How did you get here?

I've lurked here on and off for a fair old while, after I bought my XJ. Now I have a bike problem I've joined up.....

I'm in Milton Keynes, in England. The bike is a 1981 UK spec XJ650 with a UK spec XJ750 engine. Most of it is brush painted in a lovely shade of green, hence my user name. It's a Toyota colour. I do get fools asking me if it's an army bike, because it is green. (Sigh) The colour is nearer Kermit than Khaki!

 

Hello!
I found this site immediately upon researching my '82 Maxim 550J.

The only bike I've ever owned, I bought it in '90 for $700 and rode it during and after university. I moved away and left it with a friend some 16yrs ago who kept it in his basement for most of that time. Not quite 2yrs ago he delivered it to my parents' home (I'm 3hrs away) and thanked me for letting him store it all those years. Ha! It sat outside beneath a tarp (most the time) at my parents' until early January when I was able to get it home and under roof. The last couple of years have taken their toll while it hasn't been started since '98.
It's a project, to be sure, and this place will no doubt serve as an important resource.
Many thanks and kind regards!

 

Recently bought my 1983 Midnight Maxim from the local APF ( motorcycle wrecking yard ) and started looking for info on it and this site pops up everywhere. She runs great but the headcover gasket has a small leak and the starter clutch is going out. Of course she needs the usual cosmetics like paint and whatnot. But for $695 I couldn't pass her up. Anyway, figured I'd say "Hi".

 

I found it several years ago when I bought my first XJ. I think I googled Yamaha Maxim 650. I don't think I knew it was an XJ or what XJ's incompased.

 

I bought a nice 650 years ago and I loved it. I acquired a 750 and 550 both are projects now...

 

I am dean and for the west Yorkshire in the UK
This is my first Xj and after starting the work I did need some help I looked online and this was a site that I got told about by a mate that had an Xj

He did say that if I needed any thing that there will be someone that will know about it on this site and so far I have rewired the bike with this sites help thank you

I will post my bike soon so you can all tell me what you think to my first build

 

Mr Green, do you have trouble finding your bike in wooded areas? a belated welcome to the forum old mate.

 

Thanks for the welcome.

It's fine in open woodland, so long as there's a nice brown tree trunk behind it, but park it in a field, walk away twenty yards and look back- it's gone! 8O

One thing I like is that ever since I painted it green, lots more people come up and talk to me. Many of them not bikers. I didn't get so much of that when I tried (and failed) to keep my bike all shiny. I don't understand it, but it's cool. :?

Which part of Australia are you in?

 

Google search worked for me, I got my XJ750 Seca and then Googled just that, XJBikes was the first web page I found. Been here searching for data and rebuilding my Seca ever since. Next step is a carb balance and then it's registration and inspection time.......... WooHooo

 

Just rolled a non running 1982 XJ750 (I'll take your help to figure out how to be more specific...) off my truck that a fella I know from work needed out of his garage. Although I think it was mostly outside as you can see from the first picture - I was googling how to remove the tank, etc so I could drain the old gas out of the carbs and give it a try. He told me I could part it out or whatever and just give him $100 when I made some money from it... $100 and I have the title : -)

Since it is so complete and cleaned up so easy, maybe I'll just keep it whole.

 

Found this place when my step-dad handed my XJ750RH down to me. He is also a member here but I don't know how he found the site.

 

I found the site when I was looking for info on my 81 XJ750 Seca. Glad I found it tons of information here.

 

The Google led me here after my roommate bequeathed me his '82 XJ650. I've done a bit of restoration and tune up work on it so far, and once I have it mechanically sound I'll start doing stupid things to make it 'cool' I'm sure.

 

I found this site like almost everyone else...the 'G' word. I lurked for a good long time before joining...not sure why.

I picked up my 1983 XJ750 nearly 3 years ago from my former boss. The bike had been passed from 4 employees (and my boss' dad) before it came to me. It had been ridden fairly often, though it sat for a good year or two before I got it.

