Another project
flak monkey - 17/10/10 at 08:11 PM
As you can never have enough projects on the go (or I can't anyway) 
To be honest this is one for Sarah as she has always wanted something to tinker with in the garage (besides me 
)
The eventual aim is to chop it and make a retro/old school chop out of it. But for now it will be Sarahs first bike. She doesnt know yet though
It should be being delivered in a couple of weeks all being well
1981 XJ550 Maxim, covered 22k miles in 29 years! Its in amazing condition for its age. Just needs a couple of holes welding in the exhaust for the
MOT.
XJ550 1
XJ550 2
Engine 1
Engine 2
The eventual aim is for it to end up looking something like this:
Chopped
Should be a nice little project 
steve m - 17/10/10 at 08:17 PM
Why ruin it, if its that good to start with, keep it original
MUCH MORE INTERESTING !!
big-vee-twin - 17/10/10 at 08:55 PM
Hi David, here's my bike and my Daughters 50cc chopper.
I agree with the above comment will be a much nicer bike to ride in standard for and a bit collectable too.
My Daughter's and My Bikes
mookaloid - 17/10/10 at 10:02 PM
Great girls bike - Sexist I know but many girls are quite small
As above keep it standard
Fozzie - 17/10/10 at 10:31 PM
quote:
Originally posted by steve m
Why ruin it, if its that good to start with, keep it original
MUCH MORE INTERESTING !!
^^^^ Absolutely!
Chippy - 17/10/10 at 10:38 PM
After 29 years it still looks like new, and you want to turn it into a chopper, your a vandal sir, a vandal!! Keep it as is mate. Cheers Ray
interestedparty - 18/10/10 at 05:26 AM
Speaking as someone who knows nothing about this sort of thing, can anyone explain what the advantage of "chopping" any bike is? Is it just
an appearance thing, or does it improve the dynamics in some way. I had assumed that it was for people who liked American stuff, but as I said, I know
nothing about it.
Ivan - 18/10/10 at 05:53 AM
I don't agree with the above - chop it
franky - 18/10/10 at 06:25 AM
quote:
Originally posted by interestedparty
Speaking as someone who knows nothing about this sort of thing, can anyone explain what the advantage of "chopping" any bike is? Is it just
an appearance thing, or does it improve the dynamics in some way. I had assumed that it was for people who liked American stuff, but as I said, I know
nothing about it.
It sometimes looks better, even the dynamics on a bike like above will take a backwards leap or 5. I believe that if you were in the US with a
100mile long straight road it might be ok
flak monkey - 18/10/10 at 07:13 AM
Well we are going to keep it standard for a while anyway. Will see what happens. Even in this condition its worth 9/10ths of nothing. A nice job
chopping it would make it worth a lot more without spending hardly any money.
Chopping it wont really make much difference to the handling. Not changing the rake. Hardtailing the back end may or may not help.
tony-devon - 18/10/10 at 07:20 AM
anyone can restore a classic, but it takes a real man to cut one up
LOL no guessing what I build then
good looking bike, and yes as it is, its clean and tidy, but boring!
Peteff - 18/10/10 at 09:40 AM
Chop it up and rat it, it's all it deserves. Psint it matt black and stick a Netto bag seat cover on it There's a reason it's only done
22,000 in 29 years, it's horrible.
flak monkey - 18/10/10 at 10:33 AM
Its not horrible - its boring though.
But, personally I think it would look better chopped.
It belong to a guy in the forces who was rarely in the country - hence the low miles
It'll give Sarah something to mess around with anyway.
