looking at an 82 maxim xj550

I'm looking at an 82 maxim xj 550 with 95k miles
a little back story the guy is asking 350 he said it runs just needs a new battery which he has ordered I'm going to meet with him for a second time on saturday to see if the bike starts up with the new battery installed

on my first visit i looked over the bike everything looks good and taken care of he told me it was tuned up about a year ago

here is where it gets a little weird he mentioned the original tank had rust in it so he bought 2 used ones off ebay when i looked inside the tank he put on a saw a bit of surface rust but it didn't look flaky i fell like this should be somewhat expected with a bike of this age.

but in your opinion should this opt me out of this sale?

a few other guys on another forum suggested i reconsider the purchase i plan to bob this bike

 

If the tank is rusty, there are several simple methods of cleaning it out. Search it on youtube and you get a bunch of different options. A bigger issue is leaks in the tank. These usually need welding to fix. To me, the 95k miles is the scary part. Can you do a compression test on the engine? If it runs and has good compression, 350 is an average price, but perhaps running it with rust in the tank is not so great an idea. Either way, you're probably gonna have to clean the carbs. Perhaps the rusty tank could be used as a bartering tool to knock a few bux off the price.
Good luck and happy hunting!
MattV