1981 XJ650 Maxim "Kioko"
I have two bikes (right now). The one was/is my first bike; I bought from a friend for a very reasonable price. It's a 1981 XJ650 Maxim. Sporty engine in a cruiser-esque frame provides a great blend of both worlds. I can go quick, or I can go far. I bought the bike in February of 2003, and by the end of the year I had put 12,500 miles on it. In 2004 I cleared over 16,000 miles on the same bike. Items of work that I've done since purchase: new Vance and Hines 4-1 exhaust; tank from an XJ750 (extra gallon of fuel, improved 'lines'); new headlight lens; added LED tail/brake light bar; windshield; engine guards with highway pegs; and, of course, the upgraded fuse block.
1982 XJ750 Maxim "Takeo"
Roll around to November, 2004. After helping a new Micapeak.com lister with some carburetor related questions, he decided he wanted to learn to ride, not fix, motorcycles. I purchased the bike for just a little more than the tolls it took to get there and back (it seemed, anyway). Carburetor rack rebuild; new front turn signals (one was broken, I found a set of NOS on ebay); new tires front and rear (I'll let you know how the Metzler ME880s turn out - very well - well into my second rear for the year!); a side cover was purchased (yep, ebay); the title was transferred and other paperwork filed, and I was on the road - again. This bike is a 1982 XJ750 Maxim. Bigger motor, diferent seat and handlebars, full dash with computer - more of a tourer, but still [insert Fat bastard voice here] 'damn quick'!
I got a nice tour pack for my birthday (early present from mom and dad), and put it on the bike. It looks pretty good, but we're going to build a new rack for it to mount to. It sits perched high and doesn't look comfortable, so we'll drop it down to just over the taillight, relocate the license plate, and go from there.
Done! The result is great. I also just installed chrome engine guards the other day, and I think they also look great. 11-14-2005 Update - after about 10,000 miles (back in mid-August) the tour pack pretty much disintegrated. Vera sold me one of her old ones, and the lock is getting beaten out of it now. Maybe it's time to get a Givi box? Is it so terrible to put more than 15,000 miles on a bike in a year? Why don't these things last?1985 XJ700XN MaximX
Right around the same time that I was buying the 1982
Maxim, my girlfriend went to pick up a bike out of state. Yeah, it's also a
Yamaha XJ. It's an XJ700XN (1985) Maxim-X actually. Watercooled, 20 valve inline
four cylinder cruiser that in 1985 was rated as just a tick slower than the Kawi
Ninja in the 1/4 mile strip (90 bph, 3.2 seconds 0-60 mph, sub 12 sec in the 1/4 mile). If only I could get the thing to start...
Tell you what - if you want to check out a site with lots of information about the Maxim-X in general (both the 700 and 750 versions), click here, and you'll be taken to Harald Pfeiffer's "Maximum Maxim-X" site. Tons of info.
Carb #2 is still leaking, as is the petcock. I'll fix the carb first to see if I can make the bike run well. If so, we'll look into the petcock rebuild kit (suggestions, anyone?).
11-14-2005 - I got the carbs to quit leaking, though I don't know how. They were leaking, I went home (after removing the aux fuel tank). The next day, I put fuel to them again, no leaks. Hmmph. Started the bike, got it to idle pretty well, and it will even rev now! I guess it's time to work on the 'Signal' circuit short that occurs when you turn the bike on, as well as look into the front brakes - one or both of them is dragging enough to make it difficult to move the bike around. Flushing the system will be my first operation on the system.
