My new XJ

Hey, so i am new to this site and fairly new to the world of motorcycles. My dad has ridden bikes pretty much all his life and i used to ride on the back of his with him all the time (he has a 71 Norton 750 Camando, Drool :lol: ). Unfortunately he is reluctant to give me his bike although he hasn't ridden it in years.

I've never been huge into bikes, but of late, my life has been leaning in to and pulling me in to the corners of Motorcycles awful fast. I think its time i pick one of my own up. A little investigation here and there around town, and i found an unposted wonder sitting in somebody's garage. I offered the guy $500 for this 1981 Yamaha XJ650 Midnight Maxim (the guy im buying it off of said it is an '83, but through some research via Internet, i have not been able to find any indication that Yamaha ever made a 650 Midnight Maxim in '83. Any reassurance on this subject would be cool)

Anyways according to the seller, all the bike needs is a spedo cable, new tires, and he said exhaust tape, I said replace it. I will clean out the carbs and change the oil of course, but other then that it should run fine.

Now I am not the official owner yet, nor have i even sat on it yet, but I am super excited. I will chronicle my progress with the bike on this site (thanks to the moderators and all posters for doing a wonderful job of keeping everything going here). Fix up the bike over the winter, get my license in the spring, then me and some buddies are going on a road trip to beautiful British Colombia in the summer. Trailer the bikes out there, the roam the mountains with the wind in our hair and bugs in our teeth .

If any body know of some good parts shops in the Kenora, Thunderbay, Winnipeg area of Canada, i would appreciate it.

 

Welcome to the site. I am no expert as I am very new here as well.
If you can get the VIN number from this bike, you can eliminate all questions as to what it is.
I haven't figured out how to add a link, but if clink on the XJ4Ever link at the top right of the page, you will see a topic TECH TOPIC: Model ID and VIN's.
This will give you more info than you ever wanted to know about Yamaha VIN numbers.
Good luck!

 

the XJ650 midnight maxim was available in 1981. the XJ750 midnight maxim was available in 1983.

Dave Fox

 

Thanks Dave.

 

XJForever (chacal on the forum) ships worldwide (I believe and definitely to Canada!).

 

Does any body know the difference between the 650 Maxim and the 650 Midnight Maxim?

 

Hey when you post a new comment click on "Post Reply" at the bottom of the thread before you even write anything. When the message field shows up on the next page with all the little options up top. Click on the one box that has the wing coming out of the globe. Another box will come up, just copy/paste the link into that and voilà!