My Seca II Scrambler Project

Really liking the way this bike has gone together, like others have said something Yammy should have done. The rack looks great but you have gone with standard bolts to hold the rack on the back. Yet on the rack itself you use nice clean looking cap screws, same on the frame inserts, tail light even the headlight bracket. Just think it would keep the "clean" look if you replaced those bolts with caps.
2 cents worth.

 

Good eye! Yep, the bolts you see there are just temporary until I can get over to Ace for a proper set of socket cap screws. With all the Christmas shopping, I thought it better to wait.

 

Nice work!!

 

A couple new goodies for the Scrambler. FZ600 side stand (about an inch longer than the XJ side stand) and a later-style waffle-type rear brake lever. Added red heat shrink to the foot knob on the side stand so that I can see it more easily in the sea of black.

 

Here's the side stand and foot lever installed. I think the black looks really nice and the brake pedal is going to work out perfectly. The side stand, not so much. I think its too tall but we shall see. Some modifications are in its future.






This came a while ago. I ordered a Vessel JIS driver from Amazon. It shipped from Japan and took a while.




It's an awesome tool. VERY high quality and one I think I will use often. If you aren't in a hurry, I recommend getting one for all those JIS screws on the XJ.




And in case you forgot what the bike looks like, here's a reminder, taken last night. Why the hell not? :?:

 

Trucklite LED headlight in an Emgo 7" (Kawasaki) housing. The housing is quite nice. Much better quality than I expected. Coupled with the Trucklite headlight, the whole assembly feels high quality.










Headlight installed! Here are some photos (taken in 21F weather). All photos taken at 1/25 shutter speed with an F-stop of 3.5 (so that they can be compared; apples to apples):

Delkevic halogen headlight (which I was running), low beam (didn't get a shot of the high beam, sorry):





Trucklite LED headlight, low beam:








Trucklite LED headlight, high beam:








In my driveway, low beam:




In my driveway, high beam:



In the street, low-beam:




In the street, high-beam:




And a video showing the light cycled low-to-high and back:




Most importantly, how the bike looks with the new light and bucket:

 

Looks awesome!

I'll be doing the 7" LED Headlight upgrade for mine as well. I got a Suzuki Bandit 1200 housing because it's deeper to help fit the "Rats Nest" wiring on my model.

Thanks for making the video. It shows that it will be well worth the trouble and expense.

Tony

 

I'm on my second front fender and still not happy with it; mounting the Ducati fender to the stock XJ fender brace causes it to splay outward and pull the leading edge toward the tire. I only have about 3/8 inch of clearance there. With that big front tire picking up rocks, I need more clearance. I found a good deal on a Triumph Scrambler fender and I think it'll work out. I knew from the photos that it was nicked/scratched and scuffed pretty heavily:










After about 30 minutes of elbow grease and 3M rubbing compound, it's looking good enough for the bike. No painting required (hell yeah):










I need to fabricate an XJ-fender-brace to Triumph adapter bracket and then i'll get this one bolted up. But more on that later.

 

It's really ez to do all that work with all that space!

Again the bike is looking really nice.

 

I bought the house with this new workshop back in early July but remodels and repairs have kept me from moving in. Just wait until I have a fully built-out motorcycle workshop.

 

With every good upgrade comes the need for new custom parts. I sat the Triumph fender in place this evening and realized the bend on the stock XJ fender bracket isn't right. I noticed the same thing when I put the Ducati Monster fender on there earlier this year. Just too flat.




So I drew up a new one that will accommodate the bend in the Triumph fender. It'll also raise the fender a bit higher up off the tire allowing more clearance for rocks and junk to pass with the tire.




Flattened out (so I can actually make the thing):

 

I do like the look of the Triumph fender better.
The new fender bracket/brace looks nice. Maybe make one out of heavy cardboard and play with the height a little before committing to metal.

 

You and I are on the same page, K-moe. I mocked it up in paper/coardboard last night to verify the mounting holes were correct. Today I'm going to head to the shop and see if it fits the Triumph fender and the mounting holes on that fender line up with what I'd measured.



I can get 6 of these cut from 304 stainless for right-around $100. For that price, it might not be worth the time to actually cut it out myself. I may go that route so that I have a few to play with. I do have a set of wheels with street tires mounted and it'd be good to have my metal fender on its own brace for quick swapping.

