The Barzu Bike - XJ750

Funny how shit happens. (This might be a lengthy intro, but you've got the time, I'm sure So a few months back I saw a special on Discovery HD about Ducati bikes. I've always liked the way they look. After watching it, I decided to go see one in person just to check out the engineering. Mind you, at this point I don't give a crap about bikes, or riding, or anything motorcycle related. Let alone have a license. So I went to Chicago Cycle, it's a big place, with intentions to check out the Ducatis. Well, that didn't happen. I walked in and saw the Suzuki M109r and fell in love with it. Problem is, I don't ride...but my brother in law does. I sent him some pictures (He's got a Honda Nighthawk 650 - riding it for 5 years) and we both started to drool over the bike. That's when it happened. I got the itch. From that point forward, every idle brain cycle was spend thinking about riding a motorcycle. It got bad, to the point where I could not sleep because that's all I thought about. I thought about bikes and riding and I had dreams about it as well. I know, I know, it's gay but it's true. Well, my bro and I both agreed that we're buying the 109r's. However, I did not feel comfortable getting 1700cc's for my first bike to learn on. So I started learning on my bros bike. Very easy and everything came naturally. Still, I was not starting on the 109r. So I decided to buy a used bike, something smaller to start out on until next season when we'll pick up the Suzuki's. That's when the search started. I was craigslisting every day to check out what's there. My budget was $2500. I even ran across CRATH's bike and we exchanged some emails about it. His bike was too cool and I wanted it, but it was out of my budgeted price range. Then everything went dead for about a month or so. I could not find anything I liked and came to terms that perhaps a bike this season was not going to happen. I checked clist once again after a while and found some dude about 10 mins from me that was selling an XJ750 for $850. I called dude up and went to look at it. The bike was in good shape but idled all crazy, around 3K RPM's. Messing with the idle speed adjustment did not help. Whatever. I took it for a ride and decided to snag the bike since it was a really good deal. I rode it home, on my learners permit. Shit, that felt really good. It was my first ride on the road and it was as awesome as I imagined it would be. The next day I had the bike out of the garage. It was a nice sunny day and I was enjoying some coffee while visually inspecting every inch, curve, hose and piece of chrome on the bike. I took a step back and said to myself "Why is there so much extra shit on this bike? Extra weight is not necessary." And that's when it all started. I removed the windshield and sissy bars...then it happened. It felt so GREAT taking shit off the bike I thought that if taking those two things off felt good, taking more off would be even better. So here we are. I've not had the bike a week and I've taken it apart and started removing extra crap.

 

First order of business was the carbs. I don't know shit about carbs. But I will, very quickly. I took them apart and cleaned them out. I stripped three of the four pilot jets in the process of taking them out. (I wanted to soak all the pieces in carb cleaner and hit them with super fine steel wool) Well, since I screwed up the pilots, I mind as well order a Stage 3 and rework the damn things. Stage 3 DynoJet kit installed, 136 mains (from 120) and 45 pilots (from 40) New needles and all. Sweet.

 

Well, since I was redoing the carbs, I decided to upgrade the air intake as well. Ordered some K&N's and slapped those puppies on.

 

By the way, during this process I reconnected with CRATH asking him for more pictures of his bike. He sold it but pointed me to xjbikes to check out his build thread. We'll that's when I joined up and the rest is history. Chacal hooked me up with the new pilots. I'm very pleased with his response time. I'm waiting on my intake gaskets to get here. Did not order them from Chacal so it's taking forever. I cannot wait to throw the new carbs on the beast and fire it up. COLORTUNE is on the way, I found it for super cheap, $35 brand new, except it's coming from the UK, so it will take a while to get here.

 

Waiting on the gaskets, I decided to start chopping the pipes One thing leads to another. I'll post pictures in a little bit. Having a hard time seperating the collector from the header pipes. I posted a thread in the CHAT forums and dudes are telling me to use some Kroil. Well, I ordered it up and it's on the way. As soon as it gets here, I'll update when they're done. BTW, I read about Bill. Didn't know the dude, but that sucks big time. Just sucks.

 

Great story ! Worth reading I found my self in your predicament last winter, and changed my bike around so much you can't even recognize it as the same bike I bought. I don't have the photo with the big wind shiled the P.O> had put on and the sissy bar back rest. those came out that weekend I first brought the bike home. But this is close enough.

from this:


to this:


Once the bug get's you, there's no feeling like it. Last winter I was riding in 30 degree weather with a light jacket on just to go for a ride. I never went further than 30 mile trips, but I wanted to ride so bad that I went anyways. My hands would burn from the cold and so would my neck and face and everypart that wasn't covered. but i loved every minute of it.

