and mount was a pain - the cable keeps interfering with the speedo (or other way round).

 

I bought this cable on Amazon. Chinese made, of course, but it seems to be of decent quality (I've bought a couple Niche Industries chains for my Himalayan over the years, and they were decent enough, especially for the price). Length is about 6.5" shorter than the stock cable:



Otherwise they are pretty much identical.

Routing is a combination--Seca style up by the bars, passing between bars and instruments (and behind the headlight supports)( and then down the left side of the frame backbone:



Then Maxim-style beyond that point: through the clip on the frame, over the carbs...


...and finally down between the #3 and 4 intake snorkels:



I had initially experimented with having the cable come around the front of the steering neck and down the right side of the frame backbone, which would give a gentler curve, but found a big and not easily moved wiring snake filled that space. Trying to avoid that thing left the cable about a half-inch too short, so I routed it through the clip on the left side of the backbone. It does not at all feel like it binds.

I found the cable (wire) to be a tiny bit too long initially--I had to take it in to the limit on both adjusters to avoid having excessive slack. Hmm. However, since the stock cable had also been this way after I replaced the clutch friction plates, I suspect the clutch replacement must have introduced a bit of play. So, I eventually pulled the e-clip on the transmission lever and moved it one spline. The two marks (on lever and clutch cover) are now very, very slightly misaligned. This took out the excess slack and allowed me to adjust the cable for proper play and room for future adjustments as the clutch wears.

I live in northern Illinois, USA, where most traffic lanes are ten feet wide and lane-sharing is prohibited (both by law and by idiots who will open their pickup truck doors in front of you just to make sure you wait your damn turn, even if lane sharing does reduce congestion and make their commutes shorter). So the width of the bar end mirrors really isn't a problem. For many years in the '00s and early '10s I rode a Buell M2 with wide bars and bar end mirrors, no problems... other than (sometimes) maneuvering three bikes in the garage!

Brake master... after consultation with multiple mechanics, I have yet to be convinced the master needs replacement; it's more a matter of convenience when adding or changing fluid, something I probably won't be doing for a couple years. I may locate an inexpensive master with "standard" reservoir orientation eventually, but it's nowhere near the top of the priority list at the moment. The next big priorities are tires (the ones on the bike look new, but are 19-20 years old) and shocks (completely worn out from sitting so long).

Oh, one more thing: when I took it out for a ride on a 40-45º day, I found the tach seemed sluggish. Give it time, it will read correctly, but blip the throttle and the needle just sits there. Back off to idle and the needle takes 3-4 seconds to drop even though the engine has clearly slowed down. Since it was not doing this a few days earlier (temperatures 50-55º), I am for now assuming the instrument is just cold and some lubricant somewhere has thickened a bit. I guess I'll find out in the spring...

 

Thanks for your input. I’ve given it a lot of thought, and I’m now leaning towards not going with a Harley handlebar. Could you recommend some alternatives that are compatible with the XJ 650?

 

Depends on what you want. The Harley handlebar seems to be even more of an ape-hanger than the stock Maxim bars were. After having rotator cuff repairs on both arms, I hurt just looking at that style of bar. But there should be lots of high bars available for the Maxim, if that's the way you want to go.

I found these on Amazon in about ten seconds by googling z bars motorcycle handlebars 7/8. Scroll down to the reviews and you do see them pictured on Japanese cruiser bikes, so I am pretty sure the reference to "Iron 883" is going to disappoint some Harley owners (when they find these bars won't fit their bikes).

The Amazon thing is just an example; there should be lots of other alternatives. You might also want to look at Dennis Kirk and J&P Cycles (both online), as their catalogs tend to include more "chopper/cruiser" stuff than, say, Revzilla. The key thing to keep in mind is that you want 7/8" and not 1" diameter bars. Also expect that with apes you might have to replace your master cylinder. Not because of the tilted reservoir, but because the cylinder projects forward a couple inches and might (when positioned properly for you to work the brakes) run into the down-going portion of the bars. DAHIK...

 

Sportster bars are not mini apes or buckhorns, they are more like a standard bar.
Here is my 2007 883 that I got rid of this year. Yup definitly 1" bars but maybe older Harley bars are 7/8?
Below that is the transformation of my '78 XS650 that I was talking about in the first post.

 

Read up ^