Newbie XJ Owner...

I just wanted to say HELLO to everyone!

Please excuse me - cause I'm a newbie to the xj motorcycle, but I have to say it was love at first site! (and I'm also a woman, so be gentle.....)

I live in east Tennessee and love to ride motorcycles. I just recently bought a 1981 XJ750R Seca (very cheap!) and it seems to run pretty darn good. It needs a little TLC, but half the fun is fixing it the way you want it. I think it's great that there is a site dedicated to my motorcycle and hope I get a chance chat with everyone here at some point.

~Angel~

 

Welcome.

Please stay awhile. For some reason the ladies seem to drift off..............

 

must be all the testosterone floating around...... :lol:



~Angel~

 

Welcome Angel, you got my bike! I'm putting the touring stuff on my 750.

 

Thank you.

I hope to put some touring stuff on mine, too. Maybe we can compare notes sometime....

~Angel~

 

I've got this picture of someone else's bike
I hope it attached- - my bike has some custom paint detailing that I will try to match onto the new pieces. Add a stereo also.

 

Nice! That is exactly what I want my bike to look like.
If I find any pieces that look like those - I'll let you know. I would love to find one of those front fairings, but I'm starting to think they are hard to come by.

 

Welcome to you Angel! Eastern side eh? I was just out in Knoxville last month, man I miss Pigeon Forge! I have the same aspirations for my 750 Seca. I've got the parts, just got to fix them and hang them. Look out, those fairings and bags are getting hard to find and cost a king's ransom.
Best of luck finding your dream out there, it's out there.

 

Welcome Angel, this is a great site, lots of excellent technical information and expert advice.

I'd recommend the XJCD is plan on doing any work on it... but even if you don't it has all the great information you need to figure out what may not be working right.

 

Hey I might be a little late to this thread, but Angel, did you get that really cheap Seca 750 in Kingsport from Craigslist? I remember the listing a few weeks back and called about it but the guy said it was already sold. Either way, I hope you have fun with it!

Also, a great source for used parts like the bags and fairings and stuff you are looking for is Motorcycle Salvage here in Morristown. It's a huge indoor junkyard in an old factory building that spans 2 blocks. They have two of just about everything.

 

I got it for $650 in Rogersville, but yes in was on Craigslist - is that the same one?

 

Yeah I think it was Rogersville, come to think of it. It sounded ridiculously cheap. Thought it might be a good fixer. You must have grabbed it right up. I think I called on the first day.

Glad it runs well for you. What color is it? Maybe I'll see you around sometime. XJ's seem to be few and far between around here and when you're looking, they're easy to spot.

 

Welcome and congrats... if you have any probs just use the search forums link on the left and you'll find what you're looking for... common problems are broken down barney style by some of the elders so you can do the work yourself and gain some experience with your new/old bike. I didn't know anything about fixing bikes... just riding them.... and now my xj is running good from a non-running state. Enjoy!

 

Yeah - I should have knew it was TOO CHEAP. Maybe I should have let you buy it instead (hehehehe)! Nah - trust me - I probably saved you alot of headache. The only thing it was suppose to need was front brake work and the seat repaired (Heck - I wish!).
I mean I was looking for a bike to fix up, but I really had no idea how much fixing up till this seca. When I bought the seca - it sounded, drove, and felt great under me, but I swear - I thought I looked at it better.

After getting it home, I found some serious problems. It was losing charge, so I got to looking at the battery area. I found that someone had duct taped the solenoid and battery wires together and they were hanging by one little wire that hadn't frayed just yet. And not to mention they had also used a lot of masking tape to connect some of the wires and was nice enough to write on them too, so I'd know exactly where they go (yeah - right!). The front brakes were completely shot, because someone was too lazy to fill up the master cylinder with fluid and run them dry for who knows how long. And someone was also too lazy to change the front brake pads and they have cut big groves into the brake cailpers. And on top of that, the front forks had no (or little) fluid in them.
After riding it around for about 15 minutes it sounded like someone had dropped a wrench down in the motor. The oil filter bolt was a wielded mess where someone had tried to make some kind of homemade bolt and some of the little fins were broke close to the bottom of the motor.
At this point - I starting thinking it had been wrecked, so I looked even closer. The bottom oil plug on the left side under the side plate (not really sure what that little bolt is called) had been wielded up and painted over, so you couldn't tell unless you was real close. After this, I was worried that someone had heated the side of the motor with a wielder or worried about someone wrecking the bike and then maybe running the motor without enough oil or even hot. So I drained the oil and it looked like black metal-flake paint pouring out - I swear it was more silver than black.
So the motor was shot and I got really mad and starting stripping the bike till I was down to bare frame. I was mad for days till I found a motor in Virginia, which took about 16 hours of driving and ended up costing me about $400 more (motor + gas it took to drive there). Since it was down to the frame I been slowly re-painting, re-working, and re-building as I go. I still haven't got it together, but I'm also done. I only have things left is fixing some of the wiring (using black tape), putting on the rear tail section, the handle bars, control handles, and hooking up the cables.
After all this - I bet I'm one of the only girls that knows the seca from top to bottom and side to side, cause I have done all of the work (piece by piece) since the beginning. And even though I scrubbed and scrubbed my hands - I been walking around with grease and paint under my nails for weeks - it so embarassing. I'm so ready to go back to being a clean and prissy girl that just loves riding motorcycles.

 

Oh I better add that I had a little help, with the heavier stuff like the moving the engine around, from my boyfriend, which probably hates me now cause I been such a b@#$h lately about it.

And the color is the original yamaha black and red, but I'm seriously thinking of painting it purple. I will post pictures just as soon as I get it finished.

And to reply to "dustball" - thanks - the forums have actually helped alot! And before my seca, I didn't know much about motorcycle except for riding, but I'm slowly becoming an expert!

 

hi angel, you been taking any pics as you go?

 

FYI you are awesome! I can't think of any women (that I know or can think of) that would go and do what you just did! Nice to hear things are getting better! Keep us updated!

 

Hey thanks! But it's because there isn't a woman that's crazy enough to do what I been doing lately. Heck - even the guys around here think I'm crazy, but think the grease looks good on me. It's been alot of trouble, but I have really enjoyed it. I will keep you guys posted and I will post some pics tomorrow of my seca, even though it's not finished.

I'm thinking of buying one of those XJ CD's and I was wondering if anyone knows where I might get one?

 

Wow, Angel ! what an ordeal! I hope your new motor's a good one.
Search this site for XJCD order info.
Good luck with your re-assembly.

 

I hope the new motor works out. After hearing that, I'm kinda glad I missed out on it. I was looking for a cheap bike to fix up because my sister wants to learn to ride and she's been looking at Triumphs and the like, and I keep telling her to learn to ride on an old beater.

Sounds like you're going to get it fixed up nice. Tell your boyfriend there's nothing wrong with purple.

And get some of those blue nitrile gloves from Harbor Freight. (about the only thing that's worth buying from them...) That's what I wear when I'm wrenching and they keep all the gunk out from under the nails.

So now I know I'll really notice if I ever see a purple Seca 750 cruising around.