The power of the Internet is amazing. We just recently placed a 'Submit Bike' button on the site and within a day I received a great email with pictures of a beautiful red XJ650 Seca and a request to show off this gorgeous red beast. The pictures alone are worth the price of admission but I was curious about the background of this bike so I replied with a few questions.

I was so pleased with the reply I received. The owner of this machine is from England (so some translation may be required for our North American readers) and he put this bike together using the best parts of two bikes. I found so many similarities in my experience with the Yamaha XJ that I found myself getting very sentimental as I was reading his response.

When I receive pictures of a bike or if I see one online that I like these are the typical questions that I ask:

What year is this bike?
Where are you?
How much riding do you do on this beast?
What was the hardest part about rebuilding this bike?
Why did you choose this bike?
Are you happy with your XJ?

Usually I get back fairly brief answers that are too the point and I have to add some flourish to the interview. In this case I was pleasently surprised. The owner of this bike uses the moniker 'Nige' and here's the reply I recieved to my questions (I have added some translations in parenthesis):


Nige's Response

I got my first one (which ended up donating the engine, braided brake lines and a few other bits) from a friend who had it laying around (in bits, of course). I paid him £150 ($215USD) and then it sat around for a couple of years until I got tired of looking at it.

Just as I was ready to throw it in a skip (dumpster), I found another one on ebay (for which I paid the princely sum of £90 - $130USD) which is basically the bike in the photos. It had only had two owners, wore the original dealers number plate and showed a genuine 16000 miles on the clock. Unfortunately it had sat outside for a time - with the head and barrells off (which let the rain in).

I figured I could save/build one bike from the two wrecks - which is what I managed to do at the back end of last year. The tank and some other bodywork bits were sourced from yet another ebay seller. Powder coating was done locally, new tyres, wheel bearings and some taper-roller head bearings went in, I painted a few bits, polished a few bits and put it all together again. I was very pleased/relieved when I eventually got her to fire up, and the motor seemed OK.

I bought the first example because:

a) I like older bikes, and
b) it was cheap.

I bought the second one because I wanted to end up with a complete and decent bike which I could ride - a task which the first one on its own could never really live up to. I also have a flat-track Triumph Bonnie (which I've been "developing" over the last 23 years) and a Daytona 955 in the garage, but must admit that the XJ is now a very firm favourite (even though its not a bike I took much notice of back in the early 80's - when I was really a Suzuki man).

Yes, I like the bike very much, its especially good in the twisty stuff which is quite a surprise, and comfy too. I like the fact that the XJ has such an apparent following for what I originally considered a bit of an oddity here in the UK (I think it was much more of a hit in the 'States, even though it was developed for the European market). I've only covered about 400 miles on her so far (longest continuous trip being around 140 miles) but looking forward to many more when the better weather arrives. I'm in West Yorkshire in the UK. The most frustrating bit of the build was stripping/rebuilding the front brake master cylinder and calipers, and getting the brakes to bleed. Everything else seemed relatively straightforward (but remember, I had two of a lot of things so could choose the best parts for refurbishing).

I'm delighted and flattered that people seem to like her, especially as she was built on a budget. Its only the second Yam I've owned (out of sixteen or seventeen bikes over the years) - until last weekend! I've just bought my next project - an '86 FZR 400, with a 600 motor in it. I plan to build this as a track bike but it will take a while, as its a bit of a mess.

Happy riding and restoring to all XJ owners and thanks for providing the sites and forums where we can share our interest in these older bikes.

By the way, Elvis, I take it yours is the Green Cafe-racer-style Seca. Tell me a little about it and how long have you owned it?

Regards

Nige

You can see now that I didn't need to edit this at all. It's true the Yamaha XJ has a great following and it's always good to see someone else get hooked by this bike.

If you would like to send pictures of your bike in to display to the world go to the home page and select the 'Submit Bike' button or click here.