New Member Introduction

Hello everyone, let me start off by saying thank you to those that run this site and to those that have posted the plethora of valuable information here, I am extremely grateful for this amazing resource. I was excited to see that people are still using the message board forum format. Most of the good car forums I used to frequent turned into Facebook groups and I refuse to use social media. Not that I haven't used it in the past but the toxicity has totally turned me away from its use.

Now a little about myself and why I'm here. I'm 43 years old and live near Buffalo, NY. I'm the foreman at a weld shop that does bridge and structural work. During the early 2000's Chinese scooter craze I bought a 175cc scooter and got my motorcycle license. I fell in love with Riding on 2 wheels and planned on buying a motorcycle but then my wife and I started a family, bought a house and etc. etc. etc. I just got an 81 XJ550 Maxim for free that belonged to my mother's husband, it has not run in 16 years. Not because of any issue other than he just didn't want to ride anymore. He was the only owner. I've already started working on it and have found a ton of useful information on hear as to the important things to go over. The plan is to pick up a battery this weekend and fire this machine up.

 

I bought my xj550 when I was around your age, and it had been sitting in someone's shed for awhile and had not run in a number of years. It was supposed to be just a harmless hobby, something that I would tinker with to no harm. But lo and behold, I got her to run, and then to ride. These are forgiving bikes they will go with lots of stuff not perfect, but don't let that stop you from perfecting. There is loads of useful info on this site! Do what you can. And enjoy it!

 

Welcome to the forum, @Pistil_Pete! Wishing you the best as you dive into getting that engine running again after all these years.