83 SECA 650 Cafe Project

Thanks, Ease, for the pics and info. I found some 72 xs rear pegs that are a bit trimmer (same stud size and pitch) and I think I'll mess with them today. I'll let you know what I discover with different positions and get some pics posted.


RR

 

... Not an update on the bike, but I just wanted to post my opinion on something.

I changed my profile to contain a pic of my bike in every post, but this is an example of what I consider a decent size.

If anyone thinks it's too large or takes concentration away from their post please let me know and I'll remove it immediately.

 

Looks Good to me! 8)

 

*edit *

 

Thanks!

The picture is taken from the security booth at the Cabot garage.
(Worked security for the delta/mile one for a couple of years part time).

 

For some odd reason a lot of people like to modify SR500's to make them cafe racers too. They look cool but totally unrideable. I prefer to put spacers underneath the bars to raise them up so they are more comfortable. Besides, the first one doesn't even have any padding on the seat!

http://img134.imageshack.us/img134/9356 ... af5iv6.jpg
http://s90.photobucket.com/albums/k256/ ... img424.jpg

 

Yeh, seriously unridable. Just look, there's no drink holder, cd player---and how am I supposed to light my cigarette? What about the seat too, I mean where's my wife gonna sit? Am I supposed to ride that thing ALONE??? What about all my gear?? There's not a storage bag in sight. I'd just throw it in the trash, totally a waste. By the time I got my Vetter fairing on it and tracked down some hard to find buckhorns, I'd have doubled it's value. Not to mention the time involved. NO THANKS. </sarcastic rant>

 

lol thats good

 

Why do you keep saying it's unrideable?

 

LOL


I think the first SR was a race/show/unfinished bike... for the street, probably unrideable (I like comfortable seats - as you can see from my bike).

The second one is dead sexy and looks plenty comfortable to ride!

I like the SR's for 1 reason above all else.
One Huge Piston. That's gotta be fun.

 

Ease, any info on how to fab that seat?

 

Hey again.
There's a page here on this site similar to the one on dotheton, but I think it has the exact same info.

 

good looking cafe. glad to see another out there. i guess we need to start a yamaha cafe site. kudos

 

Thanks man, this bike has been kickin around for quite a while.

There are lots of yamaha cafe's over on the other forum I frequent... dotheton.com... feel free to stop by and post up a pic.

You'll find that most of the yamaha's are XS, not XJ's. But there is a pretty cool maxim cafe over there too.

 

Very Very Nice work, I have a 82 650xj and I was going to sell it. But seeing what you've done to it brings a tear to my eyes, and I will no longer be selling. Can you please put togeather a parts list and where to get them, I've been looking for Cafe parts but no luck. Again Great job on the Bike!! Looking for how to's on how to change the front fork to a dual break disk setup, how to fab a seat, where to get wire Wheels. I'm new to the xj 650 but love it. Please someone post up How to's.

Thanks

 

Thanks to you too! Good to hear you're keeping the bike.

I don't really know where to start with the parts list... I guess the only place I shopped from was e-bay, so each part came from somewhere different (in most cases).

My clubmans probably came from speedmotoco on e-bay... Just search Clubman handlebars, or just put in the words "cafe racer" and you should be able to pull up at least 20 different places to get them (they have to be 7.8" of course, not 1")

The clip-on's that I have on there now (instead of the clubmans) I got from Jim Hinshaw... great guy with an up and coming buisness (also sells rearsets and other things). I bought the Low Rise model.

If you're switching to this type of Clipon (Tarozzi), you'll need to replace the master cylinder to fit as well. I swapped mine out for a master cylinder from an 04 R6. It's a straight swap if you use your old Banjo bolt. But you might want to go all the way and use the R6 Banjo and have 2 separate lines instead of the stock collector under the lower tripple.

I opted to go for stainless lines in my case for performance and appearance... Which I also had made up locally at the toy box here in St. John's NL. http://www.thetoybox.cn... Lots of other places to get this done. Apparent'y there's a guy on e-bay that does em cheap too... I have no info on that though.

The taillight I found on e-bay... not sure off of who, same with the LED, but just search cateye taillight (or, again, just "cafe racer") and you should come up with something.

The decals I just drew up and brought it to a sign maker to have it made into a digital image to be cut out of white vinly - so I don't have a reference for that either (unless you live in my town, St. John's NL... they still have the pics on file at the shop) same thing goes for the checkers.

I ordered the "Cafe Racer" decals on the side covers from Carpy over at http://www.cb750cafe.com

Also, I got the "Rockers" decal on the 2-up seat from the ace cafe in london, England. I picked it up in person but you may be able to grab it at http://www.ace-cafe-london.com (which by the way is your new holy ground, provided you are making a cafe racer).

