XJ750RJ Seca Cafe Project

What a great looking bike! Thanks for the pics.

 

thanks for the kind comments guys.
I finally Installed my new ignition switch (something Bill and I were working on doing before he passed away) in order to install my chrome riser one piece top. And I ordered this Chrome tripple tree bolt to go along with the scheme. I tried polishing my tripple tree, but it got sorta dark colored. It did not stay nice and shiny, maybe I'm supposed to use some special polish or something? Oh well, it doesn't look too bad.

Here are some pics:






and my soon to be gone Super trapp:

 

Sweet bike. Great job. 8)

 

hey! do u wanna sell that super trapp?

 

schooter: If I sell it it will only be the muffler itself, not the 4-1 header. But you'll have to wait until I make sure the exhaust tip I put on works out.

 

oh i wanted the header, nvm

 

Xulf, I gotta tell you again, the bike looks great. I LOVE the checkered design. It's awesome (like Hoss Delgado!)

How do you like your mirrors on the outside?

The reason I'm asking is that I'm a big dude, wide up top and I can't see crap behind or to the sides for that matter on my xj750 with the stock mirrors. Figured since I'm getting your drag bars, you can recommend the same mirrors if you like them, no?

 

very clean looking bike. nice!

 

Thanks again for the kind words. I really, really, love my bike. I get psyched just looking at it and makes me want to ride all the time, specially while at work.

Barzu, I really like my napoleon bar end mirrors. but first let me warn you, I had bout some cheap chrome ones from ebay, like $35 shipped for the pair, they are nice and worked ok, but the tightning system sucked. the metal piece inside broke and they would not hold up very well. Another thing is that, with the cheap ones, as soon as you went over 3thou. rpm's they would shake like crazy, i mean you could not tell if there was a car behind you or not. EVERYTHING was distorted. With these, they still shake, but not as bad and only after 5500 RPM's or so. I filled my bars with lead and it took about 75% of the shaking off. I was going to get some bb's or pellets, but I went with bird shot. bought a box of 25 shells, for 7 bucks (way cheaper than buying enough pellets to fill the bars) and I took the time to open every shell ( just cut the plastic top or pry it open) (don't mess with the back or the primer. ) and filled a bowl and then the bars. I can see very good with the mirrors out the sides. But I think they sell stock type mirrors with longer and/or taller stems. Ask Chacal what he has, I'm sure he has something.

 

Beautiful bike, nicely done! What made you change your mind about the 650 tank swap?

 

Well I bought one, but it turned out to be badly dented under the paint as I started to strip it. So since there arent many 650 seca tanks around I just decided to stick with what I have and I have grown fond of this tank now. I don't think I would swap tanks. There are somethings I would change about it but I think it looks alright for now. This winter I plan on stripping it and repainting it and do a slight make over.

 

d00d, I've told you before. The bike looks SIIIIICK. I absolutely love it, the gauges are too cool! Fantatsic, bro!

If me and my brother ever cruise down to NC, we're looking you up!

BTW, your jacket is sweet. You like? If so, where did you get it? I've got leather, but am looking for something lighter.

 

Barzu, the jacket was a gift from my church pastor (he rides too, actually a lot of people at my church ride) Anyhow, it's a used Joe Rocket stage 3 jacket. it's a summer jacket, very well vented, until you get stock at a light. but it's really good and I use it all the time. it has a windbraker attachment that slips on the outside for when it get's cold or if it rains.

I like the jacket, but I don't like how it makes me look like a football player LOL.

AndBTW, any time you decide to come down to my neck of the woods. We will ride for sure.

 

Dude!! That bike looks awesome!! You should put a before/after pic to see the drastic change. It is so cool that you ride with people at church. We actually have a Bike Ministry. We have shows onece in a while and all the bikes are porject bikes.

 

I'm about to pull the trigger on a set of clubman bars, as well as am interested in lowering the front in a way similar to yours.

Do I need to change my cable length for the brake and clutch by doing so? I will need risers, correct? how far back will I need to move the bars, and do you have any issues with rubbing against the tank with the clubmans? I'm slowly building up the courage to start working on my bike as well, but my lack of tools here in seattle is very rough.

 

Pop Rider: what kind of bike do you have?

