XJ 500 -81 (super rare?)

Hi!
Im new here and found this place when i tried to get more info of my new bike! Sorry it i post in wrong area! This is my first bike and I thought it was a good beginners bike though it was relatively cheap and what i could see in quite ok shape! Dose any of you know more about it since i find it super hard to get more info about the XJ500? Is it so that they only produced the XJ500 in a small batch or did they make some small changes of the bike so it got a new name but in general it is the same as a XJ550 or some similar bike?
Thankful for answers!

 

Very rare bike, almost identical to European XJ550 models.

1981 XJ500 MODELS:

COUNTRY: EUROPE

MODEL NAME: XJ500
STREET NAME: 1981 XJ500
MODEL ID CODE: 5N4
FRAME ID: 5N4
SERIAL NUMBER STARTS AT: 000101


1983 XJ500 MODELS:

COUNTRY: EUROPE

MODEL NAME: XJ500
STREET NAME: 1983 XJ500
MODEL ID CODE: 27E
FRAME ID: 5N4
SERIAL NUMBER STARTS AT: 005101

 

Ok! Thanks for the info!
But if a want to buy spare parts, can i search for the XJ550 as well? Is it the same carburettor for example? The "rubber gasket/pipe" (don't know the english word) between the carburettor and the cylinder has a lot of cracks and need to be changed.....

 

What size are your carbs? If they are Mikuni BS28s then the 550 ones will almost certainly fit. I have an odd feeling that the 500 was only sold in Austria or somewhere like that.. Len?

 

BTW do you know the bore x stroke dims?

 

Nice looking bike!

 

Yes, I'm curious to. Did they just call the 528 a 500 for this model?

 

Hi Sparvel,
Welcome to the best kept secret on the WWW.
This is the place to get your bike running safe and reliable.

You said this is your first bike - strongly recommend you take a MSF course and read this :
http://xjbikes.com/forums/threads/the-information-overload-hour.27544/

 

some of the countries have lic. restrictions based on size of bike could be it is just a little smaller piston or stroke change like the 700 vs 750

 

Not quite. Was poking around on Reddit a few days ago, decided to search on XJs for whatever reason, saw a thread from a while back where someone had picked up a 650G and was asking for information. He promptly got referred over here.

 

Don't know any dimensions yet but I'm planing to start some restoring soon so I can measure it then!

 

factory service manuals have the specs see if you can find one.

 

Hi.
I just find out that my bike must be rare.
Xj500-81 idnr: 5N4000104
If i get this right my bike must be the third one the made?

 

101
102
103
104
4th one made but still rare

 

Nice!

 

Hmm. I'm not too familiar with 550s, so I could be wrong here, but I'd say that yamaha dug into the 650 Seca parts bin for that model.

 

More likely the 550 Seca parts bin

 

I thought the tank and side covers looked 650, but I own zero of either model. "Not a guru" guru!

 

the controls on 500,550 and 650 are the same
seca 550 and photo euro xj500 have rectangle blinkers .it is nice looking for its age
the euro xj500 and 550 got the swirlly wheels that are on maxims in North America much nicer rims

My big question is does he have the right side cover?

also notice the shifter not at all like US model Seca more like the 650 and 750 secas

 

The Euro XJ550 came before the U.S. XJ550, and after the Japanese Domestic Market XJ400. The 650 was developed around the same time, and might share some bodywork (remember, the N.A. 650 Seca was brought to us as an afterthought).
What you see is the XJ400 styling applied to a machine with a bigger engine.

I'd post links to the old threads about this topic, but all the pics are being held hostage.

 

Maybe Dave can work his magic... He worked wonders with some of the other threads with hostage pictures!

 

He only has permission from Fitz, and even then Hogfiddles is replacing the images in his spare time (of which there is precious little for a teacher this time of year).

 

Looks the same as the shifter on our models, we got the same wheels and twin discs

What displacement is stamped on the engine on these?

 

in US we got 1 disc up front and the shifter is like the maxim 550 just a lever no linkage
price cuts to gain market share

 

Hello everyone! Had to join this website after I got mine XJ 500 1981 for about 2 months ago. It stood in my neighbours forrest, and have done so for five years. When I removed the moss, dirt, twigs, leafs and snow I was amazed how well preserved it was. My neighbour put it away after the bikes ignition broke down (no spark). Now with a new fusebox, and two TCIs later with still no spark and a bad upper pickup coil, I´ve turned to the Czech company IMF for a solution to swap the whole ignitionsystem for a new one, the bike is worth it. I´m waiting for their answer.
The XJ500 seems fairly common here in europé at last in Sweden where I live, and the only difference I can see between Xj500 and Xj550 is the displacement. 492 cubic centimeters for XJ500 Most parts on my bike is marked with 4U8, and that´s the code for the Xj550 what I understand.