 

I don't know how many of the XJ's, XV's and XS's used a monoshock, but . . . for you shock enthusiasts out there, lets talk rear shock modification for a moment. The recommended replacement for the Seca II (by me, I rule) is the FZ6R since its a direct bolt-in affair and gives all the benefits without any of those nasty side effects (like impotence). For my Scrambler, however, I could use a bit of extra height in the rear with the bigger dual sport tire. I bought a compressor so I can pull apart the shock in hopes of replacing/modifying/changing the top mount to get a bit of extra height.

Any of you done this or have any ideas of what to use to gain an extra inch or so of rear height? Given the geometry of the rear supsension, I need between 3/16 and 1/4 inch shock length to raise the tail 1". I thought about Heim joints and I also thought making a new end that is a bit longer (about .25" to get that 1" tail lift).

Ideas? Guidance?

 

How about a 1/4 inch spacer between the upper or lower spring seat?

Tony

 

I'd rather see links made to raise it.
Less screw-up potential.
I'm not sure if anything is commertially available in terms of a longer eye-shank, but it should be fairly cheap to have one made if you go that route.

 

The shock has a travel limit. A spacer will just increase spring preload.

 

I had part of a model generated from when I did the rear-wheel swap on my other XJ (it has an RF600 rear wheel on it). I took that model and began modifying it to be more representative of the Scrambler. Specifically, the rear suspension geometry. This will allow me to better understand the overall impacts of toying with rear shock length.

 

I also bought a spring compressor so I can disassemble a few spare shocks I have and see if they can be modified. The one in the picture below had an oil leak and hemorrhaged when I pulled it apart.

 

It's been ages since I've posted an update. Not too much to report. Most notable is the addition of saddlebags. These are a set of Willie and Max bags I picked up for not-much on eBay and mounted using 16 gauge steel plates. The bags secure through the frame mounts for the side guards.

 

Love to see it out in the wild!

 

You keep making me want to push the limits of how many motorcycles my wife is willing to tolerate.

 

I've managed to sneak in 5 without my wife noticing. But I have them in a dedicated workshop so that helps.

 

Taken this past weekend. I had the Scrambler out on a ride to diagnose some electrical problems (I think I had a dead cell in the Yuasa battery as a swap seems to have fixed it).



There's a growing list of things I want to do to this bike when winter gets here, including reworking the headlamp brackets to bring the headlamp closer to the speedometer, building a new gauge bracket out of cut aluminum to better match the rest of the custom parts on the bike, and then some maintenance items including a new chain and sprockets.

I also had the idea of adding a tank rack. I have to repaint the tank (after damage to the righthand side from it being knocked over last year) and I'm considering adding standoffs to support an aluminum rack in the tankbag area. We shall see.

 

I wonder if yamaha saw this bike and decided to build the xsr. I love this bike!

 

One word... BEAUTIFUL.

 

I just read through this thread today and I'm seriously impressed with this build. Awesome job on this bike radare, it looks fantastic and I'd love to take it for a ride to see if it is as good as it looks.

 

If you ever find yourself in Denver, I'll be happy to let you take it for a spin.

 

It's been ages since I posted an update. My apologies for that one. This past Memorial Day weekend, I took it on a 4-day, 1400 mile ride to Utah and New Mexico. In preparation for that ride, I did a few upgrades:

I modified a Yamaha Venture center stand and welded tabs to the frame to use it. I painted it with 2k black paint. While I was at it, I painted the mufflers, too.












I had a set of stainless steel headers sitting in a box and decided to install those. These are made by Delkevic.




I always freeze on long rides so I decided to install some heated grips too. These were stolen from my other XJ. I don't ride it much anymore, anyway.




It had rained and rained and rained all week leading up to the trip. It even snowed a few days prior. I spent the entirety of Thursday working in the rain. I planned to leave Friday and really didn't want to start out the trip in the rain. Just before sunset, the clouds cleared. A good omen, I think.



Here are some photos from the trip. I rode just about every type of road you can think of; interstate, highway, rural and dirt. I rode in a host of weather; rain, snow, sleet, hail and sunshine. The bike did well and I had a great time.

 

Thanks for the update.
Add some brush guards (the full coverage type) and you will eliminate the rest of the cold hand problem. Wind is the enemy.

 

Any recommendations on a type or brand. I don't have a lot of bar real-estate for mounting. I was giving some thought to building a set before the trip but gave up due to space.

 

I cant give any specifics about which brand, but I have seen sets that are just meant to be wind deflectors that mount like a bar end mirror. The set I have mount to the bar next to the controls with a two-piece clamp and might be adaptable to your mirror mounts. I picked them up off of Ebay several years ago just to try out and still have them on.

