Best XJ for touring?

Which XJ makes the best tourer? I'm thinking of doing a bit of touring next year and would like to do it on an XJ. I currently have a 650 Maxim with euro-bars but don't think it's the best bike for the job.

If anyone on here has done any touring, which bike did you use and why?

 

There are 2 schools of thought for touring comfort: sitting straight up on a comfy seat like a Maxim but with a big fairing/windshield to block the wind blast so that you don't need to keep a death grip on the bars, or leaning into the wind so that the blast on your chest balances out the weight of your body so you aren't carrying weight on your wrists. My personal preference is the latter, which is the way the Seca line is designed.
Which Seca is best for you is a function of what kind of touring you want to do (Interstate, twisty back roads), what fits your body size, and what loads you want to carry (passenger, luggage).
In my humble opinion, the 650 Seca is a great sport tourer but I'm biased.
I suspect that a 900 would also be a good choice, especially for 2 up or a larger rider.

 

I don't think anyone believes long distance comfort is achieved by wind blast against your chest... That's just the only thing that makes the sport riding position tolerable.

Secas and Maxims both have fairly upright seating positions by any modern standard, however.

Pure comfort would be whatever XJ you could find with a full fairing. I'd put my money on an XJ750 Seca with its full fairing the factory supplied during its last year of manufacture. I don't know what all fairing options exist for the 900, but the more power the better.

I did a 2k ride on my Maxim 650 with stock bars and without a windshield, with a ton of luggage, and I managed happily. But I certainly did lack some overtaking power, pure top end, and handling (it needed new steering head bearings).

Seca 750 with the touring outfit still looks pretty smart, has great luggage, and doesn't look as silly as the windjammer (imho). A little extra power, great passenger backrest. Kind of hard to find the touring stuff, unfortunately, though 750 secas are plentiful.

I will add that I had engine crash bars (I have some spares by the way if anyone wants them...) that I had universal footpegs installed on, giving me a way to stretch my legs. That was really nice, and that is one thing I (rarely) occasionally miss from my FJ, and won't really work on a seca.

Up to your style.

 

Your best bet is the most reliable XJ in your stable.

 

Long distance on an XJ can be done on any of them... as long as the matanence is completed. Whit that being said I like the XJ1100 for two up long rides (more power) but the 750 gets better gas milage by about 10 mpg.

 

I still love my XJ900RK for long trips. Nice and comfy, plenty of power, decent gas mileage, a 5+ gallon tank and enough of a fairing to break most of the wind at 80MPH. IMHO, it's about as nice of a touring bike as pop's 1150RT BMW.

 

The K/'83 had the small fairing; you don't find any problems from the wind changing lanes at higher speeds? I'd imagine an '84 900 would be better fairing-wise, also getting the displacement bump.

Still, a 900 would probably be great. I'd love to ride one, one day.

 

Maybe I'm used to it, but I don't notice anymore wind or speed buffeting due to the fork-attached mini-fairing of the '83 than I do with my full frame attached fairing on the '83 Vision.
The only time that I remotely notice it is when it's pretty windy (10MPH+ gusts) and I'm trying to run in straight line. Minor correction or a little bit of arm damping force is all. It's never done anything unexpected on me.
Jetted carbs running with pods, a nice 4 into 1 exhaust and a mid-range tuned SuperTrapp put another 15HP on the '83.
Did they even have the '84 900s Stateside??

 

No, they didn't. It was a one year bike here. But you could probably buy the fairing... Or... I wonder if you could get an FJ600 fairing and fit it straight on?

 

the fj 600 fairing was a frame mounted fairing. I believe the plastic itself was the same, but the mount would probably be a little different due to frame size differences. My two cents worth.............

Dave F