new seca xj owner

hey all just thought i'd drop in and say hi.

just bought an 81 seca 550 from my friend for $500 just needs a battery and front tireand left side cover.

thats lesss than a dollar a cc

anyways, at the price of gas it was a good excuse to start riding again.

all my riding was previously on vespa, lambrettas and cafe bikes.

so i'll post some pics up soon and expect this to become another xj cafe bike.

jeff

 

Welcome MrKil- - a running 550 for your friend-- what are you riding?

 

I understood. 550 from your friend. They are great bikes. I'm sure you'll have fun with it.

 

it is an xj from my friend :wink:

he bought a ninja and the xj was just sitting in the corner, so he offered it to me.

 

Welcome.

The Seca 550 is a great bike and a lot of fun.

 

OK , I had blurry eyes.

 

Welcome to xjbike.

I love this place, its like having your own bike gang . 8)

 

here's an update of where i'm at












i've had some problems with the bike running.
it was in storage for about 4 years, till the resurrection.

it will start and run but only with half choke. once the choke is turned offf, it dies.

so the carbs are off for cleaning and bench syncing.

 

And what could be cooler than that!

 

Left side covers are easy to find. Be glad you don't need a right side!

Paint is looking great!

 

actually i've found a left side cover and painted them to match as well.
just don't have any pics

 

thanks
the paint came out better than i'd hoped for spray can

 

Welcome aboard! The 550 is the best-kept secret in XJ-land. You won't regret it, trust me...

 

here it is as of now.

i'm waiting on new signals, bar end mirrors, and to sort out my throttle cable thats hanging up.

 

why is it that the left is easy to find but not the right? i mean the bike leans to the left so if it tips, it will most likely be on the left... idk, sorry fo the mini hijack, and nice bike man

 

I think the battery being on the right means more people take that one off more often & therefore, it gets lost more.

 

More pics,more pics that teaser shot looks great.

 

More pics,more pics that teaser shot looks great.

 

Whoa!
I'm a new 550 owner as well, and want to do a cafe project over the winter. Great job man - did you do the paint yourself with rattle cans or take it to the pros??

 

it's rattle can

3 coats paint 2 clear colour sand then 1 more clear and polish

 

made a solo seat pan from an old seat today.

this way i can swap between single seat and 2-up

 

shot of the test fit of my homemade cafe seat
it's all good and ready for upholstery



and thanks for all the compliments guys
it helps keep the motivation

 

more progress

took off the clubmans
put on my clip-ons
lowered the light and gauges
took out old airbox in prep for pods




just need to pick up pods and oil breather
relocate battery and rectifier
clean out my tank and line it and reclean my carbs
mount new rubber and tail light

 

Looks pretty sweet !!

 

I like the tank and seat it gives it a real vintage look.

 

thanks guys
i put on an xs650 cluster to get the nice chrome pods instead of black plastic
but for some reason my blinkers have quite working now :/

and i have to repaint the tank since the shop that lined it messed it up.
so i gave it a flat black and yellow kind of moon inspired quick paint job(i wass gonna go for the cafe/brat look), but i'm going to repaint it back to the way it was it just looks better.

here's a quick vid of it running

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hw6oX3gBrhE

which it stop doing this morning for some strange reason:/