Having had a couple of months to get used to my XJ it turns out I actually quite like it! The original intention was to get used to riding again and then get something *better* but to be honest I've always wanted to mod a bike, and this seems a good donor bike due to the fact that the engines are pretty bullet-proof and insurance is cheap before you start. That and parts seem easy to get hold of!
So, having trawled through the forum for a few days, I've got a rough idea in my head of a shopping list. Initial thoughts are a f-n conversion with streettracker/cafe racer influences:
new headlight - probably twin lamps, think Detonations bike (which looks ace!) or Speed Triple with bikini fairing
new clocks - like the look of the single clock with everything on it like this
ace bars/clip ons
new single seat unit with hump at the back
rearsets
rear shock to jack the back up a bit
nice new undertray (seen the R6 tray done on here, think it was NelsonMDs bike, looks great!)
fzr rear wheel (for bigger rubber, don't know if i want to do the swingarm change. if i did it would have to be a vfr single one
)and much further down the line
custom exhaust (would love a 4-4) and pod filters (coz they look awesome - would need a pro to set this up I expect)
blue/white or red/white paint scheme
some questions though: is there any point in doing the fzr front end swap? I already have twin discs as my bike is a 99 model. so other than being able to bolt on r6 bluedot calipers is there any other gains?
would like to gain at least an inch of rear height, did this on a bandit years ago and still felt stable enough, but is it easy to fit a steering damper?
am so far loving the researchy bit of the project, and have already started looking for bits. hoping to get most of the bits sorted this summer, then start the work over the winter months!
cheers all for your help
Jim