Thinking about buying a XJ600

Went to check out a bike today and it's pretty rough. It looks pretty ragged and the guy said it just needs electrical hooked back up but it needs a little more than that. From what I observed...

Needs:
Carbs cleaned
Clutch cable
Clutch lever
Wiring tested
Headlight
All turn signal lamps
Brake lines
Rust dealt with in tank
Chain

probably more too.

I'm not sure where to begin if I do end up getting this and I'll probably need some help figuring everything out. That's why I'm here.

Thanks for your time.

 

Needs an airbox also. If it were me I would ask him what he wants to pay me to save it from him.
IF you have time and funds it could be a great project. But in the current condition $200 would be the most I would pay (I'm cheap - and broke).

 

Hey, thanks for the reply Stumplifter. Yeah he's asking $550 for it. He said he needs cash so I'll talk him down. When i first got there and saw it, I really had second thoughts towards that price. I'm thinking $350

 

Write you name and phone number on an index card, along with an offer for $200. Then walk away.
That's a parts bike. Nothing more.
Resurrect-able? Maybe, but not more than $200 worth of a gamble, even if it comes with a clean, standard title in the owner's name. There are just too many things missing, and too many good Seca II's out there to bother with that one.

 

Roger that, thanks for the input. I'll definitely listen to you guys about this and offer the 200.

 

Mine was for free and has less missing parts than this one.

 

I hate to say it, but unless it has a title, I wouldn't even offer $200. Even then I think its a stretch. Your going to need to invest some significant time and money to restore that to a reliable condition.

 

They don't hand out too many free bikes around these parts so against your all's better judgment I'm getting the damn thing. Wish me luck.

I searched the vin and it says FJ600. Just from photos I thought it was an XJ600. What's the difference?

 

FJ 600



XJ600.

 

ok cool thank you. is there an fj forum?

 

For comparison, this was the condition of my XJ550 prior to doing some work in the last 3 years to get it running well. I put $1100 in parts ( I did all the labor), and that was just for things like cables, seals, valve shims, chain and sprocket, brake parts, tires, etc.

I didn't have to do anything major, and it was running "ok." I was just surprised how much even a well maintained bike needed to get it up to scratch.

I'm guessing you will have to put far more than $1k into it.

Just my 2 cents. I would have asked him how much he will give you to take it off his hands....

Hope it goes well for you.

 

Yes, but the FJ isn't hugely different from the XJ.
I don't have a reccomendation for a specific FJ forum but there are several out there.

 

Here neither. It was just a friend (and colleague) of mine who didn't want to trash his old bike and he didn't have the money to restore it.
However I'd like to say that it's easy to get carried away but as you start to unbolt and remove things to fix them you discover other things that have to be fixed as well. Be prepared to double (or triple) your to-fix list and budget.
Good luck.

 

Yeah this forum seems to be the most active and relevant to my bike so I'll just stay here if y'all don't mind.

I'm gonna start with getting the engine running then work on making it street ready.

Is there a section here that's like a 'project bike' area where I can post my progression?

 

The UK called them XJ600's

 

That's an fj600.... missing A LOT of parts. Here, the xj600 was called the "Seca II". The fj600 is based on the xj550 but looks sort of like the 750rl/900rk styling

 

100$ and walk away

 

Just a warning. The costliest bike I ever had was one that I got for free.

 

So did NZ, there were only called FJ in America

 

And the OP is from the USA........

 

Huh. I made a gajillion percent profit selling my free bike!

 

But then what did you buy.... lol

 

Hmm. I thought I bought safe, reliable, two wheeled transport.
Apparently, I purchased ridicule from one I thought to be supportive...

 

Uh oh... me make matti cry-- me sorry. Me stop now

 

Nice thing will be your fuel economy.....should be 60mpg +\- .... not sure what that would be in kph....

 

Even better, we use the ridiculous measurement of litres per 100 kilometers. Or how many .265 gallons per 55 miles. 1mpg equals approximately... Ummm...

 

About a tankfull per month.

 

Niiiice

 

I made an assumption based on his user name that he's not from those shores

 

Not that i'm gonna fix this bike with coconuts but I don't plan on putting a lot of money into restoring it. For now just I'll just get it running then decide what I'm gonna do. If it becomes too crazy expensive I'll just part it out.

Good assumption I'm from Tn by the way.

 

The Professor would, and then Gilligan would wrap the thing around a palm tree . . . .