My 81 xs 400 special II has both front and rear drum brakes. Now almost every photo i've seen online of my model bike has a single disc in the front. Why is mine different and how hard would it be to convert the front to disc and what parts would I need? also is it worth doing? thanks

-Mike

I have the same bike and I considered converting to disks, even doing both wheels. I decided against it because it would involve replacing both wheels, remounting tires, servicing hubs in both wheels, acquiring disks that were serviceable, installing a rear hydraulic master cylinder and rebuilding it, buying brake lines front and back, replacing the forks and rebuilding with new seals, replacing the cable system up front with a rebuild master cylinder, and cleaning up a front caliper with a rebuild kit.

That's a lot of money, parts and work.

On the other hand the drums require only shoes and a front cable for service. After buying new shoes and replacing the front cable I was content with how the bike stopped. I think the front could use a little tweaking on the two arms for better performance but there is no worries about hydraulics. The wet brake system is a constant source of work on any bike, the simple drum system on the xs400 is virtually trouble free.

Sure the disks stop shorter and no spokes means no tubes in lighter wheels. But the Yamaha XS400 special II in spoke wheels looks great and proper.

If you decide to do it the best thing to do is get a rolling chassis for parts and move everything over,. The rear master cylinder mount may need to be welded on, not impossible to do. I would rebuild everything and get new brake hoses for the sake of safety. Might be expensive but stopping is more important than accelerating,

have you felt the weight of the xs alloy wheels? they weigh a ton. i spent lots of money converting to spokes (although I do have disk brakes)

drewps