Wahooo!! I love this bike! 7 miles at 24 degrees! (long)

Hey everyone, I just wanted to say, this little 550 rocks! OK, ok, maybe it's the cold talking, but I just stuck my first 7 miles on the clock and I had a smile on my face the whole time!

Back story: Had a snowmobile, bad engine...stuck an ad on CL, want to trade for bike needing TLC, guy offered me this 81 Maxim 550, said it ran good, needed a seat and paint. Perfect.

Or so I thought....turns out, it must have sat outside, at least for a while, master cylinder dry, corroded, and line plugged...some rocket scientist forgot a rear wheel spacer, so the sprocket bolts were rubbing the chain adjuster...bunch of little dents in the tank, gunk in the oil, and lots of little misc. stuff I had to attend to. So much for the "weekend project"

Anyway, got everything all taken care of, (yes, It's 5:30am!) including removing the tank emblems, and repainting the tank and side covers, found a perfect used seat, new tires, battery, and gave it a quick cleaning.

Well, I was initially going to paint it a nice Candy Red with white stripes (Chevelle stripes, to match my 70 Chevelle!) but I was fighting the filler on the tank, and I was running out of time, so I said "heck with it, I'm gonna get it running, and make it pretty later" so I shot it with satin black single stage, and it actually looks pretty cool that way! I might hand pinstripe it for that old school hot rod look, and leave it!

Anyway, got the tank done, carbs cleaned, filled it up, and cranked her over--took about 30 seconds, but then she popped off and ran like a top! Nice smooth idle, throttle response is pretty good, needs to be synced though, but it's certainly livable! I was impressed with the exhaust note, it's just stock, but it seems much deeper and lumpy than I was expecting, Me likey! My old Honda CB750k2 sounded much different, SOHC of course, but not this deep from what I remember, must be the bigger pipes!

So, I triple checked everything, fired it up, and pushed it outside, and stuck a light jacket and my helmet on, and away I went! I took it SUPER easy of course, this bike being completely foreign to me, but all systems were go! A couple little idle adj. after it got warmed up, and that was all it needed! Everything else is great, and tight! It's now got 6612 miles on it, not bad for an 81!

I bummed around the side streets at about 15mph to get a feel for it, and I really like the way this bike rides! It's great for in town, nicely balanced I thought, and nimble! Not like a crotch rocket, those feel so odd at 15mph, I much prefer this. So anyway, After everything checked out, I took it to the edge of town, on a bigger road, and cracked it open, just a bit, and to see how it was at 50mph. Well, it's certainly no Goldwing, but for what I will be doing with it, it's perfect. The engine pulls nice all over, for moderate riding, I wasn't shifting as much as I thought I would be, but when you lean on it, that 9000 rpm sure sounds nice!

I had a Honda CRX that I stuck a 9,000 rpm motor into, I forgot how much I missed high RPMs! For a 550, I was pretty impressed with how quick it is, I only took it up to about 60, but it was a good time! Plus, with it being so cold, the roads aren't exactly grippy...and the other thing is, this being my first ride of the year, on a new bike, of course it feels like a rocket! The first ride always does.

So, anyway, sorry for the novel, but I had a blast! Well worth the effort, and I must say, Kudos to Yamaha for this bike, MUCH more user friendly, and easier to work on, than my old Cb750, from what I've done so far anyway. Chalk me up as another satisfied XJ owner! I'll post pics when I get it detailed the rest of the way. Thanks for reading! Justin

 

congrads on a good find?

my bike in a box project turned out so nice as well.

a few days ago i came home at night.. 20 miles in 30f degree weather, going "55" (read 70).

but man, i may have been cold, but it's awesome riding a bike.

Someone asked me yesterday if it was worth it riding in cold weather on my bike, I smiled and said "hell yeah! Anyday where it's not raining, snowing, or ice is the perfect day!"

i keep getting told i'm crazy

 

Yeah, I was thoroughly chilled even though it was mostly in town, but it was great! It's been a while since I had a bike to call my own, ever since my unfortunate "I'm going to take this apart for a quick repaint and end up powdercoating every part and then not ever put it back together" fiasco a couple years ago!

I sold that bike a buddy, he had it running in a week. Oh well! It's up to 33 degrees this morning, looks like I'm taking the bike to go run errands!

 

heh, yeah my B.o.B, the guy couldn't get it running, and the fuel lines were hooked up wrong.. did the rest of the normal maitenance and upkeep stuff and bike rides great.