The seat, unfortunately, I can't be much help with. I ordered a generic cafe hump, which didn't fit... So I cut it up and used what was left of it and a seatpan I got off e-bay, combined with a lot of fiberglass work, to make the seat you see on my bike.

Not sure that any of this will help... If not try having a poke through my thread or heading over to the caferacer site to see the DIY how to's (http://www.dotheton.com)


Oh...
You say you have an '82 XJ650 and you don't have dual disc brakes?
So you have a maxim?

If that's the case I suggest getting a seca tank and forks / front end.
That way you get the dual discs and the cafe-looks of the seca 650 tank.

 

Adding a couple of topics that I think should be sticky:

Pictures of changing handlebars:

What to do when your flashers stop flashing:

 

sweet bike.

 

Thanks!

 

Has anyone ever stripped off an XJ650 Turbo? GOt rid of the faring, changed the tank to a normal one? I was thinking of it actually..

 

Hmm... I think you're more likely to find a 650 turbo motor put into a normal frame.

 

indeed that makes sense - in fact a 650 into a 750 frame would do it well.

 

Taking the seca on a roadtrip to PEI (here now actually)... Here's a pic from the ferry line in Argentia, NL.



If anyone is in the area, or knows of some good riding nearby, hit me up.

 

There's a weird object clinging to the underside of your bike, i'd recommend getting it removed immediately.

 

ROFLMAO :lol:

 

Hahah, it was removed shortly after arrival.
Unfortunately the bike didn't have room for a tent, extra helmet, extra seat, a suitcase, tools (for when the S10 brakes down, we all know the seca won't, lol)... etc.

 

Another Revival to the project thread...
Really makes me realize how little I've done to the bike in a while.

Anyway, I have always hated that my aftermarket 4-1 was so close to the oil filter cover... and a recent fight between the header and a curb (with a passenger on the back) forced me to take "drastic" measures... Plus I had an extra oil filter cover around.

Took the oil filter cover in to school and threw it on to the lathe (I'm allowed in there now), and this is what I came up with:



Damn... that's dirty...

Other than that, Whattya think?

Before you ask... Yes, I removed the cooling fins, and No, I'm not worried about overheating. My bike has an oil cooler AND I live in Newfoundland.

 

Oh, and just for good measure, here are some more pics from that trip to PEI:









Next year's calander?

 

Just posting this so I don't loose it... Can reply to this @ "modern (or otherwise) front end swaps" in the Mod forum...

 

well now i know that i could swap an older rd 400 spoked front end onto my xj

now to figure out if the rear would fit

 

mrkil: We're all working toward the same end. See http://xjbikes.com/Forums/viewtopic/p=1 ... tml#106717 I think it may be possible that XT/TT500 rear stuff might work.

 

yeah
i just wish the guy from spain would have told us what he used on his :/

or did i miss it?

 

Woop! New server and no crash!
Way to go mods. ;D

 

that thing is mean

 

hey ease
what front brake lever assembly are you using?
i like the remote reservoir

 

That is one of the nicest bikes I've ever seen. Great job.

 

Thanks! Really appreciate it guys.
The poor bike is sitting neglected in the garage, waiting for some warm weather... and possibly an overhaul when I get some $$$.

Levers are off of an 06 Yamaha R6.

Bolts right up using the stock lines and banjo bolt if you want, or you can do what I did and throw on the r6 bolt (allows for 2 lines right from the master) and get some braided stainless lines. :wink:


EDIT: Sorry for the Delays in responding... Trying to get through my engineering terms is keeping me off the forums.

I have a COOP term coming up for the summer so I'll be around more... Anyone want to hire a Civil engineering work term student from / in Canada?? 8)

I'll subscribe to my own thread so I can at least get back to anyone who posts in it.

 

very nice thanks for the info

 

Who'd you get your clubmans from? I'm starting in on the caffing of my 550 seca and I cant decide whether to go with a set of clubman bars or just dive right in and put on a set of clipons. I keep hearing there's clearance issues with both, but which one is worse?

 

The clubmans I just got off of e-bay. There were a lot of people selling them on there at the time, probably still is now, so you shouldn't have any trouble finding some.

I didn't have any clearance issues with the clubmans, you just have to roll them forward enough to where they don't hit the tank at full lock - in both directions. I bought mine for a CB750 (any large bike should do) to ensure I had a nice wide bar.

Clip-on's like mine are fully adjustable, so any cleanance issues are because they aren't set-up correctly for your bike. You just have to do the same as the clubmans and make sure that they aren't hitting the tank at full lock left and right. The issue I had with my clip-on's, however, was that I couldn't fit the stock brake master cylinder - so I replaced it with the R6 one I have now.

