...in the spirit of bored posts, lol, I present this week's project-that-will-likely-never-be-finnished...

(I apologize in advance if the pics don't work...cut-n-past the urls to the addy bar if they don't.  Sorry guys...)

This is the XJ400 Maxim I've spoken of from time to time.





I remember all the work I put into trying to make those two calipers work on that little bitty front disc...how misguided and how my abillity has improved...

Anyway, this is how I get her back.  I sold her to a friend, but they had trouble with getting her titled and keep her running...which I should have known that's what was going to happen.  She and her guys have the mechanical know-how of a grapefruit and as much motivation to do anything.  10 minutes trying and she purred to life and I bet I can spend as much time at the DMV and get a title on the way...oh well.  I missed her and I offered to buy her back.  She'd actually been lying on her side for lord knows how long...

After some careful though I decided that I liked the idea of beefier brakes up front, but needed to pursue a different route.  I also wanted to build her front suspension up just a bit...she was a superbly cushy cruiser but that's not what I'musually looking for.  So I said what the hell and ripped the forks off yesteryear's project-that-will-never-get-finished (bandit 400) and decided to see if they'd fit.  They didn't, but I left them on anyway.  It's tight and it turns...the lower bearing iss just a little too tall, though.  I'll fix it tomorrow.




Now the front is built up in a manner I approved off and has a reletively huge brake on it (320 + 4-pot vs 210 + 2-pot).  But the wheels don't match...whatever will I do?  Common sense told me to just swap the wheels...that the 2mm difference in sprocket offset won't have that much of a negetive effect, but Shits-n-giggles told me to swap it all...of course, Shits-n-giggles being my main man, I took him up and ripped the ass end off the Maxim 400 and put the bandit swinger setup in the fram to see how much I'd have to machine off.  Oddly enough Yamaha and Suzuki must think a lot alike...the bandit swinger fit right in, but I had to bore the frame holes out some.  I also needed to use a spacer on one side because the bandit shaft is too long.




I was faced with a suspension problem, though....



The Maxim used a single shock going straight from the swinger to the frame.  Bandit had a linked suspension.  Luckily, the frame spares on the Maxim were just right to be able to weld in brackets.

This gives an idea of how long she seems to be.



The bandit swinger is about 6" longer...which puts the wheel-base at about 57".  Anyone think that's excessive?  It's a bit long than I had expected it to be...

Oh yeah, and I finally got to use this cool one-off upper!



...ooooooooooo the custom fabtasticness...

I'll get some better pics tomorrow...specifically of how empty the frame seems to be and my custom rear-sets and pegs (2" flat mild with bolts welded to them...lol...matches the bike).

Looks good....well, as good as can be

That is a pretty cool lookin' bike.  Looks like the "Glory Stomper" that Roland Sands built on Biker Build Off (which was the coolest "chopper" I've ever seen and still lost to the that POS "Top Banana" that Arlen Ness built, Sands got screwed).

Maxim <3

Quote from: VTNewbMaxim <3

Yup...my maxim has been a bad-ass bike even if it is only a pidly 400cc.

(my 328i is a slick ride, as well)

I thought I'd be able to ride her today but, alas, I'm 6 links shy of a chain.  Anyone got a 525 chain lying around?

Does the GS use a 525 chain? I think it does...

If it does, then yes. Yes I do.

yeah most smaller bikes...especially older designs, ran 525.  I'll certainly take it off your hands.  Do you have a masterlink for it?

So, resigned to not being able to ride her I sat and stared sadly at a chain 6 links too short...

http://www.performancescene.net/forum/atta...46&d=1135714275



...but...AH HA!! I suddenly remembered I have:

http://www.performancescene.net/forum/atta...47&d=1135714275

...so then I went and:

http://www.performancescene.net/forum/atta...48&d=1135714275

That's 6 links or so from a 530 chain I had lying around. ground the heads off the shafts, punched them out, stuck them to the 525 on the bike, and weled the shafts back. I just did it...shortly after my brain sent me an email with a pic of my handy work attached saying "I was there, I know it wasn't drugs...what's up?"

It works and suits the ratbike theme...lol...

I then made a mess because I forgot where those pushrods for the clutches go...

http://www.performancescene.net/forum/atta...49&d=1135714275

...intercoursing sprocket cover...

