New Member From Lancaster, Pa.

Hello. New member from Pennsylvania here. Just want to say hi. Aaaaand apologize for the amount of questions im going to be asking in the next couple months.

Recently rode my friends '81 XJ550R, and fell in love with it. 3 days later I find one of craigslist for a bargain, and had to jump on it. I'm excited to get my hands dirty and get this baby running like new again.

Josh.

 

Welcome, and fear not: this is the place for questions. Even stupid ones. You can head off a lot of them though by clicking on the XJ4Ever link in the top right corner. It's not just a catalog for the best place to get parts for our bikes - there are some absolutely invaluable threads/articles on what to check on and how to maintain. The Information Overload Hour and In The Church of Clean are the two most important.

 

Lancaster is near Intercourse, which is between Paradise and Blue Ball. I went to Reading once and got caught between Panic and
Desire. This state is full of weird names.
By the way, welcome.

 

Welcome to xj insanity. You're at the right spot. Got any pics?

Gary H.

 

Here are a couple of the beauty. There are a couple dings and things.. but for the most part, shes real clean. looking through the forums now for a solution to my first problem... Starter button only seems to work when it wants to..(oddly helps if the bars are turned all the way to hard left).

oh and of course... right side side cover.... gone. haha. going to fabricate something for that down the road.

 

Starter button is easy, just open it up and sand down all the contacts. Five minute job.

 

Sandpaper is a bit too aggressive.

 

It's a good looking bike.

 

i had it open the other day.. to check that all the contacts were "contacted" I should have waited and searched here first, so that i was properly prepared.. but yeah.. easy peasy to open back up.. Thanks for the info.. i found a couple other useful tidbits... but quite frankly.. electrical frightens the living caca out of me. its seems far past my scope. BUT.... so did carbs before i did my first rebuild with my CB750.. and shes running like a champ. just gotta dive it, right?!

thanks again!

 

I swore I wasn't gonna respond to this...

but I can't help it. Shouldn't that be the other way around? Blue Ball, then Intercourse, then Paradise?

Sorry.

 

Nice bike! A white 550 is high on my list of wants, that looks like a great bike.

 

BTW, what is the bike in the back of picture 1? Motor looks like a Kaw but I cant place the rims or exhaust. The seat is very KZ1000ish.

 

here is a wiring diagram for you to look at
http://frankjohansson.com/stuff/xj550/XJ550ElectricalDiagram.html

there is a connector you can look at when you remove the tank 3 position plug you probaly have a loose wire in the connector.
it connects the starter switch as well as the run(kill) switch
get a manual too
https://www.tradebit.com/filedetail.php/179963190-download-yamaha-xj550-maxim-seca-repair

$8.99 pdf download

 

Looks like a Honda Wing on the tank and I think those are honda rims, but there are other parts that do not look Honda...

 

That is my 1981 Honda CB750C, a very fun bike indeed!