Unverified Ownership Ecksy the Yamaha XSR700

[altoid]

Alright, it’s a wild Saturday night and <gestures broadly> means I’ve got little to do, so let’s talk about my new plans for the XSR!

While this is very much the same bike I had before, I expect this experience to be rather different, since my approach certainly will be. The first stint was largely pragmatic, with modifications geared toward making the bike a better daily and touring vehicle, while this second time around I’m more interested in vanity.

In the name of this I’ve already made the bike a little less practical by removing the top case mount plate, keeping just the rack. I’m also including the ROK straps for sale with the FJ and getting a cargo net for the XSR, which is arguably a small downgrade in utility.

So, what else do I plan on doing? Well, in no particular order:
• remove frame sliders and possibly axle sliders, for vanity
• remove flyscreen
• remove fork reflectors
• that enormous radiator needs to be black, so paint or replace
• replace oversized tank bolts with regular ones, since my friend had a tank bag
• Motodemic LED headlight upgrade, probably adaptive
• ASV adjustable shorty levers, probably all black
• CRG lanesplitter barend mirrors
• ProTaper Contour, probably the Carmichael bend, though I need to do some research
• ProTaper Pillow Top Grips
• Yamaha XSR70 Flat Seat
• Motion Pro "R6" hrottle tube, which I got the last time around and neither I nor my friend installed
• Nelson Rigg Commuter Touring Tail Bag, maaaaaybe, if I find that I occasionally want some luggage (yes, I know I already had one)
• Brogue Motorcycles XSR700 Gauge Relocation Kit

So, uh, yeah. I need to ride more.

 

[altoid]

Solo therapy.

 

[altoid]

Got the cargo net, and I think it looks OK!

Bare rack:

Cargo net:

 

[altoid]

A wee bit of a removal job: passenger foot pegs! Keeping them around, just don’t really need them on the bike right now, and I think it looks a little cleaner without them.

Before:

After:

 

[altoid]

Installed a mod today:

Yeah, it’s just a license plate frame.

But to get more serious, took this—which I bought in 2019—out of its packaging:

And these arrived today:

Install probably sometime this coming week.

 

[altoid]

It finally happened: I installed the R6 throttle tube and MX grips! The more aggressive throttle really wakes up the bike and makes it feel much faster. The grips are quite comfy, as I’d hoped. Nice to get some v2 mods in.

But first, some porn from last weekend’s ride:

Mobile shop setup for today:

Then before the new grabby bits:

And during install:

And after:

New hotness:

Le garbage:

And some motorcycle logistics to cap things off:

 

[altoid]

Hello! A lot has happened since the last update, kinda sorta, so let’s catch up!

I listed the FJ for sale, thinking the XSR was the one I wanted to keep, but after some time, I think it’s actually the other way around. No, the shitposting thread had nothing to do with it. The reality is that the FJ is just much more comfortable and I honestly enjoy the juice its engine has quite a bit. All my thinking that a smaller bike would be nicer in the city has turned out to be true, but not as important to me as I expected it to be, at least right no. So the XSR will go up for sale after I replace a few bolts and swap the license plates. Hopefully it’ll prove easier to sell than the FJ…

All that said, I do have some pictarz!

I had to squeeze both bikes and two cars in for a week, and I think I did an alright job:

After a month-long hiatus I wiped down all the dust, and even though I didn’t necessarily do a stellar job, the bike still looks great:

That’s it for now!

 

[altoid]

Went to catch some authentic Southern California vibes:

Then got some hipster coffee:

 

[altoid]

Things to do before listing for sale:

• Transfer the SOCAL PY license plate to the FJ and get a sequental one assigned to this bike.
• Order a second key. The one remaining key works fine, but I feel like it'll be significantly easier to sell if I have two. I haven't yet decided whether this really needs to happen.
• Re-install passenger footpegs. I took them off for the sexy.
• Wait for and replace the three bolts. Two tank cover bolts are extra long and have spacers, from when my friend used a tank bag, and one of the plastic side covers is just missing one, so I ordered replacements. It's possible the buyer won't care.
• Adjust the throttle cable, which seems to be a bit tight now with the new throttle tube.
• Clean the damn thing more thoroughly…

 

[altoid]

I’ve been a bit lazy so far, but I have made some progress:

• I ordered a second key from Champion Keys and it just shipped, so .
• I reinstalled passenger foot pegs.
• I replaced my friend’s tank bag bolts with stock ones, and installed the missing one.

This means I still need to do the following before sale:

• Transfer the SOCAL PY plate to the FJ and get a sequential one for the XSR, which I hope to accomplish on Thursday.
• Wait for said key to arrive.
• Adjust the throttle cable.
• Clean the entire bike a bit more.

Passenger foot pegs reinstalled:

You can see the tank bag specific bolt and spacer on the left and stock on the right:

 

[altoid]

The bike got a sequential plate yesterday, and the replacement key arrived today. The key looks identical to the factory one, since they use factory blanks, and works with both the ignition and seat lock.

I need to adjust the throttle cable a bit, put the stock toolkit back under the seat, and clean the bike a bit before taking pictures and putting up the ads, and all that will hopefully happen early next week.

 

[altoid]

Craigslist, OfferUp, and permanent ads are up!

Ad mugshots:

 

[altoid]

After a couple of weeks of ignoring lowball offers, I decided to finally take the bike to the dealership where I bought it (because they’re nice to work with), and minutes before I was about to call to find out if they’d be interested in taking a look, I got an email from them (responding to my CL ad) expressing interest.

I called back and the salesperson was pleasant to talk to, and amenable to my current asking price (which I lowered from $6,800 to $6,300 last night) pending confirmation that the bike is indeed in the claimed shape, which it is.

Is she worth more than $6,300? Probably. Do I want to continue down the path of ignoring lowballers and spending time on actual potential buyers for an unknown number of weeks or months? No. Summer’s here, and I’d rather go for a ride or to the beach.

The wife has an errand she’s running with the car near the dealership tomorrow, so it’s extra convenient for her to pick me up, and thus I expect to N-1 in a little under 20 hours.

I look forward to one last ride together. 🏍

 

[altoid]

And that was that! Back to one bike!

 

[altoid]

Preliminary ad is already up!

 

[DanRoM]

Just don't buy it back.

 

[altoid]

Just don't buy it back.

 

[altoid]

Funny story (that I’ve shared on Telegram) time!

Right after the stealership bought the bike from me and put the ad up, someone actually replied to my local subreddit post asking if I still had it. I linked to the dealership page…and the person bought it! He messaged me privately asking about some of the changes, so I sent him the full list of modifications and receipts that I already had from when my friend asked about it, and he was super grateful. Haven’t met the guy or seen the bike, but it was cool to be able to extend a bit of help to the new owner, and it’s satisfying to know the bike is still rolling around in the area.

 

[Kiki]

Aww, that's awesome - especially since the new owner actually did the legwork to find out the info. Hope Ecksy is enjoying the new home!