First big ride on the XJ

[OpFlash]

Ok so tomorrow morning Im heading out for my first big ride on the XJ to test out its touring capabilities. Were heading out to Starved Rock state park. Ill be riding two up with the wife. Ive had her out locally here and there a bit on the expressway but the distances havent been all that much. Looking to put about 250 ish miles on her tomorrow. Ill post some pics and give a ride report tomorrow evening.

[OpFlash]

Ride Report

Ok first off didnt get to take her out to Starved Rock. Oh well. Brother in law's back was giving him trouble so he decided that such a long ride wasnt going to be good for him. So the trip was to head out to Kenosha Wisconsin to have lunch at the famous Brat Stop just off of I 94 on 50 in wisconsin. We decided to take Sheridan road from the city all the way to 50. This is part of the lake michigan circle tour. Ok so got the bike out in the am. And had a much easier time starting her up due to the tips from this forum. I was initially leaving the choke on too long and flooding her. Now this was to be my first longer ride on the XJ as she has just become road worthy earlier this year. She sat for a month while i was in the process of getting the new tires put on. Either way got her started and ran over to the gas station for fuel and to check tire pressures. With that all taken care of I headed back to the house to pick up the wife.

[OpFlash]

Getting ready for departure



Quick pic before leaving as you can imagine I was very excited to start putting some miles on this bike!

[OpFlash]

With the bike all warmed up and ready to go we met up with other riders and headed off. The XJ was running great. The only damper at this point was trying to get away from the city and the traffic that goes along with it. Shortly after setting off however I noticed and felt a good bang coming from the back end. Damn did we just bottom out?!?! that bump wasnt that bad. I ask the misses did that feel really bad? She replied with a yes. I immediately thought of the air in the air shocks which I failed to check before leaving. Here is the big mistake here by me. I was told by the mechanic that cleaned the carbs out for me, rebuilt the master cyllinders and gave the bike a once over that the air in the shocks was adjusted. Big mistake on my part. Who knows could the air have escaped from the lines in the month or so since the bike had that service? Do the lines have a leak. Im gonna investigate that further. Either way we stop at a gas station because someone needed fuel and i needed to check the shocks. Just my luck air out of order. So We continue on till the next gas station all the way trying to baby it and avoid bumps.

[OpFlash]

Need Air!





Also bike with tank bag. This one is the one I use mainly on my suzuki bandit. it doesnt fit all that well on the XJ due to the tank emblems anyone out there using a tank bag with your ride. Any suggestions on a good one?

[OpFlash]

Boy oh boy I had another mechanical scare before leaving the gas station! I knew that taking this long ride was also to try to find any kinks and if so make sure to take care of them. Well I fire her up while in neutral. Throw up the Kick stand then drop her into first and she dies! Great im thinking now what then I started to think a bit and double checked the stand. It was up put it back in to neutral fired her up dropped into first died again. I then thought of the cut off safety switch for the kick stand. Mabye a bad contact so I raised and lowered it several times and i then started it back up and she didnt die! whew and so again we were off

[OpFlash]

Finally we made it to another gas station where I was glad to find an air supply. I guess I will now pay the money for the portable small hand pump with gauge. Ok so I take my gauge thinking that im a little bit low maybe put her in and nothing! Im thinking WTF ZERO damn I shouldve checked it in the morning. wow nothing no wonder I was bottoming out duh! so after filling up the rear shock and checking the front which was ok. I readjusted the preload back to 3 front and rear. MUCH BETTER!

Shortly after we found ourselves approaching sheridan road near Evanston IL. This road is somewhat slow but does have i good share of curves. However Im unable to really test out the XJ because the road surface is pretty much terrible at this point. Either way I find some good clean corners here and there and lean the bike over a bit. I must say that I really am impressed at the way the bike handles corners. Im no knee dragger but I am used to awesome back road tours on my 600 bandit and I know what it is like to lean a bike nicely through a turn.

I never feel nervous going through corners on the XJ in fact she seems to handle very nicely and almost asks to be pushed a bit more than I did today. Its a very inspiring ride for sure. But for now i decided to hold back and not push it too much. After all I am still learning this bike.

[OpFlash]

So after some nice back road riding we finally crossed into Wisconsin and headed west down Highway 50. Shortly after we made it to the Brat Stop. Really cool place to eat and lots of bikers seem to stop here. Theres a pic of me without my gear standing next to my pride and joy!

[OpFlash]

After an awesome lunch we decided to head back home taking route 45 nice calm back road ride until we get back into the city. Ok so the last problem I encounter with the XJ..

Headlight goes out. No low beam no high beam. Crap.

At a stop light fellow rider tells me headlight out. so i flip high low beam a few times and also give light a few gentle taps with no luck. nothing I can do at the moment but just ride home. Luckily was still plenty of daylight left.

upon getting back home I decided to check out the headlight. fuses ok but still out. I remove the light from the shell. check out the connectors and try the light again. Its working both high and low. So either way im happy but hopefully it wont happen again. I decided to spray a bit of contact cleaner on the connectors either way.

all in all a good ride put about 125 miles on her today not too bad. I still am very happy riding this bike. Its a bike that if ridden correctly is very rewarding. Im impressed with the comfort and fit of it. wrists and back felt really good. still trying to get my timing down on the shifting. Its very different than my bandit. you really have to shift much earlier on the XJ or the gears just dont shift smoothly. Its something that I will get better at with more saddle time.

Hope your weekend was well and that you all got some riding time in too.

[OpFlash]

final reading

[skids]

She looks and and she should with those low, low, miles.

[beegshot]

Tank Bag

[i]Originally posted by OpFlash
...bike with tank bag. This one is the one I use mainly on my suzuki bandit. it doesnt fit all that well on the XJ due to the tank emblems anyone out there using a tank bag with your ride. Any suggestions on a good one? [/B]

I bought an Eclipse bag for my XJ. It works GREAT!

Sorry, I have no pictures.

Robert

[frogdink]

bike looks awesome! wish mine was like that, its close but not quite that nice! good job

[Axel]

distant cousin

[OpFlash]

Very cool modifications! Hey Axel where did you find that headlight visor looks awesome. Like the seat too but have to keep my seat stock to take the wife out from time to time. One thought though your foot pegs seem a little low are you scraping them through the corners?