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My 81 Yamaha XJ650 Maxim

NOW we're talkin' !!

forget the naysayers & non-helpful folk & just keep doing your good mechanical work - the 'sportbike' riding will take care of itself......
 
OK here is the 81 XJ650 Maxim with the 82 XJ650 Seca dual brake front end installed.

I had to take the forks back out and I got one of them rebuilt today and I will get the other one done tomorrow.

Then on to checking out the brakes to make sure they are not dragging.

And you can see the 81 XS650 in the rear

Seca_forks.JPG
 
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Nice job so far on the Maxim...... that XS looks to be in pretty good shape
 
Forks are done. Brakes are free. Working on master cly now extracting the broken mirror stud. Need to switch brake hose from Master to manifold. Rode it in the parking lot. The steering is like butter and no problems to see so far.
 
Well she is home now with the Seca dual brake front and including the seca triple tree, tapered roller steering bearings, and the forks rebuilt. It is ridable like it is but I need a bigger Master Cly and some TLC to clean it up. Here it is back home. :)

Just did a 30 mile ride Lake Herman Rd to 680 - 780 back to Vallejo and everything was fine.

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:thumbup

lookin' good! that's the rake/trail on the forks/ triple? just wondering since the front axle was forward of the fork line, and the new axle is in the fork line (not sure if I'm using the correct terms), but since you replaced the triples, too, maybe the angle of rake is the same? also are the forks tubes the same length?

anyways, cool swap! looking forward to more updates!:thumbup
 
Yes because of the offset Seca triple tree it could be done. Then Maxim had a forward axle. It was on the front of the lower tube and the Seca was centered at the bottom of the lower tube. There were other things that were a little different, but nothing to bad and I modified things to work and the fork tubes were shorter so the axle was at the same location as the Mzxim was.

For fork oil I used Hyd Jack oil. It is a 10wt hyd fluid. Others used 10-30 engine oil and 15wt, and 20wt fork oil. The bike rides like a cadiliac. I dont like it. I think I will try 20wt in the forks soon.
 
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Well I am out with my XJ Maxim with the new Seca forks, triple trees, and dual brakes installed with NorCall XXX Riders on a ride to the Berryessa Bridge.

I might change the fork oil to 20wt and increase the fork spring spacer 1 inch. I want to try the front forks to be more firm.

DSCF0254.JPG
 
oooh, oooh !!

I bought an old "Cycle World" for the Vance Breese AFM Harley article by John Ulrich

test & teardown of your bike plus a comprehensive Yamaha ad are in there - want em?
 
hey WarriorPrincess,

PM me with street addy & I'll mail it
 
This brings back a lot of memories...

My first "big" bike was a 1981 Maxim 650, about 20 years ago. When I purchase it, it had roughly the same power to weight ratio as my Suzuki GN250.

I replaced the plugs and then found out that the clutch was shot from the newfound power.

I then replace the rusted out stock exhaust with a Mac 4-1 system and it was still running rough.

I coated the boots with silicone caulking to seal the cracking, but new boots would be the preffered method, of course. Back then the $100 that a set of boots went for was half of my rent for a month though. Same deal for the stock plug towers, so I went with, I believe, Bosch plug towers, which finally got the engine singing.

I promply went out and broke my leg doing a high speed run...

I was back on it a week later, long before the doctor cleared me for weight bearing on my bum leg. Next stop was a new set of tires to replace the budget bin specials that contributed to the crash. Many miles and smilles on that bike, before moving up to a Fazer 700.

The bike now sits at my grandmother's, slowly becoming one with the earth again, after the transmission went out.
 
Messing with the front wheel to center it in the brake calipers, I learned that the front wheel can be adjusted left or right to fit center in the forks.

The upper tripple tree is not centered it is a little off center to the right. I pulled the fork that was weeping a little and straight edged the inner tub and it was straight. It rides without drag now, but still the tree seems off center. The fork pulled out and pushed in with ease. no binding.

Well I will look at it some more but any ideas out there it would be nice if you could share with me.
 
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