Another New Maxim Guy

Hi all. As the title says, I just picked up a 1980 Maxim 650 w/ 25K on it. The only flaw for the age with the bike is a wet oil pan (like oil on it wet), but there is no drip and a baseball size dent on the left side of the tank. There don't appear to be any other signs of it being dropped though. I only paid $900 for it and it fires first time every time so far. Runs strong as well. Can't wait to get to know everyone. I'll get some pics tomorrow.

 

Welcome. Sounds like you got a runner! Looking forward to pics. You'll be advised to start going through some safety/maintenance items before you ride that bike any more.
Rear brakes - check for delamination (a potential life/death issue)
Front brakes - check date of fluid hoses (could burst a hose if they are too old)
Tires- check age (could come apart at speed)
Engine - check valve clearances (could burn up your motor if neglected)

Search & browse, you will learn a lot.

 

welcome! you will soon learn just how great of a bike you have aquired!

pbjman covered the basics, so just dig around and you will find all you ever will need to know about your new bike!

congrats on your purchase!!

 

So, as mentioned before, here are a couple of pics from the bike, just couldn't get to it before now. Family vacation got it the way, but it was worth it.


As is common with these old bikes, there are some things that need to be looked at like mentioned above. After I got back from the family vacation, I started to poke around the bike some more. Made some slack cable adjustments, and noticed that there is a nice faint smell of gas in my garage. I at first contributed it to the 32 y/o bike (since it's old and has carbs), but realized that it couldn't be that easy. That coupled with the fact that the oil in the sight window just doesn't look right. Stuck my nose in the oil cap opening and could smell gas. So it'll be parked for a while until I can get the kinks worked out. Don't like it since the weather is nice, but that's the way that things go. Anyone know where I can get some feeler gauges in Colorado Springs? I'm gonna drain the gas tank later on today, and pull it so that I can start tearing into it. Of course, I'll start with:
Check/adjust valve clearances
Clean carbs
set fuel levels
sync carbs
install an inline filter
change oil and filter
new plugs
running sync
I have a haynes and the FSM, so I don't think that It'll be too bad. I almost forgot, I'll run through the brakes and everything else while I got it apart.

 

Welcome to the site !!
You need to open up and clean-out the fuel petcock's shutoff valve or get a rebuild kit.
That drip, combined with a float needle/seat that isn't perfect slowly floods 1 carb and the fuel runs past a closed intake valve, onto the piston and past the rings.

Great looking Maxim btw.

 

....and in doing so will fill the crank case with gasoline, thinning out your oil and causing major problems if you don't correct it quick.



welcome aboard!

dave F

 

Nice bike and welcome!! Heed the advice above and you will fall on love with it!!

 

Welcome! Nice find!

 

yeah man nice and a good price

 

Thanks guy's for the warm welcomes. Didn't get a chance to get it done today, wife wanted to go shopping, so I'll take another stab at it tomorrow. Maybe I'll just skip out of work some and play. I can't wait to get it reliable, but want to make sure it's right. I was even able to find a bike shop here in town that has feeler guages so I'll pick some up when I get that far into the bike, or Friday, which ever comes first .

 

Welcome!

 

Looks like it was looked after, nice 6-fitty! You're in good hands, by signing up here!