pics of the old girl

I joined the forum last weekend. Here’s the bike / story.

My first streetbike was identical to the ‘82 Seca 650 below. Mine was 2 years old when I bought it. I found a recent online listing for one, 5 hours away in Oshawa. After 28 years and only 14000kms (not on the road whatsoever since ’03), it was surely going to be more gummed-up than worn-out.

Luckily, my brother lives in Oshawa so he was nice enough to drive out, do a proxy once-over for me and snap all the pics below. The owner couldn’t start it but it was pretty clean. I rented a truck and brought it home. Below you’ll see the things that are clean and the ones that need attention. Any pointers on nice refinishing will be appreciated. This is worth a little elbow grease.

Rims, seat, paint, headers, chrome, plastic, forks, rear shocks… have no pitting, corrosion or fading. Generally-speaking, the whole bike gleams. It’s a detailers dream. There are some rough spots though.




The whole tail and seat are in new condition. Unfortunately, to install saddlebags 25 yrs ago, the original owner removed the chrome grab rails that run backwards, from the top of the shock to the turn signals. Gotta find me some of those now.



Inside the tank is almost flawless. Rust was obviously not going to be a concern.




Headlight, instruments, control pods, master cylinder, rubber boots & wiring harnesses… all perfect & black (I can’t believe it). Those Canadian Tire mirrors have to go. I already took off the windscreen. It’s nice but it’s not original.


Lifting the seat reveals the original factory fusebox (gasp) so that’s another thing I have to find.
Even the original factory toolkit looks new. Here, it looks totally dopey with the missing chrome grab rail between the shock and the turn signal.


Rear rim, fender, signal &shock are spotless. Exhaust cans and rear brake will use a little rubbing.



Under the seca logo on the side panel, you can see a good-sized scratch. There’s another good scratch on the front fender too. I’ve already cleaned-up that brown smudge on the carbs during a full carb cleaning.



If it weren’t such a big deal, I wish I could blacken that engine / cam cover and polish up all those ribs. But that’s a real job.


Now here is a rougher spot. Polishing the cover over the ignition will be a priority



Mechanically, there’s the standard list of things to do
• I did a carb cleaning and got it running for a quick ride up the street
• I won’t even run the engine anymore until it’s time for a color tuning & carb sync
• Rear brakes are mushy
• Fork oil & final drive oil are surely factory-original
• The clutch was stuck at first so…
• And I’m pretty sure those 28 year old tires could use a change

But there are no leaks, noises or anything to hint at any real issues so this old girl just needs a little tlc and it’ll be ready for cruising!

 

These photographs are larger than the Bike.
It would be nice if you could resize them.

You have a fine looking Bike.
You must be very proud.

 

What a great looking bike, I would dump the riot shield, but other than that it's cherry..........

 

Very Very nice.... How much did you pay for it?

Rob

 

OK, I re-sized the pics smaller.

 

he was asking $1500. I gave him $1100. My goal is for this to end-up being a pristine, reliable daily rider / collectible for $2K. I'm thinking that's realistic so far.

Given my history with this bike, it has more nostalgic than commercial value.

 

Yup I totally agree. I have purchased my bike in rembrance of my first bike and all the fun and memories I had with her.

Rob

 

odfghjrsdoigjsrdfjr jg, whoops got druel all over the keyboard! :lol:

 

Wow! you got a good deal, i paid more for my 400 and it wasn't nearly as good lookin as yours!... i feel had lol

 

I've got a tad further to go-- I plan to use the red scheme like your bike when this one gets repainted:

 

Nah Fitz, you need to have one of each of the color schemes. Keep this one and buy another red one. Then you have white,black (my personal fav),grey and then buy the red

Rob

 

hmmm, I wouldn't mind getting my hands on some grab rails, like on the back of yours and those crash bars all shined-up would be a nice tasteful addition.

Hard to tell from the pic but is the paint finish not salvageable via wet-sanding? I've seen miracles happen with some determined, careful work with 1200 grit wet sanding and finishing compound.

Truth be told, when I was a teen, I wanted the silver one but the dealer only had a red one.

PS: hope you don't mind if I used your picture for a post in the want-ads.

Andre

 

Best deal I've seen in a while-have fun!

 

Man, that looks like a steal! I haven't seen any deals like that come around my way, but surely am looking!

 

edit: sorry, forgot to mention...It looks awesome!

I actually saw one like that in silver that was in really good condition for $1200. It was being sold by the same guy that I bought the turbo seca from. It would have need the usual, but it looked really great. He was up on Lowell MA, and he could actually use a camera and post good pics on CL too!

 

make a Bobber out of it. ha.
NOT!!!!!!

Be sure to put new steering head bearings and rear brake shoes on it.