xj900

Spotted an 86' XJ900 up for sale nearby,would that be a seca? Looks from the photo as if she needs some tidying up and the cover ( streamlining?) isn't the original so she may have been dropped at some time. I have been told it is running and lights etc are working but she does not have any ITV (MOT) which could be a problem. Is this the xj that didn't sell in the states because there doesn't seem to be much in the way of parts on ebay?

The bloke is asking €600 on one website and €500 on another which is somewhere between 600 and 700 dollars. After 4 years struggling to get my xj700 running (lost cause there I think) I'm wondering if it's worth having a look. Advice welcome before I mention it to her indoors.

Faighaigh.

 

I've been having a look around the web at xj900 seca's and this one has a round headlight not square like every other I've seen, anyone know if they made them like that.
Faighaigh.

 

The XJ900N had a round headlight....but no fairing. As far as I know, the XJ900 was not sold in the USA. I ride one every day and think it's an excellent bike.

 

The XJ900RK was sold here in the States, one year 1983 as the model number suggests. The US model had a quarter-fairing on it with a square headlight. This was the only form in which the XJ900 ever appeared here.

 

Why was the 900 withdrawn from sale so quickly in the States? I know the '83 model had some handling issues involving the fork mounted fairing, but that had been resolved by '84. Seems to me it would have been an ideal bike for your riding conditions. It was always popular here in Australia (where I have never seen a 750!)

 

I learnt this morning that she is a non runner and has been standing for a few months. My Spanish isn't up to techy stuff really so I'm not sure what the problem is but I think the bloke is telling me it's the timing. Are parts hard to come by?

http://i498.photobucket.com/albums/rr34 ... aigh/a.jpg
http://i498.photobucket.com/albums/rr34 ... gh/a-2.jpg

Faighaigh.

 

Timing is fixed so unless it's a related issue he's not being fully forthcoming (known here as yanking your chain...) Also, from looking at your pics, it appears that the round headlight has been retrofitted, the mounts, etc., do NOT appear to be "factory." It also appears as though there are still vestiges of the mounting points for the goofy little plastic "fairings" that are missing from under the front corners of the tank. As for why they stopped selling them here it is a mystery to me. Yamaha never has seemed to fully understand the US market, for instance these days they REFUSE to bring the "nekkid" XJ1300s here. For some reason they think we all want "crotch rockets" or Harley wannabes.

 

Bigfitz.

Your comment on the headlight confirms my thought's that she has been dropped at some time. As for yanking my chain or taking the p--s as we would say, I think it's more a case of my poor Spanish and his poor English.
But the bike has been advertised for some time so I can wait till a Spanish mate has time to come have a look with me.

Ross, how easy is it to get all that cover off?

 

Seat comes off with a turn of the key, tank lifts off without tools, side covers just pull away, rear seat cover held on by four bolts (but you rarely, if ever, need to remove it)and that front fairing looks as if it might fall off by itself. Only a couple of minutes.

Bike has one very desirable feature, which is the belly pan. I've been trying to buy one for the last five years!

 

The 900 seca (xj900) was dropped in the North American market because Yamaha didn't want it competing with the FJ1100 which was introduced in 1984. In this market bigger is better and the competition at that time was the GS1100 , gpz1000 and cb1100F. In 83-84 the market here was flooded with Japanese bikes and the prices came down, I remember buying my new 1982 XJ650 Seca in 1983 for $2400 Canadian and a year later the dealers still had leftover 82 models for sale.
I hear only 1 xj900 per dealer was sold in 1983 in Canada. I'm finding it very hard to find used parts for mine, would like a new instrument cluster but so far nothing.

 

Very interesting, Splunge, but why did Yamaha leave the XJ900 on the (comparatively tiny) market in Australia, where it competed with the FJ1100? And it doesn't really explain why they left the smaller XJs on the market in America. Yamaha never seemed to decide what niche the 900 should fill, just as they couldn't make up their minds about the FJ1200- superbike or tourer?

Seems to me that Bigfitz may be right when he suggests that Yamaha is better at building bikes than marketing them (Because if they had any sense at all, there'd be a modern version of the RD350 on the road!)

 

Right on Big Ross!! The RD's were great , I would love to get my hands on an 81 RD350LC, that blue/white paint job with the black engine looked sweet and the sound, the performance, awesome! There are no two strokes sold in North America any more, because of pollution control laws. They were discontinued in the states in the late 80's I think and a few years later in Canada. RD's are getting pretty scarce around here and if you find one they go for big bucks. All I see on the road lately are Harley's and Harley clones (usually driven by old guys) or crotch rockets that all look the same. I have never seen another xj900 !! Maybe I'll come down to Aus and pick up some spares for mine.

 

I'm actually kinda surprised Rick hasn't chimed in on this one -- not only does he own one, last I remember he was trying to sell it. With a spare engine. I'd wager if anyone knew anything about these wee beasties, it's him.

 

HEY!!! I'm an "old guy" and so is Ross. I ride a restored 550 Seca and an original Norton Commando. Careful with those stereotypes... Anyway, you are right about the "bigger is better" mentality here, I think it's because we don't have any sort of graduated licensing for motorcycles the way most the rest of the world does. Here you can buy any size bike you want even if you never sat on a bike before. But I still think Yamaha has their head where the sun don't shine in regard to what they THINK we will buy.

 

Hey, no-offense old timers at 48 I aint no spring chicken myself! It's very true that in North America you can get your license and buy yourself a GSXR1400 with a zillion horsepower, the results are sometimes fatal. When I was in France last year the kids were allowed to ride 50cc bikes starting at age 14 or 15 then gradually move up. Seems to make a bit more sense. I know the bikes today are better in almost every way than the old stuff but I get a lot of satisfaction from restoring something that was headed for the junkyard.

 

Better in almost every way? Yes and no. The original XJ's were the forerunners of todays modern crop of "superbikes." New-tech with roots in the old school, and still built like they were made to LAST. The seven years between my 74 Nort and 81 Seca are more like LIGHT YEARS but between the 81 Seca and 08 FJZXR600 or whatever they're called there isn't another 27 years of evolution, just more plastic. Personally, I just like nekkid bikes. Light, quick, well balanced and NAKED.

 

Old timers!! I'm not old, I'm only 63!!
Here in Australia, we have graduated licences, so you can only get bikes up to about 500cc when you have absolutely no experience. Does this mean there are lots of interesting and practical 250-500cc bikes on the market? Of course not. (I'd love a 'modernised' XT500!)
The profit is in 1000cc rocket bikes, so that's what gets pushed, and, of course, what every young bloke gets talked into by advertising.
The other totally irresponsible thing is dealers and magazines pushing utterly enormous "cruisers" for people returning to motorcycling, maybe after a thirty year break. Add a set of huge panniers, top box, trailer and humungously fat old broad on the back, and you've got more than my, er, "middle aged" legs can hold up! No wonder fatalities among the over 50s are up!

Oh, and Splunge, as for the " 81 RD350LC, (with the) blue/white paint job and the black engine...". Just stay out of my shed!

 

Oooh - I know this one...

http://xjbikes.com/Forums/viewtopic/t=12941.html

Thank you HD

 

MMmm...only partially. Yamaha kept on selling 1100s and 1200s tariff or not. They had begun to get it in their heads that all we Yanks wanted were big-gun cruisers or sport-tourers, and didn't need another big bore sportbike here. That and all the cycle magazines peed in their cornflakes over the styling and the handling problems brought on by the fairing.

 

Yamaha dropped the 900 because they couldn't compete with the Kawasaki of the same cc.