Start taking photos, or you'll soon forget how far you've come. These bikes are great learner's bikes IMO.

 

Xulf, I've seen your cafe mod when I was trolling the forums before I joined up. Looks excellent. I agree, once the bug gets you, it's over. I honestly think that I won't care about getting the 109r next season because I would have spent so much time on the XJ. I love it. I forgot to post a pic of what the bike looked like before I started going at it. Here it is with the windscreen off:

 

cool deal. Can't wait to see how the bike ends up. Gotta go check out what this Zuke is all about now!

 

Yea, very cool bike, but I like the headlight on the C109R better. The M109R with a C109R headlight on it would be perfect.

 

Well, the gasket seals finally came so I spent the weekend putting the carbs/filters back on the bike. I also chopped the entire exhaust up and left myself header pipes only. As it turns out, you actually have to hoist the engine up off the frame to be able to remove the exhaust pipe nut rings. Otherwise, you can't get them off. I stripped all the chrome off them and painted flat black with VHT. Then wrapped those bad boys up.

 

So you hate your neighbors? . .

 

HA, that's pretty funny. No, don't hate them, but the might hate me after I fire it up. My brother was breaking my balls laughing at me that I'll have to roll this thing down the street before I start it up. Very funny.

 

On Crath's 650, he had 118 mains; 42 pilots

On yours, you put 136/45, is this larger size only because it is a 750? Because your intake and exhaust mods look exactly like what he did on his 650.

 

It's because of the Stage 3 Dynojet I put in there. Their recommended settings are 136 mains if you're using the stage 3 with K&N pods. I called them and they said these are specific to the 750. We'll see.

I did see Craths post about his. I'm not concerned...yet. Although I've not fired it up yet either. I can tell you that my stock mains were 120's. I also saw him talking about having to make adjustments based on temp/humidity. I don't think I'm looking forward to that.

I'll try to see if I can start it today and report in. Although, until the colortune comes in and I take it for a spin, I won't know for sure.

I'm still working on finishing the gas tank, needs one final coat, and a good etch/de rusting. So I won't be able to take it for a ride, just idle and rev it today...if it starts at all HA!

 

Well, it started up. However, it's EXTREMELY rich idle...to the point that choke does not respond at all. I've got to screw in the idle screws a bit. I have them turned out 3 turns initially. I know this is just patchwork, but makes me all the more excited for the colortune to get here. Here's a clip of how it sounds. It sounds great! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dUtI69QV30Y

 

Barzu - that sounds great. I'm in Chicago as well, maybe I could borrow your colortune at some point?

 

Man I so want to chop my exhaust like that, but I like to ride my bike to work sometimes, and at 5:30am that would probably wake my entire neighborhood. Sounds bad ass.

 

Thanks dudes. One of the main reasons I was so nervous to start it for the first time is because I thought after all the time spent, my expectations were too high and it would not sound as awesome as I thought it would. Clearly, all is good.

I sent my brother in law (we ride together) the link to the video and here's his response via email: (not edited for language) GODAMMIT!!! This is bullshit! Now I have to strip down my f***ing bike, cut my pipes and buy exhaust wraps and air filters and carburetor jets…. When we go on rides, everyone will look at you then me and say, “Who’s the douche on the scooter??” BULLSHIT!!

 

Motorduck - you can borrow the colortune anytime. I'll let you know when it comes in. It's 14mm though. I ordered the exact fit for my plugs, so as long as you've got 14mm plugs, it'll be ideal.

 

from what i can tell, you've got some playin with those carbs, brotha

 

dynojet uses their own sizing. A 120 mikuni or keihin jet is not the same size as a 120 dynojet jet. I found a chart one time that crossed regular jet sizes with dynojet sizes and they were way different.

This is not the chart I originally found but...
Dynojet vs. Mikuni chart

here's another I found
Dynojet size chart

 

No kidding. Nicely done Earz. I've bookmarked it, good reference. This begs the question though, did I go too high on my #45 pilots since I used the formula assuming the #136 dynojets are in fact #136? How does that actually compare to the stock #120's? In other words, if I'm not really up 16 from the stock 120's then what? I might scale back the pilots, no?

