Project xs400 - Cafe Racer

My xs400.

fork brace
tapered roller bearings
20 w 50 oil in fork
gas rear shocks
2 into 1 exhaust
adjustable clip-ons
dual front disk
Magura brake lever and master cylinder
upgraded headlight
fiberglass seat
battery relocation
K&N air filters
custom gauge mount
79' motor w/cdi
rear sets

FOR SALE.

Project xs400 - Cafe Racer

This is my xs400 cafe. A little inspiration supplied by me. I'm honestly almost done, honestly. Although I have made some changes since I took these crappy pictures with my phone. I know they say that you're never really done with these kinds of things and with vintage bikes thats often true, but I've decided to forgo the front suspension swap and move on to my new project. I'll let that one loose soon. Sketches will be the next thing that I post on the new bike.

I'll take some better photos in a few weeks.

Project Blue Basketcase - xs400 Meet Your Maker

Just some self aggrandising pictures of me working on the 400. I was able to get the electrical sorted out, eliminating all the unnecessary bits. The seat, including the frame and upholstery is next on the list. I'll be taking measurements tomorrow and with any luck, I'll have the seat pan set by the end of the week. Oil, gas and kicking on Wednesday. It wont be long now....

Plus, i put the wiring diagram I used on the bottom. It should work for the CDI model xs400s regardless of version. Trust me, you'll need it eventually.

Project Blue Basketcase - xs400 - Update 3

Header wrap is good for a lot of things. Specifically, to cover up shitty looking pipes that might have been butchered by the previous owner of your project bike. I wrapped the headers that came with the 400 in a titanium colored exhaust wrap. The whole process was pretty much painless and thankfully allowed the current exhaust to be salvaged. I literally get an instant head ache when I try to figure out what the guys that had the bike last were thinking. Good news is, it's basically ready to be gassed up and kicked over...fingers crossed everybody. I have all necessary electrics working and the mess of wires is ready to be wrapped. Also, I got back the rear wheel with the new tire mounted to it. I went with a OEM looking Duro(cheap) and went slightly over sized. Plenty of room to accommodate the 400/18 rear tire.


Anyways, if you decide to wrap the headers on your bike make sure to soak the wrap in water before you start applying the tape to the header. Start wraping the header from rear of the pipe to the front. That way, it protects itself all the way down the header. Also, try to make it tight as you evenly wrap it. That way, when the wrap drys, it will tighten even more and last you longer.

Project Blue Basketcase - xs400 - Update 2

Steady as she goes....

I've mounted the rear fender along with the tail light and they feel really solid. I threw on a pair of omni pod filters(54mm fits perfect) so I'm hoping it wont need to be heavily rejetted. I'm not sure how they perform, but they're much cheaper than the K&N's I have on my other xs400 project. The rear tire is on order and should arrive next week. I ordered it through Bill Kasson's Yamaha, who will be mounting the tire as well. Bill really knows his Yamaha's and I mean ALL of them. Seriously, I know a lot myself and he taught me a thing or two. On top of that, Bill agreed to donate some goodies to the East Side Classic Rally I'm putting together for June.

I'm currently tracing and removing all unnecessary wiring which is turning out to be a bit of a headache. I'm sure it wouldn't have been this bad if I had been a little more selective about which basketcase case to get involved in. Sounds like most of my relationships...

The electrics are my current priority and hopefully wont be for much longer, as I HATE doing electrics. Although, there is something nice about having less clutter around the bike and having less to hide.

Progress...

Project Blue Basketcase - xs400 - Update 1

Well, it's a little less embarrassing now, so that's good. I took everything off the front end and attached the mini gauges I picked up for the other xs400. I think it looks better already. The forks are rubbish and will have to be rebuilt also. So much for my budget. I ground down the original seat mounts on the front end and modified the rear mount points for the seat and fender. I ordered an 18 inch rear wheel from a 79' xs400 off of ebay for $50 shipped as the 16 inch stock rear looked ridiculous. I removed the upper shock covers on the rear shocks also. To do so, simply use and angle grinder to cut a slit down two sides across from each other, bend up and twist. Then pull the thin metal to one side and cut to the center.

Along with that, I've started to mount the rear fender, which is actually a front fender off of a xs650 special I got from Chris at Limey Bikes here in austin. If you're looking for parts or expertise on yamaha xs's he's the man to see. I'll be mounting a taillight on the end of the fender and building a seat pan shortly after.

There's a long way to go, but it's come a long way.

Another Tasty Morsel

They're popping up everywhere aren't they?

Project Blue Basketcase - xs400

I realize i should probably have waited to start a new xs400 project till I finish the other xs400 cafe project, but i couldn't resist. Oh, does this ever confirm that i have a problem. Anyone of sound mind would've left this mess alone, but I see a cool bike in there someplace. This will be an xs inspired by the work of some of the japanese shops I recently posted about. First order of business, get rid of that 16 inch wheel in the back...and sort out the electrics....and get rid of those awful clubmans...and ridiculous seat...and that massive speedo...and, and, and...you get the idea.

