How did you get here?

Ended up here looking for answers as to why the speedo on my recently purchased 650 Maxim was wailing like a banshee.

It was embarassing. People around me probably thought a civil defense system air raid warning was going off when I rode by them.

 

Just got a 1982 XJ550 SECA from a friend of mine who wanted it out of his life. I've been working a bit to restore the bike to running order and came across this forum a few times over the last two weeks looking for useful advice. I decided to join up today to hopefully gain more knowledge from the forums and perhaps contribute useful information as I progress with restoring this motorcycle.

 

I was a Honda man who wanted to get back in the saddle again but wasn't having much luck finding anything nice in a 750 size, most of the Craigslist flakes blew me off and it was the seller of the SECA that called me back right away. I made a 150 mile trip to take a look at it and knew that was the one from 50 feet away, after unloading ten C-notes the bike was in the van for the trip home and I spent the next week working over the bike 12+ hours a day... should have seen the carbs. They went to church, the front calipers rebuilt and the electrical gremlins eradicated leaving me with a sweet running and very reliable bike. At some point I may ditch the Atari but as a child of the 70s & 80s I dig that quirky squareness. A big who knows.
What I do know is this one was meant to be so I'm going to make the best of it. Things happen for a reason and this is what keeps life interesting. The XJ forum has been the most influential and helpful, members like Chacal, Dave In Ireland and that zany Hogfiddles guy really know their stuff. I went back on ALL of the What Have You Done posts to soak in as much real life as I could plus the XJ4Ever technical pages.
As a long time moderator of the impalaforums I can honestly say this is a well oiled machine, the long timers are eager to help and contribute when they can, no bull or games. Someone got this one right.

 

I was googling for exhaust parts for an XJ1100 and landed here. Let me know if you have and exhaust your looking to unload....

 

I was looking for a "second" first bike. In my teens my dad picked up a 90s virago. Never rode it and it sat ripped apart. Now late 20s and fed up with automotive tinkering and always looking into riding but never having the money I'm on FB market place and find my 1981 xj650 midnight it's been repainted white on most accents and sitting in a garage dusty with a leaking carb. Knew immediately it would need that work at least. PO rode it last year with 30k on the clock, $800 and a rented trailer I was fawning over it the whole way home I've never mistrusted my strapping more than that day.
So I start looking into parts, gaskets, oil filter, order the manual and then stumbled upon THE CHURCH OF CLEAN. And here we are!

 

Just bought a 1982 XJ750 Seca - Bike was imported to the UK from the US in 1995. Bike had been sat for 3 years and parts started to be removed and have been misplaced so i'm slowly going through and checking off what i do and don't have. In amongst working on my other projects but the XJ has something about it that i really like and i can't quite work out what that is yet. Been scrolling through forum chats and how to's to start getting to grips with what i have got myself into.