The Seca has awoken!

Still fun after all these years. I think I might look for a 550 also.

 

Mine's awake too. WAYY early; but hey, it was 77*F at 7:10pm this evening.

Small world; my '83 550 came from Lake Geneva, WI.

 

I do like your bikes Fizt. A buddy of mine bought a 550 back in '82 after he crashed his '77 RD400 (now those where fun) when I had my XS 400 and I always like riding his 550.
Oh and isn't this just some crazy weather?

 

Thanks, sincerely.

Back in the day, I had a couple of SR500s. I was intimidated by the shim-adjusted valve clearances on the 4s, so I went with the big single and its screw-adjusted tappets.

But it was nowhere near as practical a bike as the 550 four is; in many respects.

You can learn a lot in thirty years, I sure did.

 

random q - fitz, what kinda bars are those? I want some lower profile bars, but i dont want to go crazy and get some drag bars...

thanks!!


and op - I'm from gb and go to school in stevens point, so im through appleton frequently. so we ought to ride sometime! eventhough i usually take 54 when im on the bike!

 

biggs - nice 650! And Fitz - as always I love to see pics of your 550's!

 

BikeMaster 'Euro' bend; with NOS GranTurismo grips and Napolean BarEnz mirrors.

http://www.bikemaster.com/bmstrv2.nsf/P ... endocument

 

Fitz, did you get the rotor from Len? New rotors, pads and line are on my list this year.

 

Yessir, I sure did. It's an EBC, and I painted the hub black (it comes in "natural" look at dmcoach's resto of his Max.)

Stainless lines, black sheathed; with a custom-length upper from XJ4Ever as well.

 

Thanks.

And which avons are those?

 

RoadRider AM26; 4.00-18 rear and 3.25-19 front. GREAT tires, very grippy, excellent in the rain...

But I only got around 6K out of the rear and that was stretching it. That didn't stop me from replacing it with another one though.

Highly recommended in all respects except treadlife.

 

Fitz, take some new pictures, those must be about 4 years old

 

Fitz - don't listen to a thing Polock says! I drool over those pics. But I sure do like Polock's motto!! I'm tippin' one right now Polock!

 

biggs500 - looks great - dunstall pipes ? bigfitz52 - your pics spur me on to continue improving my 550 - rear carrier original or a fab

 

Stock exhaust. Not quite as pretty up close as there are a few small holes in the cans right after they attach to the collector but they're underneath so you can't see them. Shouldn't be an issue as the bike is always stored indoors and I hate riding in the rain so they don't get wet very often.

 

Got my new rotors today (thanks Len!). How did you paint the inner hub without getting the small "circles" that the rotor floats on black?

 

Every time I ride my Seca Turbo it reminds me of how great the basic 650 platform was and is.

 

Sharp looking Seca! Your bike is very similar to the Seca that first got me into XJs before I bought my Maxim.

I recently bought an EBC rotor from Len as well; I know it's obvious, and I don't know if there's an easier solution, but if you are patient and take your time with masking tape you can mask off those washer looking things and the end product will look great. I should have snapped a photo of mine when I was done with it.

Good luck!

 

That was how I did it too, careful masking. I used gloss black brake caliper paint and it's holding up very well.

For masking, I used "Tamiya tape" a really thin, fine, flexible masking tape sold in hobby shops for building models. It comes in widths from 2mm or so up to 3"; I used the 6mm stuff I had in my modeling supplies. (Just for the tiny stuff, then overlayed it with regular masking tape to cover larger areas.)

It's also great for masking the spoke highlights when you repaint wheels.

Not really. That pic was from a year ago spring wakeup. I haven't taken any yet this spring, howzabout last November right before I winterized it?

At 8800+ trouble-free miles after going back on the road: