Thanks to XJ Bikes Community

Hi all,

I wanted to make a quick post highlighting my journey with my bike and how this site helped me tremendously along the way.

My father passed away 3 months ago. It was sudden and I have really been struggling to cope with the loss. My dad was the smartest man I’ve ever known. He could fix ANYTHING. He loved all things technology and was always working on getting into some new hobby or DIY project. I’ve always been interested in the same things as my dad and his constant curiosity lives on in me.

I’m 23 and my mechanical experience only goes as far as taking a small engines class in high school, and doing oil changes and brake jobs on the cars I’ve owned. I knew ABSOLUTELY NOTHING about motorcycles. I wanted to take on a project that would make me feel close with my dad as I felt lost trying to move on and get back into my everyday life. So about 2 months ago I started looking for cheap used motorcycles for sale. I ended up picking up a 1982 XJ750 for $600 off of Facebook Marketplace. The bike has 28k miles and was barely running (couldn’t idle, would only run with various levels of the choke applied, bogged down with throttle applied) when I purchased it. Shortly after bringing it home, it wouldn’t run at all.

When I got home I started Googling the issues the bike was having which brought me to this site again and again. I started by getting the Haynes Manual and making a few posts on where to start. I would read the detailed replies to my posts and took action on them each time with the assistance of YouTube videos and more follow up posts and questions. At one point I was on FaceTime with Dave (@hogfiddles) as he walked me through getting my valve clearances in spec and helping me to get the shim sizes I needed. Len (@chacal) has been great at helping me find the parts I needed in a quick and easy process along the way. Many others have helped along the way by responding to my posts and by posting great content and walkthroughs on this site.

After getting the valve clearances in spec and completely rebuilding the carburetors (stripped down completely, deep clean, new jets, gaskets, adjusting floats, syncing throttles, etc.) I can happily share that my bike is back running and running quite well! I truly knew nothing about motorcycles before starting this project. With the help of this community I have learned so much and am in a much better place mentally as I continue to handle the loss of my dad.

I just wanted to say thanks to everyone that makes this community so great for everyone involved. My next steps are to tackle the wanky electrical components on my bike and to start to do some cosmetic work to bring it back to life. More posts from me will most likely follow as I get stuck along the way!

Andrew