1981 Yamaha XS400 Special II

This ’81 Yamaha was acquired from my wife’s friend Mali. She had been a casual rider, but she let it sit and then an ex-boyfriend shitehead vandalized it. He slashed the wiring harness on the left side of the headstock and had pulled both plugs. It sat the winter like this and was a pretty good mess by spring. It had lightly stuck the pistons in the bores and one valve, but with lots of heavy oil, time and patience, all were freed. I spent about 5 hours with a soldering gun and shrink tubing fixing the wiring harness and a little time cleaning it up. It took the place of the RD250 in the lineup. It’s a tough little bike.

At first, my wife couldn’t ride it because of the buckhorn bars on it, but with a switch to flat bars and an eventual seat swap (you should have seen the huge king/queen seat on that little bike—it was hysterical) and now it is an efficient little commuter that my wife rides when she gets the chance. I use it most often to commute to and from work. We also loan it out to our beginning riding friends who want to put in some behind the bars time. No, not jail, trying to learn to ride. Cosmetically it’s a bit rough, but for a learner bike for multiple learners, why not?

I found this ad in an old National Lampoon that I was throwing away. The gas prices are a bit comical, but the sentiment is timely.

The three puttskateers.

7/1/05

The little 400 is back and is my only ride for a while. It's a good thing, really. It's simple, ready when I am and still fun to ride.

9/3/01

What do you do with a bike that you haven't had to work on for well over a year? If you're me, you sell it.

That's exactly what I just did. I sold this little sweetie to my friend Bob. He had been borrowing it for the whole summer, so it had been out of site for quite some time. Out of site, out of mind, and now, out of my life. Of course it's for the better as I'm now trying to purge the garage in preparation to move. I don't need as many bikes as I have and it's just as well I get some money out of the ones that run.

5/19/01

Nope, I haven't worked on this bike in over a year. I loan it to beginners I know, and they bring it back bent. I kick it back into shape, commute on it a couple of days, and then it just sits and waits for the next mission. I did break the kickstand off it going over a man-hole cover. This bike isn't going to win any Paris-Dakar rallies with its ground clearance. I'll find a welder soon enough and then the bike will be back to its teaching days again.