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Intro and 1st Yama Project - 1981 XS400SH


Jack Crank
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Hi YOC, 1st post in the community. Name's Jack and I live in Brooklyn and through a stroke of luck I just picked up a 1981 XS400 Special II for a steal. I'm fairly new to bikes (my other bike's a Buell Blast, it's my 2nd "first bike"... long story) and this is going to be my first real project. She's definitely not in the best shape, but she's definitely got life left in her. Currently she's not running but that's half the fun isn't it.

Here's a crappy cell phone pic from the dark garage:

5165266342_5b401d3aa2_z.jpg

I'm looking to do either a street tracker or cafe build as I feel the bike's not in good enough shape to warrant restoring to original condition. Currently the list of things I know she needs is:

- Clutch cable

- Clutch lever

- Tires

- Battery

- Fuses

- Left exhaust pipe

- Mirrors

- Probably a chain

- Probably new brake lines

Anyways, I've really enjoyed perusing this forum so far and have picked up a bunch of things already. Looking forward to getting deeper as the winter goes by.

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Hi and Welcome to the 'ward' Jack, great first posting and a real good find you have there, a few XS owners on here,

is that pwonounced Bwooklyn ?

Jim B)

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Hi and Welcome to the 'ward' Jack, great first posting and a real good find you have there, a few XS owners on here,

is that pwonounced Bwooklyn ?

Jim B)

Hi and welcome from me too, looks like you got pleny of work to do on the XS , good luck and keep us posted

cheers

Al

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Thanks for the welcome yous guyz (ats howitz sed in brooklyn). Good to know there's a solid community of xs owners out there. I just went through all of that dutch cafe build's thread and was blown away. I don't know my ass from my elbow when it comes to most moto stuff but that was definitely inspiring. Ill be sure to check out the bob job tomorrow.

Im leaning pretty heavily towards a street tracker as my blast is kinda cafed out right now and i've been spending some time at the dirt circle watching friends race.

Anybody have any fav street tracker xs's they care to share? Or just nice ones in general?

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Thanks for the welcome yous guyz (ats howitz sed in brooklyn). Good to know there's a solid community of xs owners out there. I just went through all of that dutch cafe build's thread and was blown away. I don't know my ass from my elbow when it comes to most moto stuff but that was definitely inspiring. Ill be sure to check out the bob job tomorrow.

Im leaning pretty heavily towards a street tracker as my blast is kinda cafed out right now and i've been spending some time at the dirt circle watching friends race.

Anybody have any fav street tracker xs's they care to share? Or just nice ones in general?

here's mine, still in the build stage

DSC00778.jpg

nicked this off a german website

xs400flat-track2.jpg

xs400tracker.jpg

there's not a lot out there as regards xs400 trackers mostly bobbers, cafe's and chops!

xs650 there's loads <_<

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That's exactly what I'm talking about! Stripped down and rad! Where'd you get the seat and what's the tank from. I'm feeling that seat and some wrapped, black 2into1s. Renthal bars and stripping off as much weight as possible.

Drewpy, did you move the foot controls at all or just change the pegs? They look like they're in the standard spot. Also, is it viable to strip off the electric start and just have kickstart for these bikes? I'm assuming yeah but would that mess with anything else?

here's mine, still in the build stage

DSC00778.jpg

nicked this off a german website

xs400flat-track2.jpg

xs400tracker.jpg

there's not a lot out there as regards xs400 trackers mostly bobbers, cafe's and chops!

xs650 there's loads <_<

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Anyone got a set of the 2into1 MAC pipes on their 400? Looking at these on ebay.

My left pipe is dunzo (completely smashed in on the header) and I was thinking why not redo the whole thing if I gotta redo one anyways.

Also, what's the bar diameter? 7/8ths?

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That's exactly what I'm talking about! Stripped down and rad! Where'd you get the seat

got it from ebay XR750 copy I belive

and what's the tank from.

hand made to cover the ATE master cylinder (you not read my thread on this?)

Drewpy, did you move the foot controls at all or just change the pegs? They look like they're in the standard spot.

just changed the pegs

Also, is it viable to strip off the electric start and just have kickstart for these bikes? I'm assuming yeah but would that mess with anything else?

that's what I'm doing

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Posted that before I read yer thread man. Sorry for the confusion. I was more interested in the 2into1's.

got it from ebay XR750 copy I belive

hand made to cover the ATE master cylinder (you not read my thread on this?)

just changed the pegs

that's what I'm doing

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we don't have mac pipes here in the UK. mostly Motad and Neta.

I seem to remember that they can easily rust! Motads are stainless (crap grade though)

Marvin seem to be a good make. :)

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