 

I'm gonna send Crath an email and see what his thoughts are...

 

Personally - I would go by dynojets instructions. If they don't say anything about changing pilot jets - I would leave the stock ones in there. They are changing needles and enlarging the slide lift holes to compensate for any extra required fuel at idle/low rpm's. You said you were really rich at idle. I'd put the stock pilots back in and set the mixture screws to DJ specs and run it. You may need to tune further since you are running open headers, but I doubt that you will need to go quite as large on the pilots. Maybe 1 size up.

 

This is copied out of chacal's catalog. Remember- this is figured using hitachi sized jets. Since dynojet does not offer/supply pilot jets - you may still need to change these from stock. Start by running stock pilots and if need be - I think I have a set of 42 pilots that I ordered but didn't need that I could send you. If they work - throw a few bucks my way. If they don't - send them back in case I need them in the future.

 

Earz, I'll hit you up for those pilots...but not just yet. I used Chacals formula to up my pilots, but at the time I did not know that DJ sizes aren't the same. I'll turn in the mixture screws a bit. Currently they're out 3 whole turns. (per DJ) If Chacal sees this he's gonna cringe. I'm not going to get too excited about this until the colortune comes in. I'll leave things the way they are, because the slide holes and needles have been modified as well. Once the colortune is done, I'll report back in and we'll take it from there. Maybe today I can finish the tank and take it out for a ride so I can gauge where it's at altogether and not just at idle. I love the tweaking and the bike sounds badass.

 

Barzu, you've come a long way fast. keep us 750cc owners posted. Great info in this thread altogether. Bike sounds great.

 

What part of chicago you guys from? Im in chicago as well. Barzu great information your thread as well. I want to run straight headers as well but im very skeptical on messing with those carbs. Any advice you can give me on the carbs or how would I factor in the altitude for chicago? Thanks dude.

 

Sal97,

what is the intake/exhaust configuration on your bike in the picture?

Also, what is the brand of whitewalls you have?

 

Barzu, bike is coming along nice, you got a great deal for that 750. Congrats, sounds like you really love it.

In my opinion, there is really no "guide" that is going to tell you the exactly what size jets are right for your bike. But it will give you a starting point. The best thing to do is tune the bike professionally on a dyno with a 5 oor 3 gas analyzer. This involves using a sniffer in each of the four pipes one by one to see what is actually coming out of each cylinder throughout the entire RPM range. By knowing what gasses and at what percentages of these gasses are coming out the tail pipe(CO2, NO, 02, etc), you will know if the bike is running rich, lean, or stoichiometric.

For example, you can have two 1982 XJ750s sitting side by side, with the exact same mods, but I guarantee you they will require slightly different size jet to get them dialed in 100% correctly. Guides are good enough to get you going.

In your particular situation, your main and pilot jets sound a little large. You are best to run the bike on a dyno with someone that really knows how to tune well.

I personally took mine to a friends shop and ran it on the dyno.

 

crath, after you had it dyno'd did it run correctly, I was reading on another thread that you had a hard time with the idle or something?

 

That bike never has idles correctly day to day. Everyday, depending on tempature and humidity, I had to adjust the idle. But that is an easy twist on a knob at a stop light, so it doesnt bother me.

Considering I run the bike balls to the wall 98% of the time, I set the carbs up to run well at mid-high rpms, where it matters, not idle.

 

Thanks Crath! Can any of you dudes recommend a friends shop thats in the Yorkville area of Chicago with a dyno? I'd like to keep the business in the "family" if you know what I mean. I fired the bike up again today and got it to idle perfectly at 1K or so. It sounds mean as hell. I'm passing on finishing the tank today and just slapping that thing on. I'll have to take it off to color tune anyway. I've got to be honest here, I just want to take this bastard out for a ride. I'm so excited that I have a knot in my throat. I'm taking it out this afternoon and going for a two hour ride or so. I'll let you dudes know how it runs. Or if you don't hear from me, it means that the bike broke down and I got kidnapped by some hot chicks and will have to be their love slave for the rest of my life.

Sent an email out to DynoJet giving them my exact specs, let's see what they come back with as suggestions for the pilots. I do agree that I'll probably have to scale them back to 42/43's.

 

Yorkville, eh? I was just there a few months ago for the Road Block car show at Lyon Farm. I took my XJ there for the show. I rode around Yorkville a bit too. I found some yuppie subdivision to raise hell in - very fun!