If it's a seca like mine, or any xj for that matter... if you're going to swap handlebars, there will be more to it then just the bars. in my case I ended up swaping the whole brake Master Cylinder to a bar mounted one, and to even do that I also had to replace my ignition switch for one off of a maxim. If you're going to lower the front you need some risers that will move your mounting position about 1" back so that the forks can slide up and not hit the handlebars. the handle bars will get in the way if you leave them on the stock riser. And yes the bars will slightly hit the tank, but that also depends of what angle you mount them at. if I had another 1/16 to 1/8th of an inch on either side I would not touch at all. but I can still lock my handlebars in place, so it turns that much.

For the clutch cable, all you gotta do is remove the tank and re route the cable so that it's not kinked.

 

I have a seca 750 like yours, but I thought you replaced the master cylinder due to the change in gauges and headlight. is there anything in particular to consider when swapping master cylinders? I saw you went from a junk R6 one to a brembo one.

 

Poprider,
My swap was do to the headlight. I pretty much did the bars alone at first. It was kind of hard to make that brake cable work. It made the brake lever pretty stiff and unconfortable. I tried getting a shorter cable and such, but while doing my headlight swap i discovered that the stock master cyilinder location got in the way, unless I used some really long after market headlight brackets that looked like a backyard fence hinge. LOL

I originally bought drag bars so those are smaller than the clubmans. you might be able to use your stock master cylinder cable with the clubmans, but I cannot guarantee that you won't need to make it shorter.

I honestly don't think it's worth spending the money to shorten a cable or buy a shorter one, when you can get a GOOD or New MC for less then $80. then another $45 to $60 for new stainless steel brake lines.

Anyhow. I was trying to do everything on the cheap, and it was not the way to go. As you know I got the cheap knock off of an r6 master cyl. Then I ended up buying the real deal.

I have seen some good master cylinders for duel front disk aplications at mikesxs.com for around $80. maybe you can go that route.

If you have time, get the handlebars, ($33 shipped)

Measure then how long your lines will have to be to be sure. I can give you my measurements. They will be the same lenght weather you later get risers to lower your bike. because when you raise your handle bars by an inch or two, you are also going to lower your bike that much to compensate for the amount the handlebar was raised. When doing this, swap fork oil to s heavier weight oil to stiffen up the forks a bit more, because you will bottom out your fender against that thin bracket that acts as a loop to hold the electric harness ro your headlight bucket.

 

super helpful, because my goal was to get the bike looking almost exactly like yours is now.

I bought a set of clubmans, and all I really want to do now is get the bike lowered a bit in the front, and install the clubmans. If I don't plan on changing the gauge cluster and headlight for a while (current funds are going to be spent on things like a new clutch, new starter solenoid, etc.) I can keep the current master cylinder setup? This bike is basically a daily rider (I have a BMW M Coupe that I can drive, but am trying to keep miles off of it, and my reasonably long commute to work makes the bike appealing. I squeaked 62mpg out of it one week) so my upgrades will be small and far between, and needing to be done in a few days tops.

Where did you get your risers? I just want to finally not be sitting so bolt upright, as it's uncomfortable for me with all the buffeting, and tucking on the stock bars looks silly Also, when you did drag bars/clubmans with everything else stock, did you need to shorten your brake or clutch cables? I've never done that sort of surgery, so I have no idea how it's done.

 

poprider:
You would be able to keep the current MC set up, but will more then likely have to get a shorter brake cable made. AGAIN, in my opinion, that's a waste of money, because the money you would spend to have one made or for you to buy the tools to make one properly would be around what you would pay a new set of SS brake lines. I would just save up and get the bar mounted master Cylinder to avoid wasting money and doing things twice. I'm telling you this from experience. I wasted money and time trying to do one thing at the time. At least you know all the things you need to get in order to do it in one shot from reading this thread. I didn't know, because the only other XJ cafe bike on this forum at the time was EASE's and his is a 650 SECA and already came with bar mounted MC. and the round headlight.

The risers are off of an early 80's maxim, STOCK. I got them from ebay, they pop up every once in a while, you just have to be patient and save $30 or so for when one comes along.If you search for MAXIM RISERS and nothing comes up, you may want to search for a MAXIM tripple tree, and it will include the risers (that's how I found mine)

In regards to your clutch cable, the stock one will be fine. All you will have to do is disconect the cable at the lever, remove the tank and re-rout the cable thru the right side of the frame pass it thru just under the right side tank rubber mount thru the front under the tripple tree then straight to the lever again. This will give the line a nice flow and reduce any stiffness cause by trying to keep your line where it was with the drag or clubman bars.