Drawing a Crowd

I've become accustomed to my Norton drawing a crowd of onlookers virtually everywhere I stop; I wasn't quite prepared for it to start happening with my XJs, especially my daily rider.

I pulled into a party store on Friday to grab a refreshing beverage and check my cell for messages, and a guy coming out of the store absolutely FREAKED OUT over my '81. He took pictures with his phone, called his dad, and was totally enamored with it. Apparently he'd never seen one before.

Ten minutes later, I'm getting saddled up to leave, and ANOTHER guy comes along with his kid and also has to take pictures, as his first street bike was an '81 Seca 550.

I was expecting my restified '83 project bike to draw a few comments, but I didn't expect it with my "daily rider." I've given so much attention to the project, I've overlooked my "workhorse." So I decided maybe I sould share a few pictures of that one, too:




De-fairinged; Hella H4, simple drop-in conversion (from chacal) and Dunlop D404's.




Progressive Suspension 12-series shocks; Sargent Cycle Products redid my seat;




And I installed Euro bend handlebars with Gran Tourismo-style grips; other than that it's pretty much stock.

 

Fitz, that's a great looking bike. If I saw it out and about, I would probably gawk at it too.

 

both of your 550Rs look great...

ive not had either of mine out yet and the 900 is still in plymouth...

i dont have the 750 together completely since i found ive got a broken part in the headlight bucket that ive NEVER seen anywhere, it some sort of plastic bushing that is shattered...

the 550 needs a battery put in it and then i hope it starts because it was in the 'not gonna start' mode last fall....

i dont have any insurance on the 550 so i didnt title it. the 750R is all tagged and waiting on me...

 

can you get me a part number for the piece that's broken in your headlight? I might be able to help...

 

LOVE the finish on your engine covers (plus alternator and tranny).
That's my 2009 winter project, along with valve cover.

 

LOVE the finish on your engine covers (plus alternator and tranny).
That's my 2009 winter project, along with valve cover.

 

Fitz she sure is a beauty. No wonder it draws crowds.

 

Your daily driver is a dang clean bike for sure. I have had a few comments and guys come over this year already and my bike is leaps and bounds behind yours in appearance. It still makes a guy proud when people give nice comments and looks.

 

no part number but here is what it looks like...

the white part fits inside the black rubber grommet. i BELIEVE the white plastic parts function is to A) keep the grommet from being deformed when the bolt holding the headlight bucket is tightened and B) keep the headlight bucket from rotating around the mounting bolt axis...

they are side specific. this is the Right side. as i went to get it for the picture, i could NOT find the left side. which just about figures, the way my luck runs...



here is another picture to show how its broken...

 

Hey Fitz,
My first XJ looked just like that without all the extra red. I also had the fairing but took it off.
I traded it for an 81 Maxim.
I do miss the 550 Seca but That's when I road 1 up

 

It's sure nice to know the blood,sweat,and money that goes into these bikes doesn't go un-noticed.I've had a few nice comments about mine(pics in my gallery) and it's not nearly finished.

 

Fitz,
You are the master, (or one of them anyway) that bike looks better than when it rolled out of the showroom. How about a set of pics of the other one?

Dave-I got one of those plastic pieces you can have, PM me with address.

 

Thanks but i got a pair on order from speed something and sport ...

'fitz found me the source and i called straight away...

thanks again...

 

You doin' okay LtDave? Hope you have a great (and safe!) Memorial Day man....

and the same to everyone else here.

Semper Fi

 

If that's your daily driver, then the 83 must be a museum piece! Yes, please do post pics of the 83! Not nearly enough of them in your gallery!

 

Fitz, you do good work.

 

Hey Lt, are you still working for the 'big 1' ?

 

Fitz, have you got any 'before' pictures?

 

Somewhere. (Different PC.) It had a horribly rusty Kerker 4-1 with no baffle on it; the seat was an absolute disaster; it was missing one turn signal altogether and two of the others were seriously broken; and it looked exactly how you'd expect a bike that had been kept outside here in Michigan for 4 years to look (it had.) There was a lot of rust and grey corrosion; and like your Kaw, it had done a lot of dirt road time and it showed. Plus PO was a sincere, well-intended twit. I still uncover his signs from time to time.

All better now.

I'll get some new pics of the '83 up shortly.

 

These are the only pics of the '83 I have up in Photobucket right now; once I get the sidecover stripe, put on the other 3 black carb hats and finish the luggage rack mounts I'll take a bunch more.




Fork boots, EBC rotor, Avon Roadriders, Acumen horns... the cylinders still need to be repainted...




The headlight is a Candlepower "SuperBlu" H4; headlight bucket & ring, mounting ears and handlebar replated with black nickel; the boots are a Kawasaki part (thanks again Wiz.)




Those were taken before the seat came back from Sargent's...

 

Nice couple of bikes! The biggest difference in our '81's is that, if we met on the highway, you'd know what I was riding from a mile away. The Seca 550 fairing is a unique beast! I know you don't like them, and to be honest, some days I don't like the look of it either. It does look it's best from the riders seat though.

 

Ranger; It's not so much the looks (although I don't think it really fits the lines of the bike all that well) but the effect on handling that actually put me off.

The silly thing is so heavy PLUS has an "aerodynamic personality" all its own that for me it really attenuates steering response. I find the bike is much "crisper" handling with it off.

I agree that it's a "spotting feature" for the 550 Secas, but it was advertised as "removable" by Yamaha. So I removabled mine.

 

Very nice work. :wink: You've got a pair of beautiful Seca 550's!

 

Thats a GREAT looking bike fitz. I'd approach you if I saw that on the street! How the heck do you get everything so shiny!
-SLK

 

the quick answer is lots of careful work.

 

That's a nice pair of Secas fitz.
and I like the "toxic asset" title for it.

I can't even imagine how many hours of blood and sweat you have poured into them.

 

Nice lookin' set of wheels! I love the black color scheme.

 

Fitz. While I've had the fairing off numerous times for maintenance etc., I've never ridden the bike without it on. It does throw "dirty" air at head level for me and makes for a lot of wind noise. On the up side, I've tucked in behind it during rain storms, more times than I care to remember. They are great little bikes though, with or without a fairing.

PS I still wish I had a luggage rack like your '83 does.

 

Fitz, those are a couple beautiful bikes. Mine doesn't leek nearly as clean, however I'm always getting questions and compliments from passersby when working on, or riding the bike. From the big round headlight, to the flowing lines, I guess Yamaha just nailed a solid design.

 

True, I get asked about the bike all the time.
Guys get real enthusiastic about it.
Most love the header saying, they had one too.
People remember the Seca's.
Mine is not mint like Fitz's but it's pretty nice.

 

Hey Fitz,
Did I ever ask you how you were able to replace your exhaust? I used to have the Kerker, but it was old and ugly... sounded TREMENDOUS though. I can't decide on a 4-into-1. Any suggestions?

 

It took three ebay deals and a salvage yard to source the collector box, round up 4 nice head pipes and track down mufflers.

Mufflers are the most difficult; I actually had to replace (just) the mufflers on my '83 too. In both cases, I signed up with http://www.uneedapart.com/used-motorcycle-parts.php (I'm pretty sure I used them both times) and waited for my parts to come to me. I did have to send one set of mufflers back to one place because they had been drilled out; they took them back with no fuss. I eventually heard from a guy who had a clean set.

I still need a pristine #2 head pipe though.