removing liquid cooling system to make air cooled

Im new to the forum and I am working on an 1986 xj700x. I'm trying to create a bobber out of it. I was wondering if it is possible to remove the radiator cooling system and make it solely air cooled, or if any on has done it.

 

Just Say No.............

 

You'd have to replace the engine and ancilliaries. Shame to though?

 

Can't be done, these bikes will go into the red zone if you are parked in traffic for too long. If anything they need a larger cooling capacity than what came from the factory. There is one or two threads on here somewhere that shows how to install a manual override for the cooling fan. Think of it this way, would you take the cooling system out of a car and drive it around for any period of time? Air cooled bikes have fins on the heads and barrels to disperse the heat, get an air cooled 700 they look exactly the same but don't have the water jacket, rad etc.

 

Ok thank you so much for your help.

 

Sigh..

 

To clarify this remark. The Maxim-X is both rare and desirable. It's both a financial and (in my opinion) moral obligation to return it to showroom condition if possible, or break it into parts for others to use if it's too far gone to save. It's not often that a manufacturer puts a sportbike engine into a cruiser, and even less common for it to turn out right.

 

Hi K - thanks. Sort of right plus I can't stand 'bobbers' - even the word makes me squirm. The worst type of customization in my view and no longer true to the origins of the genre, which was to make the machine look more modern. On the other hand I am a miserable, opinionated b@stard - or so my estranged wife tells me.

 

As I understand it a bobber is a single seater, low set, with no rear suspension. Look OK if you like that sort of thing, but murder on your back, needs a fat back wheel. Simple basterdised creation, each to his or her own I guess

 

Real bobbers were made between 1930 and 1960 (roughly). Anything newer than that just isn't quite the real thing (but many of them look pretty cool).
True to form a bobber is a stock bike that has had the fenders cut down (not removed) and other weight-saving modifications made for racing purposes (mainly street racing). Them being hardtails comes from the era in which the practice became popular, when allmost all motorcycles were hardtails. Making a swingarm bike into a hardtail is just not something a racer would do.

 

bobbers.......I type to slow......even the front brakes are removed

 

Wait a bit here kmoe, are speedway riders not racers?
No brakes or rear suspension, originally jap engined I believe? I don't tjik they even used gears?

 

this is close

https://images.search.yahoo.com/ima...engo&hspart=iba&type=blds_5942_CHW_US_tid1100

 

https://images.search.yahoo.com/ima...engo&hspart=iba&type=blds_5942_CHW_US_tid1100

 

a rat rod bobber
https://images.search.yahoo.com/ima...engo&hspart=iba&type=blds_5942_CHW_US_tid1100

 

But those are not bobbers. Speedway bikes are purpose built (and have been for some time). J.A.P. engines are still predominate, but Yamaha (or is it Honda?) has made some inroads lately.

 

Not always. But front brake useage was unpopular in the era, so oftentimes the levers and cables were removed.

 

While this is from a fairly new source, the first three sections of the following article is the definition of a bobber that I grew up with.
https://www.deadbeatcustoms.com/blog/bobber-motorcycle-history-/

Like this (borrowed pic):


Notice what's missing, and how the vast majorty of the machine is still stock (including the still connected front brake).

Add lightness by removing parts. Cheap, reversible, and cool. Calling anything else a bobber is just a case of definition creep (IMHO).

 

Link not working.

 

works for me. i love the tail light, seat is a little low

 

That is the SADIST looking creation that I have ever seen and it would require a SADIST to ride it with position of the controls and steel tractor seat to plant a tush on!

 

Cool, but not a bobber. Almost all of it is shop-made.

 

I'm a purest I like a stock bike with a few mods made that are subtle ...most of the " bobbers" or my least favorite term " brat bike" or street fighter . A few I have seen look ok and kinda cool ...but I've also seen a bunch that are total hack jobs . Last year my wife was driving , I'm looking around at a stop light look over a dude has 650 maxim on a trailer . It is cut up frame loop hard tailed and everything painted black primer . Was sad looking at least to me ...would have liked to talk to him but he turned the opposite way. But I realize his bike his $$$ so that is all that counts right?

 

This is a xj700 that I bobbed. If it were an xj700x I would've restored it. That said, I passed all the removed parts on to other forum members as the bikes are getting harder to find.

 

Bobbing:
verb (used with object), bobbed, bob·bing.

1. to cut short; dock

It actually is from the trimming (bobbing) of the rear fender, so it's not simply removing parts, it is modifying them as well.

 

Yep. But mainly just cutting away the fender skirts, or cutting back the front fender originally. Dirt/gravel roads were still the norm, and flying rocks hurt.