Woah, ummm...

Geez...girls on bikes... awesome.

courtesy of: http://motolady.tumblr.com/

AN-BU Custom Motors - Japan

It's no secret that a few of the shops east of us, FAR east of us, are producing some pretty incredible custom bikes. When I'm looking for ideas lately, I've been looking at the many obscure and indecipherable Japanese custom shop sites and blogs. Very clean, very cool bikes that are oozing with style and aren't like anything you find stateside. In fact, these shops are very competitive when it comes to design. As good, if not better than some of the more well known shops out there, like Wrench Monkees and the mighty Dues Ex Machina. It's also interesting to note, that large shipping containers full of vintage bikes are leaving our shores regularly and heading back home to Japan to be customised by some of these shops. The lives of many of our 60's and 70's Japanese bikes, unfortunately for us, are truly coming full circle. Out of the lot of these shops, AN-BU Custom Motors is one of my favorites. Concentrating on mostly small displacement bikes and producing these bikes with a wide range of styles, this shop is doing some amazing things. Not only that, what do we find on the home page of their website? None other than one of the best looking xs400s that I've ever seen. Since I'm such a nice guy, I've compiled a list of links to some of the more impressive shops.

Enjoy:

AN-BU Custom Cycles - http://www.an-bu.jp/

Brat Style - http://www.bratstyle.com/

Gravel Crew - http://www.gravel-crew.com/

Motor Rock - http://www.motorrock.net/file/Home.html

Yellow Motor Cycle - http://www.yellowmc.jp/top.html

xs400 Inspiration

I realize the xs400 would appear to most as one of the least likely bikes to modify. In fact, a bit of an ugly duckling. Certainly not very fast or terribly sexy. It just doesn't seem to have the draw of the ever popular Honda cb350. A few of us out there have recognised this bike as something else. They're cheap, plentiful, easy to modify(or at least make handle alright), extremely fuel efficient and best of all, you aren't lost in the army cb350 riders out there. Nothing against the 350/360, they're great bikes, but Honda isn't the only game in town.

To inspire some of you xs400 owners out there:

Project xs400 - Front Suspension

I like my xs for sure, but the forks that come stock are just too soft. Even after i rebuilt them using heavier weight oil, I didn't notice much of a difference. Lucky for me, a friend of mine is putting a set of inverted GSXR forks on his 650 and donating the stock 650 front end to me. The front end is off of a 79', which means all the brake parts will swap over with no problem. The steering stem may be an issue, but with a little poking around on a few xs boards I've found that the stem lengths are nearly identical. With any luck the triple trees will swap right over also, but I'll keep you posted. I wont be able to start this till early march, when I do the unthinkable and drive back to Milwaukee to pick up the bike. About the only thing that I can do at this point is go to mikesxs.net and pick up all the goodies i need to rebuild the 650 front end. I also may pick up a new tarozzi fork brace and clip ons, as the current ones will no longer fit. Sooooo.....if anybody knows a xs400 owner with a stock front end who wants to purchase any of those parts or a 650 chopper builder who wants a 400 front end, drop me a line.

My new FREEBIE forks...sorta beat, but the tubes are perfect and they aught to clean up well.











Fork rebuild shopping list:
From Mikexs.net -
Front Fork Damper Valve Set - $49
Fork Tube Caps - $34
Progressive Front Fork Springs - $59
Fork Seal Set - $10
Fork seal Dust Covers - $20

Total = $172

yikes. At least the shipping is free.

From Fast from the past -
Tarozzi low rise clip-ons - $129
Tarozzi fork brace - $99

these two will only happen if i can sell off my current parts. If i can't, I'll try to find some cheaper alternatives. Mikes xs has a $59 fork brace, but it's not nearly as effective.

March is too far away....

Project xs 400

This bike is what my blog is all about. The idea of taking a boring commuter bike, originally designed to appeal to the masses and make it into something that only cool people stare at. This was Yamaha's answer to the 70's gas crisis, a four stroke twin that had very little going for it. What it did have however was a design modeled after the coveted RD series bikes and an engine that could squeeze out 70 miles per gallon. When I saw the bike in it stock form, it was pretty easy to imagine a cafe racer hidden inside(77' and 78' models anyway) and with the price tag of 200 bucks, i couldn't resist... keep in mind it was a pretty beat version of the stock bike when i found it.

The "mighty" xs400 in stock form:





















First project that I'll be outlining on the blog will be a battery tray that will hide the battery beneath the seat. I'll be using a near stock sized battery as I'm unwilling at this point to sacrifice electric start. Future entries will outline paint, upholstery and more...

here's the current bike as it stands in my friends garage.




Stay tuned...