People who can't avoid the bars hitting the tank and still have the desired riding position have welded in a new tab to restrict the movement in place of the old one, but I don't think you'll have this issue. I didn't on my 650.

All this info is actually back on page 8 in detail (with Pics).

 

FWIW, I have clearance issues with my drag bars on my 750 seca. I'm making my own riser section from the stocker handlebars to solve the issue without putting to much rise into the bars (thats why I wanted drags, nice and flat.) With the stock control pods/mirrors/levers/etc, I needed about another inch of clearance on the bars/tank. With my aftermarket levers/controls/etc, I only need about 1/2"

 

Ease:
You have a very nice bike. I've been checking it for a while and I'm interested in doing the clubman handlebar swap on my 82 XJ750RJ seca.

DO you have a photo with you sitting on the bike so that I can see the riding stance with this handlebar?

I might also consider the dragbar if the clubman brings the stance to far forward. I'm only 5'9"

I am also considering the clip ons that you currently use on your bike. They seems to have less of an agressive drop and perhaps more confortable position for your body/arms. Is this right? I would like to do the clip ons but they're a bit more expensive.

The other reason why I'm considering the clip ons is because with the clubman handle bar or even with a stock bar it prevents you from lowering the front suspension, and I also want to lower the front about an inche or so. Is this the reason why you went with the clip ons? so that it will also allow you to lower the front more?

thanks in advance for your reply.

 

Firts off, thanks guys for the comments, and to switch263 for bringing up a good point about the 750.

The 750 secas are a lot different from the 650's and 550's. You will probably have clearance issues with changing the stock bars over to clubmans.

OK, I'll post one, lol. This is a cheesy pic I took when I first put clubmans on the bike... Can't really tell the stance b/c my feet aren't on the pegs, but you kinda get the idea. Notice how far forward I have the bars rolled (for clearance).



... Before you ask, No, I don't ride in shorts. Photo op only. 8)

I'm 5' 10", so no big difference there. But the 750 is a bigger bike. Clubmans are so cheap it's almost worth it to get em and try it out for fit...
Buying clip on's is a fair investment, especially if you have to get a new MC.

The clip-on's used the way I have them installed have a much less agressive drop than the clubmans, as you mentioned. And you're right, it definately puts less strain on your wrists and arms. Also, if you wanted to have a little more lift you could try the high-rise version of what I have...

**However, these tarozzi clip-on's do not allow for your stock master cylinder!!**

You will probably have to replace similarly to what I did... a more modern remote system or something a little more compact.
Although a cheaper method would be to buy a straight drag bar and cut it in half to use as longer bars (see last pic in this post)... would allow you to keep the stock MC, but your clip-on's would be a bit long.

This is a good point, and yes, before I installed the clip-on's I could only lower my bike (with the forks) about 1/2". Since installing the clip on's above the triple tree I've lowered the bike almost another inch, Total is almost 1.5" drop... And yes the bike handles great.

You're welcome, I like answering these questions - I just hope I'm helping!

And just to add a bit more to the post here's a pic of clubmans vs. clip-on's on the 650 for comparison:





This is with the stock MC laid in place... it Will Not bolt on the stock Tarozzi's. Note how far the right handle is hanging off compared to the left...

 

Is the stock master cylinder too long causing a clearence issue or is it the brake lines that get in the way? I can't really tell from the pic (especially on my iPhone)

 

Thanks a lot for your answers EASE. I have a few thoughts on this.
My 82 XJ750RJ SECA, does not have the master cylinder on the handlebar, but behind my headlight. So does that mean it will be easier for me to do the swap wether I use the clubmans or the clip ons? I'm diggin the clip ons. And I will go that route if I don't have to mess with the MC.

 

Yup, that should make it easier!

Worst case scenario you would probably need an extended line to the remote reservoir.

Yes sir, that's the issue. it hits off the clamp for the clip-on because it's too long / too tight to the bar.
Brake lines are not an issue.

 

Nice bike. LOVE the bars - In the UK they are called "Drops" (As in dropped bars - at least where I come from).

I personally think the riding position you adopt with them is great. It's uncompromising.

The last bike I had with drops on was an 1978 RD250 DX, in 1982. You've reminded me of my youth!

 

Thanks Markie!

I have heard of clubmans being called drop bars before as well.

Glad my bike could help you remember your youth!

 

new guy looking to buy a super clean xj650rj help!

new guy looking to buy a super clean xj650rj help!

sorry if I wrong spot but I am new guy and I am looking to buy a cherry clean xj650rj - am am 43 now and had one as a kid-

what is the deal on the Canada bikes - I heard rumor that they were made in canada years later than the ones in USA?

 

Also, my fave bike on the site! What type of exhaust is that? Sorry if you already answered that...