Attachment 19988
After a lot of should I shouldnt I went and got an XY400Y for the price that I got it at it was almost being given away, after months of no rain and constant spring-like weather the day I set out it decides to get all winter on me, thank god I put winter tyres on I dont always bother. I stopped to clear the built up snow from the windsreen the car park was full of recovery trucks delivering damaged vehicles from the spin outs that were happening. Fun trip!
So the first impressions of the bike are that it is not to shabby at all. Lots of torque, 6-speed box, the suspension is fine, brakes work fine but I have issues there. General looks are good this is a reasonably serious dual sport bike and the plastics are not as horrific as what I had read online, in fact I would say they are comparable to a mid 80's Honda they are certainly no worse than my old 1985 CR125 and superior to a KTM I once knew where panels could be broken by just giving them a dirty look.
So what needs sorting....Brakes what sort of sick B****** runs the front brake hose of an off road bike up the back of the fork leg this is almost unforgivable, but when I reaslised that the flexible hose that leaves the front caliper then connects to a car brake line which goes up the fork leg to then connect to another flexible hose to run up the rear of the triple clamp so one hose has a total of 4 connections....just what was the point this was something that was easier to get right than wrong someone actually engineered a mistake. The irony is the plastic USD fork leg guard has the bracket for the brake hose preformed into it. So this will all be changed along with the brake assembly.
Second thing is the coolant pipe from the water pump wraps around the frame, while I see why they went that way, and while it is exposed it would be an unlucky hit to take and you would need to be pushing through some serious brush at speed. However I cant look at it, it bothers me nearly as much as the front brake hose routing so I will change that also.
Apart from that and some untidy wiring that can be sorted with bit of velcro strap. I have spent yesterday and today just messing about and tomorrow will begin stripping it for a deep clean, greasing, new filters and oils, and removing the parts that will be junked.
I will be ordering front and rear mudguards from an XR400 along with side panels as well. The fuel tank that is currently a matte black finish is going to be resprayed satin white.
Future plans....I will dump that radiator if I can get my hands on a pair of split radiators. I think a pair off a 250 motocross bike will do the job and there will be plenty of room to fabricate the brackets.
This should be a decent little trail bike come Spring.