Crappy month so bike work instead of riding

Here in New Hampshire it has been lousy weather for almost a month. My ride is an 86 XJ-700-X and my gas tank had a bunch of chips so I decided to get it painted before it "had" to be painted. Local garage did my tank for $250 and they had paint left over so I did my fenders for another $250 and that included welding a crack on the rear fender. They did a great job and in fact had sanded it down completely before painting it. In fact the guy doing the work said "It was a pain to get the chips to sand down smoothly." Judging from some of the prices I had heard I got a great deal. One guy said he would only charge me $1,000 to do the tank rather than the $1,200 he would normally charge. Since it was down I fixed the rear mounting point for the Sissy bar backrest. Yamaha drilled out oversized holes and then tack welded in nuts for the bolts to connect to. The tack welds rusted out and for years I had a piece of flat metal bolted up against the frame. My neighbor does welding so I got a piece of 1/4" steel and cut it to fit between the the cross pieces and welded it into place. It was 3 3/4 " long and 15/16" wide and it tucked up nice and tight. I sanded and painted with 3 coats of Rustoleum and then drilled and tapped two holes for the mounting bolts to go through. It is now nice and solid.

With the ride down I ordered rear wheel bearings complete kit from XJ4ever and they showed up right away. A new Metzler on the back completes the work on the wheel. I had noted some whining when going fast into a right turn at highway speed. It turns out the rear wheel bearings were worn.

Next I put the bike back together and only put in a gallon of gas to check for leaks. My petcock was weeping so I ordered a complete petcock rebuild kit from XJ4ever along with o-rings and sealing washers for the fuel sender. It's great when you get the complete kit and it all goes in place perfectly. Put all back together and got in a quick ride this weekend before it rained again. Bike ran smooth and quiet with no whining on my turns.

Last will be a quick warm up ride then an oil and filter changed along with rear lube change. Then after that it is cold change the anti freeze. After that it is bike week next week at Laconia NH and I'll safely cruise up to there.

 

I had a quote for $1000 to do the tank, side covers, rear and front cowl on mine. That included filling a couple dents in the tank and waiting till Fall when they have more down time. I declined since it's way more than I think I should put in the bike.