Now my super niftyrifick dash...

http://www.performancescene.net/forum/atta...50&d=1135714275

I rode her around the block a few moments ago. I need to work on her idle because she doesn't have one. Something about open filters and exhausts, I think. I'm going to take her to work again tonight and chainge the jets and play with the idle and get her going right.

First impression is that I'm never felt this bike accellerate sooooo quickly but get nowhere. I think going up 15 in the back and down 2 up front was a bit too extreme...front wil still come up so I'm sure of it.

trying to get a vid of her running to upload on putfile but it's not working...pos putfile...

(I apologize in advance for the huge pics...)
(oh yeah, click for bigguns)

Finally got around to doing some ACTUAL measuring.

She weighs 310lbs, dry.

She's at about 55/45 in weight, biased to the front.

Wheel-base is actually 58 3/8".

Seat height is 29".

I'm trying to get a good idea of what the rake and trail are.  I'm currently building a gadget that will read it and I'll post up here later.

Only compaints so far are the gearing and handling.  She's so short in gears that redline in 5th is about 55mph...can't really confirm, though...no speedo....  Handling is either violent or lethargic...depending on how fast you're going.  You have to fight her to lean and the bars are too easy to push.  A damper will fix half of it...something different in hte suspension and tires maybe will fix the rest.



My snazzy pegs.  I'm working on something a little more effective...that'll let me easily incorporate the rear brake lever and master cylinder.



My leaky fork...not sure when this started happening...



My "loudest air-cooled 400 ever" exhaust...



My dash and harness-can.  Those two extra holes are for the light brackets to mount...started working on that earlier...



Some shots of the suspension...






Look at all that empty frame...



Everyone digs nudey shots.  He inner-workings...including the rectifier that is partially held in place by chewing gum...



This weekend me and the girl are going to give her a decent painting.  Not sure of the route, yet, though, as I've still got to work out a couple kinks before I can commit to anything.  I'm thinking a purple frame and a black everything else...polished lips on the rims, though, with a purple pin-stripe. Or maybe just black with the pin-stripe.  I also need to look for matching grips and bar-ends and to get my mirrors and lighting touches done.

Oh yeah...in case some of you missed the chain...

You should shorten up the wheelbase a bit, I think. It'd have absolutely killer turn in.

haha...shorten it how?

I have thought about drilling a hole in the swinger to bring the wheel up a bit, but I really need to be looking at a different arm if I'm going to shorten it any.  I doubt I'll have the generous luck I did with what I've got in it now and get an arm that fits right in.

You can't shorten the length of the swingarm? There looks like there's quite a bit of room back there you can play with.

I'm sure I could shorten it with a saw or something...even then I could only bring the wheel foward about an inch.  There's only 2" between the existing tire tread and the suspension bracing.

Well, that still helps. You might even be able to hack off an inch and a half. It'd also eliminate some of the "empty space" back there.

Can't change the rake on the front end?

rake will change by altering the rear suspension...and loading and unloading the front.  I don't have anything to unload, though, and that would increase the wheel base.

Right now's a 1/4" shy of a busa's wheelbase  :lol:

Quote from: makenzie71rake will change by altering the rear suspension...and loading and unloading the front.  I don't have anything to unload, though, and that would increase the wheel base.

Right now's a 1/4" shy of a busa's wheelbase  :lol:

Yeah, and the Busa has a LOOONG wheelbase. You should aim for 55" area, if you can.

I would like even shorter than that...I was hoping for 53".  The swinger was about 6" longer than I had expected, though.  You just can't really get very close and maintain a linked supsension.

Dual shock along the sides? Retro style, man!

Or you could try an offset shock placed on one side of the swingarm, kinda like the GSR600 (the European bike) has.

Doing that, though, would eliminate the use of a linked system.  As it is I can change the height by simply cutting new holes in teh existing dogbones or making new ones all together.  There's also a sleugh of shocks I can mount to it including nearly every stock gix shock and they're aftermarket counterparts.

That and I like how empty it looks...like there should be something else back there but there's not.  You almost can't see ANY of the suspension without close inspection.

It really doesn't matter much, though...she wasn't assembled for racing and I bet if I monkey it around she'll still handle nicely.  It'll just getting myself to the point where I'll throw her around.

I think I mostly need to focus on getting her a new sprocket in ther rear.  You can almost pop the clutch in first at idle without killing it.

you welded the links?  i hope this is a temporay thing to work stuff out. it would be ashame to have it let go and hurt you or someone else around you.