What I've been up to

...beating myself up working on this old '83 650 Maxim...

It was being stored at someone's house, with the understanding that the whole idea was to keep it in the garage, out of the weather, and to call me if it needed to be moved for any reason.

Well, they decided to move it out into the yard (without telling me) with a plastic tarp over it (savages), which as we all know is the single worst thing you can do to a bike, outside of throwing it in the ocean or something.

So when I went to get it back, it was covered in pits and surface rust, dirty, and otherwise stressed from temp changes and the nice humidity tent placed over it.

So I began the daunting task of bringing it back to it's former glory. Can and a half of Never-Dull, some gloss black Hammerite, lotta WD-40, cable lube, etc.

Started looking pretty good. Then I could focus on some other things that have been gnawing at me for some time. Like the yellowed, peeling urethane clear crap coating Yamaha saw fit to deposit on all the engine covers and other alloy castings. I know it was a good idea originally, but it sure looks like hell after 25 years...

So I bought a can of the most toxic substance known to man other than Hydrazine, which would probably also take paint and coatings off pretty well, but NASA is pretty tight with that stuff...

So I had to settle for Aircraft Stripper, a wonderful product. Reading the label, it basically says if the stuff is in your zip code, call 911. About the consistency of shampoo, you blot it on the surface and stand back as the old paint or coating crackles and peels and literally falls away...after 15 minutes or so you hose it off with water, and like magic you've exposed clean, pristine metal.

So I applied it to the fork sliders, engine cases, brake backing plate, ring and pinion housing, etc...holy crap, man...it looks like a new bike! Who knew?

Now I gotta replace the steering head bearings, which are developing a noticeable notch at the dead-ahead position, and do a valve adjustment which I'm sure has never been done. The rocker covers are leaking slightly anyway, so this will take care of that nuisance as well.

Then, with the bike as perfect as a 25 year old machine can be, I'll lose interest, sell it, and get something else...like always.

[Sigh]...just once I'd like to buy something from myself....:uhoh:

"outside of throwing it in the ocean or something."

That's funny you would say that. My first bike, at the tender age of sixteen, was a '75 Suzuki GT-250 (two stroke) that I bought from our neighbor for $50. He was riding it one day and the tank for the two stroke oil went dry. The motor seized on him, he got pissed off at it, and rolled in into the ocean. He picked it up the next day, stored it in his garage for a while, of course I eventually saw it and bought it.
I rebuilt the engine, rode it for about a year, until it was taken away by my dad because of a speeding ticket (80 in a 55). I ended up selling it before I was allowed back on it.
Bought my first GTO (a '65) after that.
That was 1979 so GTOs were cheap then.

...beating myself up working on this old '83 650 Maxim...

Talk about parallel lives.
My '83 650 Maxim was stored outside too. One of my wife's relatives bought it and left it outside at a friends transmission shop for a couple of years. It looks pretty rough now. I got it running last year and rode it for a bit.

Unfortunately, at some point in the distant past, someone wiped out the front end and replaced the forks and front wheel with something from an Yamaha 'XS' series machine.

These forks fit and are the same length as the originals but are not a leading-axle design, like the Maxim..... and so the steering geometry is different. The handling is strange now; unstable and likes to fall over in the corners. Given that and its roughness, I think it's a parts bike.

I do appreciate your clean-up tips, though. My 750 would benefit from that.

"outside of throwing it in the ocean or something."

That's funny you would say that. My first bike, at the tender age of sixteen, was a '75 Suzuki GT-250 (two stroke) that I bought from our neighbor for $50. He was riding it one day and the tank for the two stroke oil went dry. The motor seized on him, he got pissed off at it, and rolled in into the ocean. He picked it up the next day, stored it in his garage for a while, of course I eventually saw it and bought it.
I rebuilt the engine, rode it for about a year, until it was taken away by my dad because of a speeding ticket (80 in a 55). I ended up selling it before I was allowed back on it.
Bought my first GTO (a '65) after that.
That was 1979 so GTOs were cheap then.

Those were neat bikes. I looked at a GT-380 for sale last summer. Thing sounded radical. I'd never rode one of those old smoker triples before...just as everyone told me, powerband like a light switch :runaround: great fun!