This site has been a godsend.

 

Barn find '82 XJ750 needed a lot of help and this was at the top of the internet search. You guys continue to be a huge help in keeping it running in top shape.

 

Lots of searching for anyone who will talk about a 33 y/o bike...

 

Found you via Google when searching for pictures of XJ Police version of which I have two. Always searching for parts or people with these bikes. Excellent site and forums. Thanks

 

How I got here is a bit of a long story.
I own my first XJ 550 seca since almost 20 years now.
I bought it in 1995 with something like 16k miles.
The five years after that I used this bike as my main form of transportation, which included three years of daily commute over 75 miles (return trip) and two holidays in Great Brittain.
By the yeart 2000 I wanted something bigger and bought a XJ900F.
As nobody seemed to want the smaller motorcycle and I had grown attached to it, I deceded to keep it as a back up.
The XJ 550 has by this time more than 56k miles and it behaved like it needed a restauration.
The method was simply to disaasmeble everything, look what seemed worn, replace an reassemble. The frame, swingarm and centre stand were sandblasted and thsan powdercoated in my employer's coating line.
During the restauration process I found the second XJ550 on the internet, which saved much cost in replacement parts. It had only 19k miles.
I more or less finished the restauration in 2008.

In that time I had tried to find information on these motorcycles on all kind of media. I ended up with 3 manuals (Clymer, Buchli (German) and the original Yamaha). And I started to find more sources of information on the internet. First the Dutch XJ900 club site, then the German XJ community and from a link on one of those sites on XJbikes.

In the mean time my children were born and the motorcycles took a back seat. Until I was triggered this spring by a collegue who was trying to revive his Yamaha TDM900 after 5 years, also due to children.

My own revival attempts followed the known paths: dead battery, bad fuel and after that is solved running but very poorly. On the forum I found the way ahead (valves first, than carburators) and decided to buy the parts I did not have yet from Chacal.

In the future I will search for the information needed to also revive the XJ 900 which is starting to look very neglected at the moment. And maybe I can help others with what I have done in the restauration process.

Joris

 

Hi to all,

my name is Jaap and live in the Netherlands. Always been a yamaha afficionado although I have and still ride another brand aswell.
Started on a DT 360, followed by two GS750, then a Seca, then a xj750f and after that I was anxious to buy a vmax... But riding one was not as much fun as I anticipated: low torque on low rpm's, to much all in once at 6k rpm and to small a gastank to do some serious riding. So... I bought a V65 Magna...
Still riding my third V65 since it's such a brutal and nice riding bike. The first one did appr. 120k, the second one was rebuilt to a survivalbike called Swamp (130k) and the third is still in front of the house.. ready to take me everywhere I want. Do all the work on these bikes myself, also the engines interior... Now this bike is bulletproof after some serious mods.
In the livingroom is residing a srx-6, my wife rides a fj600 rebuilt to QuickSand.. a desertlike survivalbike/ratbike, we sold a '73 tx 650 and bought my first ever yamahalove a '82 seca in nearly mint condition and only 30k on the clock. This bike has never felt rain so even the exhaustclamps are still as new...
The turbinesound of this bike really caught my attention so when I found one it/she? had to be bought..lol.
Have plans to rebuilt this one aswell to attend ratbikemeetings instead doing so with the fj/QuickSand.
My V65 Swampbike is deceased due to many miles and has been discarded.. snif.
I'm one of the two founders of rataplan-ratbikeclub (nickname JPi) and have been promoting this all through europe, with succes! Many nice pics on that site btw!

Anyhoew.. glad to see xj4ever is a nice site with much info so will be here frequently I guess.



The bike has a small smoke windscreen now and the krausers are also aftermarket. They were still lying around from my previous xj750f so fitted perfectly.
There are more items changed so will post a recent pic soon.

 

Referred by a board member on a different site