Seca 550 ride pics

I got 180 miles in on the old girl yesterday. It was a beautiful New Mexico day with no traffic. It's always like that here in NM. The Seca ran flawlessly. This was the first real ride on the bike and she did excellent, I'm very pleased.

I took what's called the High Road to Taos. It goes through the Sangre de Cristo mountain range. You ride through some beautiful old Spanish villages. Many of these villages were settled by the Conquistadors over 300 years ago. I had lunch in Taos then took the Low Road back. It follows the Rio Grande back toward Espanola, then back to my home in Santa Fe.

I rode with a buddy on his V Strom. He was surprised that the old girl could dance around the twisties like she did. He thought the beat downs only came from the S1000, not a 32year old 550. :lol: Of course he took his revenge on everything that was a straightaway.

The bike got great mileage at 55 and under. Running 75 she drank noticeably more fuel. She purred though, even at 8000+ feet elevation.













Wiki link to the High Road. If any of you get out my way, look me up.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_Road_ ... New_Mexico

 

Great pics. Makes me miss the desert southwest, grew up in AZ, now stuck in the people republic of MD.

 

Wait a sec! Dual disks on an American model? How did that come to be??

 

Forks off an fj600?

Sweet bike, sick swingarm!!

 

That particular bike has ALL SORTS of upgrade mods; take a close look: fender brace, Cal-Fab swingarm, rear-sets, dual front discs, 4-1 w/Supertrapp, etc.

(He bought it that way...) :wink:

 

Beautiful bike. Beautiful scenery. Nice work!

 

Awesome pics and bike. That one with the twisty road is calling my ZX.

 

Great bike. Love the front pic (fourth one down) with the fairing and headlight mirrored in the reflection off the front fender.

 

swanky lookin' 550!

 

Sweet bike! Thanks for keeping another one up & running!

 

Nice writeup! Proof that pods can work!

 

Magic looking bike,great pics of the bike and nice shots of the scenery as well.I noticed the rear sets and started looking more carefully,nice upgrades thanks for the list Bf.

 

Thank you all for the kind words!

The bike has a Euro/Japanese XJ400/550 front end. The disks I believe are stock for a Japanese/ Euro XJ400/550. They could be RZ350 or FJ600, also. The forks have air assist on each leg. I need to find or build an equalizer tube so I an get the same amount of air in each leg. It's got a K&L fork brace. I installed an NOS Derale oil cooler. It's got superbike bars, cheap eBay bar end mirrors, Supertrapp pipe with 4 disks, a couple of aftermarket engine case covers, Raask rearsets, carbs have stock jetting and K&N pods. I'm at 7000 feet, so the stock carb jetting work well for me. It's got a Japanese fender eliminator/tail tidy, new Avon Roadriders, and fresh paint and stickers. Every nut and bolt has been polished. I mayhave forgot a couple things. I almost forgot the super rare Cal-Fab swing arm.

Future mods include a big bore 600 cc motor with big ported head, Yosh cams and CR26 carbs. I've some new Works shocks on order.

This bike is almost an exact copy of an old friend I lost in 84. I always loved his bike. I added a few things that he probably would have like the dual disk setup It took several years to gather the parts. RIP Eddie Andresen.

 

I rode the Sangre de Cristo area a few years back on a Norton. That is an exceptional area for riding.

What differences can you notice with the fork brace?