Just bought my first XJ! 1982 XJ550 Seca :)

Hi Guys, just introducing myself. I just purchased a 1982 Yamaha 550 Seca off Craigslist with only 11k miles. The lady I bought it from was the original owner. I took the bike out last night and it runs like a champ! Well, just saying hi and I'm sure I will be around this forum frequently.

Cheers!
PNelson

Just got a picture taking of the new bike. The headlight was a little messed so I took the one of my XJ650 Maxim, fit right up perfectly

 

IMMEDIATELY check the rear brake shoes for delamination, my '83 only had 7100 miles and it was delammed bad: http://xjbikes.com/Forums/viewtopic/t=15874.html

You might also want to think about a valve adjustment right away; with those few miles, it could have been neglected and still run OK but it's nearing the "danger zone" if untouched as yet...

Check the tires for date codes, don't want to be ripping around on 28-year old tubeless tires...

Welcome. 550 Secas are tons o' fun.

 

Wow fits thanks for that awesome information. I'm going to look into that asap. Also, do you have recommendations on quick "bolt-on" modifications, like new headlight, gauges, etc? I really appreciate your information, I am checking out the brakes when I get off work!

 

Welcome aboard.

 

OH yea, real quick. I bought the bike and it has a 4in1 exhaust set up with a supertrapp muffler/exhaust. Has anyone seen heard of this and is this near stock or not at all? Thanks!.

 

Nice scooter! I second the safety items mentioned above, here's an interesting piece on old tires that really opened up my eyes:
http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/video/aged-ti ... rd-4826897

 

Sure, look in my gallery. My mods are more subtle than most but bring the bike into the 21st Century. I like the stock gauges, but the 80mph speedo had to go. I transplanted a compatible 150mph unit into the cluster. The rest were "modernizations" like the BRAKES.

Yes, it's not uncommon. No, it's not stock.

Once again, check my gallery; both of my 550 Secas are running the stock exhaust systems. (Not easy to find, mind you, but not impossible.)

Here are some better resolution pics, the info in my signature gives you some specifics on them: http://s437.photobucket.com/albums/qq93/bigfitz52/

 

Wow, for I was blind but now I see.

 

Oh man, great responses. Thanks Fitz for your photobucket and thanks clippers for that crazy article about tires! Like woah!

 

Wow, Fitz just checked out your pics, do you like the bike better without the front fearing? I think I'm gonna remove mine tonight, looks awesome man!

 

Welcome to the forum and congrats on getting an XJ!

I like the stock guages. Easily readable.

Treat your sidecovers like thay were made of glass. Get new rubber bits for the sidecover connection points.

 

Ya, so I hear these side covers are hard to come by. Thankfully I have both.

 

Good advice, I keep a drawer full of sidecover grommets and isolators and replace at first sign of any deterioration.

I like the stock gauges too, they just needed one minor improvement:




As for the fairing: I found it attenuates the handling of the bike too much for my liking. The "original" XJ, the XJ400, was styled identically to our Secas, sans fairing. Yamaha dropped the fairing for the '83 model year; I retrofitted my '81 as a "fairingless" bike (Seca emblem on the front of the cluster and reflectors on the sides of the fork.)

However, I'm not a big fan of fairings to begin with; you be the judge.

You also might want to investigate a lower handlebar depending on how tall you are; I have BikeMaster's "Euro" bend on both of my 550s.

 

Great information, thanks Fitz! I'm 5'11 and would like the bars to be more of a straight bar look. Also, how did you get your gauge to go to 150 and how can I get one?

Thanks!
PNelson

 

For a little bit straighter bar yet, take a look at the "Superbike" bend as well.

The speedo was a "transplant." The 550 Seca cluster comes apart, and any Yamaha instrument with the same style frame can be substituted (with a little Dremel work and some ingenuity.) I think I posted a quick photo thread on how I did it (IIRC) I'll try to find it for you.

That one is a NOS part from (I believe) an XJ900. I got it off eBay for $20 because the seller had it mis-listed and I was the one and only bidder.

Any round-faced speedo from a Yamaha with "cluster" mounted instruments will work-- you just have to find one, they come in various speed ranges. The cool part is that the speedo drives are all the same ratio, so it you find one that fits, it will work.

One of the big late-'80s Ventures has a 120mph unit that looks similar, I'm currently stalking one of those for my other 550.

What I like the most about it (other than knowing how fast you're going once past 80) is that the tach and speedo needles now move with a great degree of synchronicity in top gear.

 

to get an idea of what the "superbike" or "dragbar" bars look like, i put that style on my maxim:

http://s297.photobucket.com/albums/mm20 ... AG0056.jpg

the riding position is now "sportier" and has me feeling less like i'm riding in an easy chair.

 

So, Fitz, I have a XJ650 Maxim, those gauges should fit right up, correct? Man, I'm super stoked about my Seca, wo0t!

 

Lopez, I love those bars, similar to what I want! For not, I just turned my bars down... Thanks, this forum is bad ass!

 

Fitz, where did you get the grommets? Did you order them from Chacal? Or did you find somewhere local?

 

I had actually bought a bunch from Yamaha before I even discovered XJBikes; but chacal carries them too.

Yamaha still offers pretty much all of that stuff, the "consummables" and quite often they're not all that expensive-- until you add shipping.

I have a hard time paying $15 to ship $6 worth of rubber bits; Len doesn't do that.

Yamaha fiche: http://www.babbittsonline.com/pages/par ... fault.aspx If it has an "add to cart" button, it's still available.

Some of the bits (the round grommets for the 550 Seca for instance) are SO common the local Yammery has them on hand.

 

Posted a picture of the bike finally, what ya'll think with the 1982 XJ650 headlight on there?