first post - hello to all.

i've found an 82 XJ550 Maxim for sale that looks to be in excellent cosmetic shape, but hasn't been run in about 9 yrs. i'm trying to decide whether or not to buy it, so i've been doing some research (how i found this forum).

obviously, it will need the tank and carbs cleaned, etc. it has around 20k on it, and they're asking $500. i'm plenty mechanical and have restored bikes in the past. got a few questions...

1. i'm reading lots of gripes about carb synchronization on these bikes and special tools needed to deal with the YICS. what are the insider tricks for this? would it be possible to clean the carbs without re-synchronizing?

2. how available are parts & rebuild kits for these bikes? i'm not seeing a whole lot on ebay or elsewhere.

3. how much is this bike worth if it's in perfect shape when i'm done?

thanks for any feedback -
Trace

Hi Trace,

That 550 Maxim is a cute little bike. Was tempted to pick one up for the wife a coupe of years ago. Looks like lots of fun without sinking a lot of cash into a bike. $500 sounds like a good deal for a bike in apparently good shape. Around Calgary, these go for $1000-2000 CAN in decent shape.

1. The only real trouble with carbs is on the bikes that have been sitting for years without proper storage steps taken. You know how that varnish loves to build up and plug all the little jets and passages in a carb. But if you're even a little mechanically inclined, rebuilding carbs is a snap. I bought a rebuild kit from oldbikebarn.com . I've been avoiding Ebay having been burnt on my last few purchases, and found that you're not really saving much anyways. Plenty of places online that sell parts for these old bikes. Just about anything can be had now! Check out Mike's homemade YICS tool. The guy's amazing, and it's worth having. Getting one from the Yamarobber (if they still have any) costs many times more and isn't any better than Mike's. Go see http://www.xjowners.com/ if you haven't already. Advise synching the carbs after cleaning them as you're defeating the purpose of the maintenance without balancing them afterwards. A $60 set of mercury gauges and 30 mins of your time is just the ticket.

2. See above

3. Values depend on where you are. Late '70's and early '80's bikes haven't really hit the collector market yet, so we're all just riding "old bikes" right now. I bought my 750 Seca during a transit strike, and paid 25-50% more because of it.

Hope that helps!
GG

well, i went and looked at it tonight. it needs a lot of work.

- last registered in '93. (so 12 yrs, not 9)
- there's a hole in the gas tank near the seat on one side, and rusty spot on other side same area. the inside didn't look bad at all up around the filler, but the hole bothered me.
- i hooked up a car battery i'd brought with me to it and none of the lights except the neutral light worked.
- most of the rubber is looking pretty brittle, especially the intake manifolds.
- the front brake probably needs a total rebuild (no fluid in it)
- both sides hand controls look pretty shot (totally oxidized, buttons/levers broken, etc)
- he said he'd parked it due to starter problems. any idea what that is? i know Viragos in that period had some kind of grinding starter issue.

on the bright side:
- it shifted well thru all gears just rocking it in the garage
- it looked complete
- most trim intact

the guy is looking for his title, only had the copy from when the bank owned it. i offered him $100, and i think he may take it just to get it out of his way. other problem is he wants me to go to the tax assessor with him to transfer the title, but i really can't make time to do that in the next 3 wks. i'll probably pass on it, but i suppose it could be worth parting out for that kind of price. thoughts?

thanks everyone.

For $100, it's hard to go wrong. If you decide to take it home and find it's not worth your time & effort, you'll get your money back out of it parting it out on Ebay.

The starter issue might be refering to the common grinding noise these XJs make after a while. It's usually not serious. The starter clutch gets gummed up with crud. Draining the oil, and filling it right up with kerosene to sit overnight can take care of it. Next day, drain the kerosene and fill up with some new oil, run it for 15 mins, and then drain again and change your filter before putting in good, fresh oil.

Replacement tanks aren't too hard to come by. That and the other parts can be had a wreckers. Just depends on whether you're looking for a "fixer-upper" or a bike you can ride right away.