Buying Parts

I'm the newbie whose neighbor gave me a XJ650 with no keys, manual and didn't know the year. He found the keys, still no manual (I ordered the XJCD) and it's an '81.

Yesterday (taking the advice of Robert), I got it started. The start switch had a broken solder connection. The spring fell to the garage floor and promptly disappeared. I "fabricated" one and got her running. Not idling, but running with partial choke.

I searched the archives; looks like I'd better rebuild the carbs, bench sync and build a manometer. Is this the next step?

Is a particular vendor(s) a friend of xjbikes? Since I'm going to spend the money I would like the $ go to someone who supports the site or is a member of the site.

This site is great, thanks for the help!
Jim

 

Welcome to the club minturn. Sounds like you are on your way to some great adventures with a unique bike. After spending a few weeks perusing this site and getting some great advice and information I started feeling guilty... guilty enough to make a donation to XJbikes. I'm sure they'd appreciate it you wanted to do that. In any case do get the XJCD set its extremely useful and well worth the money.

I don't think I'd have the level appreciation, satisfaction or confidence owning, riding and working on this bike if it were not for this great site and the people that post on it.


Good luck and post some pics when you get a chance. We always like to see other nice XJs

 

Hey minturn, welcome to the site! I carry in-stock alot of the items you'll need to rebuild your carbs and maintain your bike, you can see a partial list at:

http://www.xjbikes.com/Forums/viewtopic ... rt=45.html

 

I bought several things from chacal. He has some hard to find and special stuff. I also used oldbikebarn.com (a little expensive) Ebay, Powersedge.com (there are several similar sites), Drumhillcycle.com (not happy with them) and I tried to use specII. He was having some problems and was slow getting back to me but he has a good reputation.

Hope that helps some.
Mike

 

Welcome, minturn! I, too, have an '81 XJ650 Maxim and love it. Bought it from a retired Ford mechanic that was selling out and moving on. He took pretty good care of it, so I didn't have to do a whole lot to make it go. I ebay'd a factory service manual for it, so if you ever need a question answered, pm me.

As far as parts are concerned, Chacal is a great resource and friend of the show :wink:. Locally, I use Bent Bike. They do ship all over, though. Pretty nice guys to deal with (except for one guy... he's kind of cranky). But, all-in-all, I've been pretty happy with them. Tell 'em Don from the Lake Stevens CARQUEST sent you, and get the "Who the Hell is he?"* discount.

Good luck getting your bike sorted out.

(*There is no "Who the Hell is he?" discount. I was attempting to be funny.)

 

I'll also throw in a good word for Chacal. How bout 'Legs'.. What, nothing? Oh well He's a great guy to do business with and as Mbrew said he has some of the special things you'll find yourself needing, especially if the first thing on your list is a carb rebuild... Like jet cleaning bits, (new and improved!) butterfly seals, hex head screw sets, YICS tool, etc. He also has sync sticks and Colortunes!

 

Thanks everyone, I'll always try to do my best! Soon I'll upload another big list of goodies for sale, if only days had more than 24 hours in them.........