Chivatty's XS400

Whats up guys! This is my attempt at a cafe racer build. I have no idea what I'm doing but I'm having fun learning. I bought a 1978 Yamaha XS400 for $20 from a guy and its been sitting in the garage for quite a few years. I finally got around to messing with it and was going to go for the hardtail bobber look but then saw some pics of cafe racers and thought "I want one of those!"
When I was about 11 my dad had an old BSA 250 to tinker with in the garage so this is kind of my homage to him in a way. Who knows-if this goes ok I'm gonna find another BSA and cafe it out for him. He tells me stories of riding around England (He's from Manchester) on a 250 scooter so he might have been a Mod...
Anyway, heres some pics so far. I like the flat black look so that is the color scheme so far-it'll probably change a few times before its done-hopefully by that book deadline Sept 1. Wish me luck!













The air filters were garbage so a friend gave me some material and I "reconditioned" the stock filters





Thats about it for now. I'm getting the cowl welded on the seat pan as we speak and the carbs are in pieces right now but it should hopefully go back together somewhat smoothly. Also got some rearsets from Boomshakalaka last week and Photoshopping some decals to get printed up along with some checkers.

Re: What did I get myself into?

Nice. You're a bit young to be handling power tools without supervision though. And do you have license yet. Or at least your 'words"? ;D

Looking forward to seeing this come along.

Re: What did I get myself into?

another gearhead is born ;D
get some safety glasses on that kid.

Re: What did I get myself into?

Chivatty said:

Also got some rearsets from Boomshakalaka last week and Photoshopping some decals to get printed up along with some checkers.

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no checkers PLEASE! sounds like you have a good plan so far, but the checkers thing is way overplayed!

Re: What did I get myself into?

awesome, good to see your build post is finally up! And I have to agree, no checkers please!

Re: What did I get myself into?

How can you guys hate on checkers??? Its my favorite board game!

Re: What did I get myself into?

How about doing a chess board pattern? You won't get chewed up here for that.

and +1 on putting goggles/safety gear on the little one, even if he's just posing.

Re: What did I get myself into?

throw some checkers on it if you must, but I just tend to cringe when I see an otherwise clean bike with some checkers. Pinstripes that highlight accent lines are so much more classy and still have that old school appeal.

Re: What did I get myself into?

muskrat said:

another gearhead is born ;D
get some safety glasses on that kid.

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Will do! He does have his own set of glasses-he tends to wear them in his Power Wheels go kart and they end up somewhere in the yard. We'll hunt 'em down.

Re: What did I get myself into?

Checkers are a timeless classic look. I make "scull and cross bone" stripes if you're interested...I hate pin stripes!

Re: What did I get myself into?

and pin stripes hate you

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Just picked up a muffler from a CBR off of Craigslist for 20 bucks-I will get it to work...somehow

Re: What did I get myself into?

I wanna know what "skull and crossbone stripes" look like. They sound cool.

Re: What did I get myself into?

dcwp said:

I wanna know what "skull and crossbone stripes" look like. They sound cool.

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I'm kinda curious too.

Re: What did I get myself into?

tacky... thats how they look :



non smart ass answer:

I think he means something along these lines

Re: What did I get myself into?

*takes safety glasses OFF*

Re: What did I get myself into?

boomshakalaka said:

I think he means something along these lines

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They look quite nice there-I'd like to take a closer look : and maybe they would look fine on someone elses bike-but I'm not sure about on my bike.
Anyway, so I had taken a cowl to be welded on my seat pan to a local metal shop two weeks ago. When I dropped it off the guys said it would be a 20-30 minute job and they would call me. I called them last week after getting back home and they said they didnt get to it but would do it by Friday. Well I work weekends so didnt get a chance to talk to them till today. I called-no answer. So I drove there and walked in-a couple guys there- I say "Hi, I dropped off a job a couple weeks ago..." then I see my pieces sitting on a shelf-exactly the same as when I dropped them off. I walk past the guys, grab my shit, open up my wallet and hand them back their business card, say "I'm not gonna need this again," and walk out.
2 weeks wasted-I cant do the last paint till the seat pan is done!! Sonuvabeech...

Re: What did I get myself into?

Put the tank on to get an idea of what it'll look like...still need bars, new exhaust, seat, brake light/turn signals, front fender, headlight...crap thats a lot left

Re: What did I get myself into?

ya I went through a similar thing with the machine shop I took my motor to. In the end it took something crazy like 6 weeks, with them telling me "next week" every week. The work seems good, even though I dont exactly know what to look for, but the way they jerked me around Im pretty sure I wont take any business back there.

Re: What did I get myself into?

boomshakalaka said:

tacky... thats how they look :



non smart ass answer:

I think he means something along these lines

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I think pin stripes are "tacky." The legs look good...would be better without the "tacky" socks.