OllieB Posted July 1, 2010 Posted July 1, 2010 Hi, New to the forum and first post. Just got a 1980 XS400 Special a week and a half ago. Had a Baby Honda Dream 150 more than 40 years ago then a few scoots during the past few years - last one a Linhai Mainstreet 300. My son bought an '81 XS400 Special II about a month ago and I fell in love with it when I first saw it. Found a decent one in N. Central PA almost immediately. Went to see it and ended up hauling it home. I wanted one that was in fairly decent condition, not needing a total restoration before I could ride it. The bike had 14,2xx miles on it and was kept in nice condition for a 30 year old motorcycle. It is in good enough shape that I can ride it as is with very little to be done. Have put about 200 miles on it so far and it really starts and runs great. My plan is to do a "soft restoration" now - replace a few things such as brakes and rubber parts, anything else needing immediate attention, clean and polish it and enjoy the ride this Summer. Later, if I still want to, I will do a "hard restoration". The bike is in such nice condition that I could do paint touch-ups, a little re-chroming, the things mentioned above and leave it as-is. I am pleasantly surprised at how many parts are still available for this machine. One thing I will do soon is replace the tires - even though they have decent tread remaining. The front is Duro and the rear is Cheng Shin. I have had experience with both on scoots and know these do not give the best handling. Even the Shinko tires I put on my Linhai were dramatically better than the Chinese O.E. tires. I have read through a vast number of posts and learned a lot from this forum. Thanks to all who have contributed!!! One question: The front fender shown on the bike I took from my son's '81. My '80 had a bobbed one on it. The two fenders are not made the same. If you can tell from my pics, is this one proper for an '80? The side arms that bolt the fender to the tubes are stamped and part of the fender. The cut down one that came with my bike had aluminum side arms that were riveted to the fender.
kmac Posted July 1, 2010 Posted July 1, 2010 Welcome! It looks right. Looks like mine which is a 78 400E. Yamaha parts catalog says that 80 and 81 (and 78) use the same chromed fender. This will come in handy: http://www.yamaha-motor.com/sport/parts/home.aspx
OllieB Posted July 1, 2010 Author Posted July 1, 2010 kmac, Thanks! From other pics I have seen I thought so but that seems to be the only part that was not stock on the bike so I thought I would ask the experts. My son likes the cut down look and will probably do other mods to his XS400 but I want to keep mine stock with the classic look. Thanks for the link, too. Welcome! It looks right. Looks like mine which is a 78 400E. Yamaha parts catalog says that 80 and 81 (and 78) use the same chromed fender. This will come in handy: http://www.yamaha-motor.com/sport/parts/home.aspx
Moderator drewpy Posted July 1, 2010 Moderator Posted July 1, 2010 ollie looks good to me, I have that style of fender on mine although its really for the custom models as mine were the more squared version.
Recommended Posts