duaneage Posted June 18, 2011 Share Posted June 18, 2011 Here are some photos of my 1981 Yamaha XS400 Special I finished restoring. This was a 75 dollar barn find which barely ran and needed a lot of work. It originally had spoke wheels, leaky MAC pipes, and a terrible plastic fairing and side boxes from JC Whitney. It was almost parted out and was so bad I didn't take any pictures. The bike was stripped to the frame and rebuilt over a 3 month period. The headlight was not working, traced it to the diode in the headlight relay circuit. Overall it was rusty but never crashed. With 15000 miles on the engine a rebuild was not needed, but new gaskets and a chain/sprocket set were done. The wire wheels were re-spoked but the drum brakes did not have enough stopping power for me. I replace the drums and spokes with a front disk and mag wheels. This also eliminated the tubes. I replaced the seat with a better one, it will get redone next year because I need a little more height to stand over it. I replace the orange rear lights with red because I thought they were cooler. The pipes came from a low mileage Arizona bike. I bet they are among the last rust free XS400 pipes left on earth. The finishing touch is the fantastic paint job done by JB Moto Co of Wrightsville Pa. Jeff and Brian did a phenomenal job of refinishing the tank and clear coating over the reproduction decals. Their work easily exceeded my expectations for a reasonable price. Jeff and Brian are Yamaha fanatics and build cafe racers as well. Their site is www.JBMotoco.com The bike is stored again in a barn only better prepared for the sleep. It can be found cruising upstate New York in the Watkins Glen area, which is where it was originally sold at Lane's Yamaha 30 years ago. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NEV Posted June 18, 2011 Share Posted June 18, 2011 Nice restore job Duane, and lovely place to ride it too, where you are, I've an uncle up in Elk Creek, Schenevus, stayed a couple of weeks with him there, a few years ago, beautiful countryside. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
philmountains Posted June 18, 2011 Share Posted June 18, 2011 The paint/bike looks great, i know i keep on banging on about it but you guys over in the states arnt half lucky, bikes just dont seem to disolve into rust like they do over here in the UK. great pics thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator drewpy Posted June 18, 2011 Moderator Share Posted June 18, 2011 lovely paint job, don't forget to ride it though Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CORRIEBOY Posted June 18, 2011 Share Posted June 18, 2011 Cracking job you have done, They really are lovely old bikes Have fun cruising Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony-Howes Posted June 18, 2011 Share Posted June 18, 2011 Hiya duaneage That’s a great looking original special Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kindest Posted June 19, 2011 Share Posted June 19, 2011 looks awesome. good job Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GaSo Posted June 29, 2011 Share Posted June 29, 2011 Your bike looks like my bike's more beautiful sister: I was too cheap to buy new tank badges, so I just glued and painted over the old flaked chrome Also, you put a lot more effort into making the bike look brand new, holy moly nicely done!!! How do you like those handlebars? They look a little high to me, but that may just be the angle. I hate the stock swept back bars, I find them hard to use and uncomfortable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
duaneage Posted June 29, 2011 Author Share Posted June 29, 2011 My bike looked exactly like that with the spoke wheels but I couldn't take the poor brake performance. I won't be going back to them. I need to clean mine up a bit, it was a little wet that day and I didn't have a chance to detail it. I like the bars just fine but then I am 6'3" tall so YMMV. I'm in Wilmington Delaware, where are you located? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buzzer Posted June 29, 2011 Share Posted June 29, 2011 Nice job you've done there Buzzer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GaSo Posted June 30, 2011 Share Posted June 30, 2011 My bike looked exactly like that with the spoke wheels but I couldn't take the poor brake performance. I won't be going back to them. I need to clean mine up a bit, it was a little wet that day and I didn't have a chance to detail it. I like the bars just fine but then I am 6'3" tall so YMMV. I'm in Wilmington Delaware, where are you located? I ride pretty conservatively, never noticed the drum brakes being crappy. How hard was it finding a complete set to change over to the disc brakes? I'm in Williamsport, PA (middle of nowhere, PA). Might have to check out those painters if I ever decide to redo my tank, they did a mighty fine job! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Logan Posted July 16, 2011 Share Posted July 16, 2011 Very nice, as soon as my xs400 is put back toghether it will be running the schuyler county country roads aswell Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JonB Posted August 6, 2011 Share Posted August 6, 2011 Just tonight, I acquired a 1982 XS400 Special with spoked wheels and drum brakes. My first thought was that I would like to replace them with mag wheels and disc brakes. Can you point me toward some resources? Is there a guide or a good place to look for parts? I am a budding bike mechanic, having only acquired an xs750 about 4 months ago. Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GaSo Posted August 9, 2011 Share Posted August 9, 2011 I'd check ebay for the wheels and brake bits...I have no idea how complicated it is to change it over but it can't be that bad if you're a little handy with mechanical bits. Instead of cables and linkage, you'd just have hydraulic hosing. Actually, thinking about it, it sounds like quite a project. Maybe PM duaneage to this thread to answer some questions? I'm wondering where he picked up those handlebars from, I'm not looking forward to trying to make sure all my wires and cables fit a new set correctly, but really want to ditch my stock bars... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts