BuffCyclist

Its possible that the reserve tube on the petcock has fallen off or has a leak in it to allow fuel to still flow into the carbs when it is set to "ON". I've heard thats a problem with lots of older bikes, and is worth checking into. I've got an xj600s now converted naked and my bike will start to idle around 500rpms when I am low on fuel, then when I switch it to "Reserve" it kicks the idle back up a bit.

Being 22 and new to bikes, I feel that even I don't have enough experience. I just took the Motorcycle Safety Foundation course in October, but scored at the top of my class, only missing 1 point on the final test because they intentionally let my bike run out of gas to see what I'd do. However, I have been racing road bikes (bicycles) for 8 years, 4 in high school, and 4 on a nationally ranked collegiate team. And living in the mountains, I do most of my training at altitude, and as we all know, what goes up must come down. I regularly descend the mountains upwards of 50mph safely. As a result, I in theory have 4 years of motorcycle riding since the skills are exactly the same at those higher speeds. That being said though, I have been noticing that I can't turn sharply right (used to dragging my drivetrain on my road bike if I do). Although in the past couple of weeks, I have been finding myself leaning more into the turns, and becoming more proficient at finding the hard limit of the bike. But I answered on the poll they need experience. This is mainly because I've seen many teens riding at super high speeds on the highways (upwards of 100mph) and look like they are just barely holding on for the ride. I also had a friends brother die in a motorcycle accident back in high school. Then again, if they want to fork out over $1500 per year for insurance and are gonna ride it like they want to die, they can all they want...as long as they only injure themselves!

To mount the gauges, I just took 2, roughly 10 inch strips of brass (but aluminum would have been easier to work with). I drilled a hole at one end to fit through the headlight mount bolts and then mounted them. Next, I figured out approximately how high I wanted the gauges to be, then marked where I was going to bend the brass. I took the strips off the bike, and cut about an inch longer than where I marked it, and then bent the brass, then drilled a hole. Since the strips of brass are pliable, I simply pulled them away from the center of the headlight once remounted to get the cluster to fit onto them. Since I have posted originally, I have wrapped the strips in electrical tape to make them dark until I have the time to remake them in much nicer condition and paint those. Also, a bit of warning: DO NOT BUY THE HEADLIGHT I BOUGHT, AT LEAST NOT IN PLASTIC! I hit a bump the other night, and both sides of the headlight bucket where it mounts, broke. It is barely held on right now, and now I have to spend another ~$70 to replace it, but I'll be doing metal this time around. The turn signals are just mounted to the headlight brackets. They didn't have a hole for them, but I just drilled into the center of the brackets and made them fit, it works wonderfully. Here are a couple closer up pics of the mounts and front end.

haha, being 22 and still in college, I can agree that a ton of teenagers are that way. In fact, I have quite a few friends who, though I've known them for at least 4 years, they still talk to me that way.

Since I did the conversion, I have gotten out 2 times to ride it (due to cold and snowy weather). But I did get it up to 65mph and even sitting rather straight up didn't have any major problems with it. Although eventually, I plan to install a Givi windscreen (very small, just to cover the gap between the wires and headlight better), and from what I hear that will help with the wind a bit. Other than that, I am incredibly pleased with it and love it to death! Still trying to come up with a unique name for it...opinions?

I just found a pair of these boots online and they look awesome. Its definitely got that classic look I'm interested in, but they are supposedly motocross boots (are they built to not take abuse from the road?). What classifies a motocross boot? They look like they are built well enough for the road too, but what do I know. Have any of you heard anything about these boots? I've always worn Sidi road cycling shoes, so I want to stick with their company and either way probably won't be let down if I get them or not. I was just curious what you guys think cause I can't find any info on them anywhere. Here's a pic:

So after about 4 hours of working this morning, 5 separate trips to different stores for giant sockets, nuts/bolts/washers, I just finished putting it all together! I originally was just going for a naked look, but then it turned out to look more like a Ducati Monster (in my opinion and a few others' too). Now I just need a kickass name for it, that rivals Monster. Opinions? This is how it started: And here is how it looks now: Eventually I will be painting the brass strips holding the gauge cluster black, or maybe some other funky color. As well as moving the cluster down further in attempts to hide the wires better. Overall, it turned out quite well. Cost: Headlight: $54.99 Headlight Mount: $34.99 (plus new rubbers for my fork at $12.99) Cluster: $75 Brass strips, bolts and nuts: $11.87 Grand total: $189.84 If anyone wants full details of where I got things, links, how difficult and how I installed things, I can post anything, just ask. I took it out for a ride after I completed it, and I have to say that it is a totally different bike! It feels quicker off the line (the fairing acted as a huge spoiler, kept the front end down and caused a lot of drag). It sounds different, since before I had a serious rattling noise from the fairing on the frame and now its just exhaust. I've already been told that it looks like a Ducati Monster, once by a friend and the other was when I stopped for lunch on my way home from test riding it. Some guy saw me getting on it and asked if it was a Ducati...then noticed the Yamaha decal on the gas tank and got really confused. Thats when I told him what I did to it. Let me know what ya think!