 

Been looking at these:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/PUIG-TOURI...750613&hash=item4d7d89b2fc:g:km8AAOSwvl9bqewl

https://www.ebay.com/itm/PUIG-SPORT...150840&hash=item4d7d89b2fb:g:xtwAAOSw6utbqewl

I'm sure any ones you choose will need some kind of modification because there's none that are model specific to our bikes.

Tony

 

WOW! Mine cost me all of $12...shipping included

But then I rarely go anywhere that requires actual brush to be pushed aside.

 

Man, those look nice. And man are they expensive. I wonder if I could find a used set that needs paint.

 

Gotta agree, they are pricey for pieces of molded plastic and a couple of brackets. That's why I was "looking at them".

Might be tough to find them used, but could probably save some dough if you see some.

Tony

 

It's been way, way, way too long since I updated you guys on the scrambler XJ. I've been getting it ready for an 8 day ride out through New Mexico, Arizona, and Utah that I am planning for late May.

Before my big trip this past year, I built a centerstand and added mounts to the frames. This started as a Venture stand.





This past years big ride took me out to eastern Utah and back along Southern Colorado.









I was wet most of that trip and not quite as prepared for being wet and in snow as I thought. My heated grips quit working near Ouray. I was frozen solid by Wolf Creek Pass. The thing that saved me was a sticky throttle tube. It let me set the engine speed and plug along, hands on the cylinder head.

My focus for this year is on comfort. I want to try and avoid a repeat of the Wolf Creek Pass incident. So in preparation for the next trip, I've added some bar risers and lowering pegs to give me a bit more room and improve comfort while standing. The risers were really done to give me clearance for preload caps, but they really reduced back pain.







My old heated grips quit while riding near Ouray so I installed some replacements. These are Oxford's Retro styked grips. I quite like them and they managed to get to 185F while testing in the garage.







I also added some Barkbusters to help keep my fingers from aching so much when riding in rain or snow.





That's about where things are. I'm waiting on some custom heel guards I had cut to be shipped and have some modifications to make to the shift lever and brake pedal. I'll show those when I get them together.

 

I feel your pain I got stuck in rain, fog then snow. I remember coming down out of the clouds in NC in early spring and was just frozen. Pulled over to the side of the rd at a stop sign got off the bike and started to do some calisthenics just to warm up. Jumping jacks and squats to get the blood flowing. There is just nothing like being chilled on the bike and all you can do is sit on her and try to steal any heat you can from the engine.

Your bike looks great and adding the hand guards is a supper idea. Just keeping the wind off your hands helps so much dry or wet. Do you have any heated gear yet?
https://www.amazon.com/s?k=gerbing&ref=nb_sb_noss_2
I love this stuff and as long as your bike makes enough electrical power to run the gear best money I have ever spent. Normally I can get away with just the jacket and heated hand grips but they make a suite if you need more heat.

Great write up and keep us posted on more trips.

 

I took a quick run up the street and back to try out the new guards. Temperature in the high teens with an 11F wind chill. Rode about 15 mins without gloves and my hands weren't painfully cold. I call that a win.

 

Do you guys happen to know what the suspension sag should be on an XJ (assuming it's unchanged for the Seca II)? I can't find it documented anywhere but I have about 2" on my front, presently, which I think is too much given how easily it bottoms.

 

Oh, and, BTW, I did get out several weeks ago and do some scrambling. First time I've ever ridden on muddy ice. It was a hoot. I do need to sort out some sort of bash-guard, though. Not quite sure how I'll do that with the pipes the way they are.

 

Just have to know where to look............
https://www.teknikmotorsport.com/complist/yamaha/xj600-seca/1992/
Click on the info tab in the middle of the page after scrolling down a bit.
It gives the spec of 20mm preload and 32mm of sag.

Tony

 

Awesome! Thank you. I swear I spent an hour looking before I became frustrated. Back out to the workshop to adjust.

 

I got the sag all set up and the front end feels a lot better. Actually, the whole bike does. I installed a set of adjustable preload caps to make tuning the sag a lot easier. These are 38mm caps and I found them on eBay for around $40.



I also put on a fender-extender. Hoping this will reduce the amount of debris that is flung onto the oil filter. Time will tell, of course.

 

what size forks are on the Seca II?
Just wondering if they sell those for 36mm.

 

Seca II has 38mm forks. But they do have some 36mm versions too:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Front-Fork...944690?hash=item3b3945c6f2:g:aMwAAOSwfntdgvyK

Mine came from the same seller and took about three weeks to get.