Hello everyone!

First things first, I want to thank all of you for posting the seemingly endless amount of information up here. It has helped me a tremendous amount already! moving on...

I recently got my first road legal bike, a 1982 Yamaha Maxim XJ550. It was really hard to find but I finally got it. You see, my older brother passed away several years ago and he had this bike. I tracked it down back home in wisconsin. After pleading with my brothers old friend, he finaly let me have it for $550. But the money wasn't really that important to me as having my brothers old bike. So I made the drive from San Diego to Wisconsin and back to get it. I also visit a few old friends and family but I finally got it!

I won't go into details of the bike yet I suppose but I just wanted to say hello to everyone and again, many, many thanks I'll post in the XJ Chat for more advice and to show my progress.

 

Welcome....and enjoy....sorry that it was family...but that does make the 550 a bit more special. ...take good care of her and restore her to former glory...

Dave

 

Welcome from VA! Sorry to hear about your brother but I understand the value of the bike to you. Take good care of it. They are nices bikes.

 

WELCOME and CONGRATS for getting his bike!!!

skillet

 

Thanks everyone. Yeah, It wasn't easy finding it but I did. I think this bike means a lot to me and I will get it running right even if I have to buy crap and get more tools. I have a second set of carbs all apart getting super cleaned and waiting on parts to arrive. New intake boots arrived, and checked all valve clearances. Looks like it hasn't been done in a long while since they are all beyond specs (to tight). So now I'm just cleaning up carb bits and waiting on more parts and tools (mostly the valve bucket holder so I can swap and buy new shims)...

I already replaced the rear tire, rear brake shoes and got it running for a little bit and everything seemed just fine until I got the registration and took it for a 5 min spin around the block. It spat oil all over the rear tire! I read somewhere on here that there could be gas in the oil and to smell for it. Boy was there ever! When I drained it it was all super thin; had to be at least 1.5-2 extra quarts! So now I'm doing all this work... But man for that 5 min ride, before I started sliding all over the read, I felt very vulnerable. Riding a bike on the road is kinda scary, not knowing if a car is gonna come at you or not!

Yammadof: From the Great White North aye? lol I get made fun of at work for being canadian! But it's all in good fun... I'm actually from the U.P. is anyone in Canada familiar with that? And I went up to Victoria last year... Nothing like getting gravy on fries lol!

 

Welcome from CO, enjoy the site there is everything you ever wanted to know and more within this forum.

Great to have another XJer on board. Get that baby up and running, these bikes are amazingly fun. Hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoy mine.

Massimo C

 

Hey slomo: ..you mean the UP as in Marquette, Ontonagon, Houghton/Hancock?....no...never heard of it...lol....oh, by the way - not fries and gravy....try the poutine!!!!....to die for...literally!

Dave

 

Yeah, that's what it was called. I forgot the name of that stuff lol. Poutine! Yeah, Marquette is near my family up there. I can't stand the cold anymore though, I've been climatized to SD!