first bike

[grant6896]

Just wanted to introduce myself here. Recently bought my first bike, a 1980 xs400. been looking for a project for a while and have always been interested in bikes. After the end of a nine year marriage where the time was never right to buy one I decided that there was no time like the present. I love the bobber styled bikes but don't want to do the same thing as every one else out there. So I guess an xs is a good start as they don't seem to be all that common. Picked the bike up for $900 and it is in great running condition. I seem to be running into what seems to be an issue with xs400s, that is there doesn't seem to be much out there as far as aftermarket parts specific for them. So keeping with the true spirit of the bobber bike it looks like innovation and fabrication are the way to go. Ive been reading quite a bit on this forum and am impressed with the knowledge base here, seems like a great community and resource. I am open to any advice I can get. I have been very much inspired by a few of the members already.

 

[skillzman1]

good to meet ya...and theres seems to be a growing interest in these bikes ...maybe someday soon we'll have a knowledge base comparable to the CB guys and XS650 crowd.
If we have the desire and will...we can customize in our own way and carve out our own niche.
between the bobbers and cafes ...somebody's going to have to do a straight up resto eventually!LOL

 

[grant6896]

It seems like the knowledge base is growing quite a bit here. As far a s a restoration project I'm starting to get conflicted. When i first got the bike I could practically hear my saws-all and welder already, but the more I sit and look at it as is I begin to feel bad to hack it up. Right now I'm not cutting it up yet, just looking to find 10.5 to 11 inch rear shocks and trying to learn about cutting the springs in the front forks. want to fabricate a different seat soon. have a few other minor ideas for the near future. looking into the exhaust and wonder if ill need to re-jet the carbs or do anything else on the intake side if I straight pipe it

 

[skillzman1]

poke around a little more on the jetting...I was just reading some handy info on here about the very subject

personally the stockers dont really excite me much...I like the earlier 360's and 400's with the square tanks...I'd take a stocker version of that...but the rest,like mine...need customizing to take the geriatric look away...dont want to get that process started too early!!

 

[grant6896]

I saw a great post on here about jetting from gentlemanjim, pretty helpful. as far as stockers go, i can never leave well enough alone. Just feel bad making the first cuts on this one cause it is in such good original shape.

http://www.motorcyclecarbs.com/Motorcycle_Carburetor_Jetting__W7C240.cfm

 

[hardtailed77]

Welcome to the forum bro! Glad to have another here! Bobber, huh? Sounds good to me, but I may be a little biased? lol The site seems to definitely be growing daily, and it's a beautiful thing to be a part of! Let me know if you need any help along the way!

 

[drewpy]

welcome to the forum Grant

 

[bcbobbers]

Welcome Grant, nice to see more people joining everyday. If you are looking for parts for your xs400 check out the classified section on the site, mikesxs.com has some stuff for the xs400 as SOME parts interchange with the xs650. There are also a few other sites out there that carry parts for our bikes just search the forum you will find them.

 

[grant6896]

thanks for all the feed back. thinking about cutting the frame rails under the seat to lower the profile, but trying figure out a good place to mount the battery and the rest of the electrical. not wanting to ridged it right now. any ideas?

 

[hardtailed77]

thanks for all the feed back. thinking about cutting the frame rails under the seat to lower the profile, but trying figure out a good place to mount the battery and the rest of the electrical. not wanting to ridged it right now. any ideas?

I would search google, or even our sister site, XS650.com for ideas on battery/electrical relocation.....there are countless ways to organize those things. There are even a few build threads on here that should give you some insight. Post up a few pics of where you want to cut the frame rails, and we can shoot you some suggestions.