Local Expert on this Forum??

I just want to say i love this forum and how willing everyone is to share their knowledge. I have been riding bikes all my life but it has been a while since I worked on my 1980 YZ80 . Anyway I'd like to do the many of the maintenance items that bigfitz and OldBikerDude recommend on my new purchase (1982 XJ650J Maxim - 7k miles) but I am not that comfortable forging ahead rebuilding master cylinders and calipers, replacing brake lines, etc.). So Here is the question - do I just bring it to my local Yamaha Dealer and tell them to do this stuff and trust they will do it right??
OR do I just order the stuff from chacal and forge ahead on my own. When you guys work on your bikes do you just use the center stand or do you have some sort of lift (seems like the pipes are in the way for a jack)??
If I lived in OR I would just bring it to oldBikerDude and say Please fix her up for me and I would be willing to pay because I know it would be right, however, the kids working at the local Yamaha store don't instill the same confidence in me. Any advice - my brakes suck

 

I just use the center stand and a jack stand under the cross tube in the front between the headers and above the oil filter when the front wheel needs off the ground.

Where's local for you?

 

Sorry, I live in Elgin, IL a northwestern suburb of Chicago.

 

I'm in ILL also. I'm no expert and haven't tackled any of the major jobs YET. (I still need $$ to buy some of the expensive stuff like brake lines).

I can't afford and wouldn't trust any "local" Yamaha dealers. (TBH the closest one is in Joilet 45min away).

There is a Yamaha dealer in Hobart, IN. When I stopped by one of the salesmen had a few of his older bikes in the back for seasonal maintenance. I MIGHT trust him a little, but I doubt I could afford it.

With a few basic tools, job specific tools, home made tools, time and patience most of these projects can be done buy novices. If we get stuck we can ask for help here. If we mess it up... Well some of the stuff is replaceable (Just don't F up your side covers :lol: ).

EDIT: The caliper rebuild tutorial makes it look semi easy. A might-vac ($40) will help you bleed the brakes but is not necessary but you can use it over and over. Caliper pad replacement is simple. Now if you have warped rotors that is another story...

 

Yeah, most of this stuff can be done by the home mechanic. More importantly, you can become a home mechanic after surfing through this forum and speaking to the seasoned vets like you mentioned.

I have gone through my whole rack of carbs not once, but twice now. There are lots of little parts and lots of things to go wrong. But keeping organized and going slow will net wonderful results.

 

Hey, I was a greenhorn just like you but I went ahead and tackled most of the stuff myself. I took mine to a dealership, then I ended up having to redo everything they did, or should I say, didn't do right. People don't know how to work on these bikes anymore esp. if it is a YICS motor.
BigFitz is one of the go to guys if you get stuck. He will help you and if I can help you I will. I wouldn't trust your local motorcycle shop though, not if you want it done right anyway. Now, yes, I had a friend of mine that owns a body shop do my painting and I had RickOMatic do my carbs because they have a lot of experience in these things and I wanted the best. I did do some of my own carb stuff but Rick polishes them down and will make those carbs like if for a racer. All the rest of the work I did myself. I got a lot of help from BigFitz and from Len at XJ4Ever. Between these 2 guys you will get excellent direction. You can do most everything with just using the center stand. I don't think I ever jacked the bike up. If you have any questions just ask and someone will come to your aid. This is a good forum that has a lot of helpfull people.

 

Hey thank you all, I like the idea of having RickOMatic do my carbs - how do I go about that - I don't see that user name on this forum? - can I just send him my carbs via UPS and have him do a complete synch and colortune and whatever else he does to get them prrrrfect?

 

The colortuning portion and the final sync must be done on the bike. There are many posts on the topic and you should be able to do those yourself if you have the tools. (a colortune plug and a manometer)

 

As I understand it, he mechanically applies meticulous cleaning practices and polishing effort to the rack and everything inside. He will bench synch them and then send them back to you to do final tuning.

Once you get them back, throw them on your bike, do a vacuum synch (finer tuning than a bench synch) and then you have to do final mixture adjustments (a la colortune) because your engine will have different compression numbers than the one he could tune it on.

He gets them ready for final tuning basically. And I hear he does a marvelous job.

I can say, and he would too, that you can do the same thing he does, but with more trial and error. He has been there and done it tons of times. You, not so much. But you are more than capable, that much is certain.

 

That's spelled: RickCoMatic

Let's put it this way, you can pay your Yammi dealer to do it once, or you can do it yourself three times for what they'll charge ya.

That's IF the dealer will even touch it. My local dealer won't work on anything over 15 years old.