my 86 XJ700X bobber project

The Guy I bought the bike from said all hed did was get shorter shocks for the rear and shortened the front forks to lvl out the front end. He placed the bike on a stand and lvled it out by loosening the upper and lower fork hdwr and just tightened it in the proper position. So there were no rake mods at all. He said It was real simple. Overall it was lowered 3" in the rear and around 1.5" in the front.

 

boy, I gotta say, having flat black paint and then the gloss black x engine....

in all honesty I like the current paint job 10x as much as a flat black, but I do like the seat and bars alot better than whats on there...

just my opinion and you know what they say about opinions

 

To be honest with ya, I dont think I am gona be able to pull off the flat black. I have found a nice satin clear coat that I tested the other day lol. I sanded down some old crutches, primerd, painted flat black, and clearcoated. I let it all sit and dry all night long. Today I took them out and dowsed them in gas let it sit for a while till the gas had dried. I would have to say the clearcoad did a decent job it didnt buble or damage the paint to noticably. It did kinda dull the clearcoat a little bit but hardly even able to tell. suprisingly what I used was an outdoor "cough" satin wood "cough lacquer "cough". A buddy at work told me about it Figured I would try it. I only aplied one coat of each layer of the paint job. I am still waiting for the protective clearcoat I orderd online thats meant for automotive apps. I will test it the same way. Who knows this wood stuf might actualy work. For the Life of me I cant find a flat clearcoat so satin is what I am going to go with.

 

I don't want to say you're locked in to certain colors or a particular color scheme, but the black/white seat has you limited. The seat looks great. I'd hate to see all the hard work on the seat kind of fizzle out because it looks like it doesn't belong. I really feel flat black has been done more times than Pamela Andersen, but flat black is going to bring out the best in that seat. It won't look like it's just thrown on there as an afterthought. That's my opinion and Schooter's already told us about those.

 

I have the mats to do another seat of I can just sell off the black and white one that I did alread I am sure I can get my money back lol. But I can pull of a nice gloss job and still keep the seat. I could even do a red or blue paint job with a white racing stiripe that is boarderd with black, that would let me keep the seat.

 

Here are the design layouts I have in mind the first was one that I was going to pay to get done but cant see spending 2,500 on the bike.

Flat

Red

blue

Purpple

 

Where'd you get those nifty handlebars?

 

got em from a local motorcycle salvage yard.. Queen city motors in Clarksville TN the grips and mirrors are from e-bay

 

I just blacked out the grips with nightshades they turned out prety sweet

 

I dig the scallops, I think that gloss black would look good with grey and white, just my .02

 

Dang, a maxim X, lucky SOB. But seriously, both those sets of grips are cheaply made. Ask me how I know The pointed ones look cool until the lenses fog up and start to shrink their way out of their spots.

 

One thing you could try is "000" steel wool the satin clear to make it flat.

 

if you don't go crazy the paint souldn't cost that much. Ask around at the local body shops the smaller places are probably a better bet. ask what it would cost to paint the tank with some left over paint. The color choices will be limited but you never know ask around they might have something you like. If you pick a color you are prob looking at 500 bucks or so for them to do all the prep work, base clear and back to you. If you like the color of any car at a dealer doesn't matter the make any body shop can make that color easily. thats what I did cost me 100 bucks but I know a guy.

 

yeah I went to a collision repai shop and asked about a flat clearcoat... they said that the closest you can get is satin and if you want to keep the flat look and protect it just wax the crap out of the flat paint. they said it wont cause it to shine much more but will still portect it and make it feel smooth.... so looks like I am gona be one waxin sob

realy man dont tell me that I realy like those pointed ones I can see what your saying though the lenses are just held in place by some weak glue... thye do look sharp with the black out spray though.

 

I almost bought that bike on ebay. is there any way u could tell us what kind of shocks and kickstand those are?

 

I will contact the seller again and ask him so far he just said that they were shorter shocks ill get you guys a Part# or location to buy em... ran into an issue today there was a bump in the raod that I wasnt able to avoid withe the spings as low as they are my fender contacted the wheel and statched the tread up on the tier not deep enought to be a bid deal but something I have to watch out for now. And this bike looks damn good as is so I may not even touch it who knows But I did get asked like three times what was done to the bike to make it sit so well... Props to Gorge!

 

ya... I really like your X, I wouldnt put rattle can to that bike... but i have a 700 airhead that will work great

 

oh ya, and just an fyi... htey say to paint black header wrap every year or else they turn grey....

 

According to a friend that manages an auto paint supply house, there is a flattening agent that can be added to clearcoat for a shine-free protection. But that's beyond the realm of the rattle can.

 

well i got the drag bar on and it looks awsome..... but.... the turn signal grips I have arnt working at all I stayed in the garage till 2am messin with them and just gave up. my issue..... the bulbs in the grips have a single contact point at its base. the original lights have two. I have tried all sorts of things but no mater what i do the new lights will not even light up I am not geting them to ground properly the base of the new lights only have a single wire coming from them. any clues??