I don't know of any shops around that area to take your bike to though.

 

You were probably in my yuppy subdivision. So I took the bike for a spin around the neighborhood. Crap. It idles great, but rides like dog poop. I stalled twice while giving it gas. Need to pull the spark plugs and see what's going on in there...

 

Barzu- I found my pilot jets. I have 40's (you said you damaged yours) and 42's. I almost bet that dynojet is going to tell you to run the stock size jets. If you want to try them, PM me your address and I'll send them to you. Like I said - if they work, send me a few bucks. If they don't, send 'em back.

 

Earz, send the the 40's please. I PM'd you my address. I just talked with Dale at DynoJet support, and the pilot jets are not to be touched. Crap. So there you go, if anyone needs some 45's, lemme know and I'll shoot them over to you.

 

I have to agree with ya there Crath you don't beat your budy's idling around town. :lol:

 

Just my 2 cents had the 750 til it blew, so threw in the 650 running 43p and 128m, 2nd to last clip on the needle and is running great. I can tune it too lean to too rich within a half a turn.

Def sounds its a lil rich if strong idle but no pep, good luck man like Crath said not much to these bikes but going inside the carbs a billion times to get it right. Oh and looks good too!

 

So let us put this issue to rest a bit for now, until I get Earzs' pilots. Lets talk about the 750 gaydlebars. What the crap?! I want to put a straight pipe drag bar on this. Anyone found any 1" or 2" risers that fit this thing? The current bars are sorta like clipons, except waaaay more homosexual (not that there's anything wrong with that if it's your thing)

What do you kids have to say about that?

I can post pics if you'd like...

 

Hey Barzu,

I agree with the bars comment, way gay! IMO. LOL
Please don't post pics, the video was enough. HA!

I have a nice set of Risers and a Drag Bar for sale if you're interested. Check out the pic below and PM me if interested. obviously I had them angled down, but you can angle them however you like. I only used the drag bar for about a month, before getting my clubmans.

 

Those risers and bar look nice was the tank like that before you installed them

 

By the way dudes, I've got the xj750 sissy bar, mufflers passanger footpegs, driver footpegs, standard controls, airbox and a couple of other things up for grabs if anyone is looking. Maybe I should post something on the buy/sell thread. Razz PM'd me about the windshield, so he's got dibs on that. Let's work something out. Soon, I will also have the handlebars, light, and speed controls available as well.

 

mikegustus,

On the intake im using individual pod filters and running no exhuast pipes. Its just the headers and what I think they call the silencer that attaches to all four headers. The front tires are Avon white walls, and the rear are Shinko white walls. I want to run just headers cuz I want it to be louder.

 

Sal, my bro and I are out west in Yorkville. As far as altitude and stuff, I don't know honestly since I'm a noob here

Your bike looks good, I like the whitewalls as well.

Once I get the new pilots that Earz is sending and colortune the bastard I'll let you know my findings/improvements.

 

brazu what front pegs are you going to put on your since you are getting rid of the stock ones? my pegs are jacked up and I would rather replace them with something nicer looking...

 

Mikegustus - my forward controls from TC Bros Choppers came in today. I'll unwrap them in a bit and load up some pictures. I've seen quite a few dudes put those on here as well as Crath. The whole setup cost me $250. The forward controls are $175, but they get you for an additional $50 for the extra linking rods, etc. After shipping and all $250 is gone, BUT considering what other shops want for their forward controls, that's really cheap. PLUS they're not all chromed out and all shiny and gay.

 

Two things, first, I did not throw the forward controls on yesterday or take any pictures. I ended up drinking some beer, smoking cuban cigars, and going to bed. (not cuz I'm an old timer, but because maybe I had a little too much beer, not sure...but just maybe)

Next, I've gotta say how much I appreciate the response form you guys in this community. The help and willingness to help is really amazing. I think that with a subscription to Xjbikes.com, you should also be required to setup a paypal account so your can start trading/selling with your xjbikes buds right away.

Thanks guys. After my coffee, I'm off to the garage...

 

Barzu, Be carful when shortening your brake lever. I have the same forward controls and I cut my lever off too short. So now i have hardly any rear brake because the leverage is off. Next time I'm going to clamp the extension rod to the brake lever at the ball joint and work the brake until I find the correct brake lever length for me.

Maybe some one that has these installed and has good rear brake can post the length of their old brake lever.

James

 

Lowlife, thanks for the heads up. I'll be clamping them down then.