'82 Seca 650... keep or sell? | GTAMotorcycle.com

'82 Seca 650... keep or sell?

OverrRyde

OverrRyde

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Hi everyone,

a family member is currently the owner of an 1982 XJ650 and they are downsizing and has to get rid of the bike. Its been under a tarp on the side of the house for a while now. The question is, should i take ownership of the bike or help him get rid of it? Would it be worth it to try to fix whatever may be wrong with it after all these years or not? unfortunately i don't have the garage space for another bike so i would have to figure out a way to store it myself until funds/time/expertise comes along!

Looking for opinions

cheers!
 
OverRyde said:
Hi everyone,

a family member is currently the owner of an 1982 XJ650 and they are downsizing and has to get rid of the bike. Its been under a tarp on the side of the house for a while now. The question is, should i take ownership of the bike or help him get rid of it? Would it be worth it to try to fix whatever may be wrong with it after all these years or not? unfortunately i don't have the garage space for another bike so i would have to figure out a way to store it myself until funds/time/expertise comes along!

Looking for opinions

cheers!
Click to expand...
what would be the asking price and does it have an ownership?
 
I had a 1982 XJ650RJC, it was a very nice bike for its day - one of the ones I regret getting rid of.
But here we are, nearly 40 years later - so much depends on condition as to whether or not its worth saving.
Sitting outside under a tarp for how long (decades ?) is not a good sign.
1982SecaFront.jpg
 
Unless this particular bike is very very special to you (eg it was your grandfathers bike and you remember going for rides on it when you were a wee pup) send it on. Storing a project for years that has already been stored for years and will require much more than it is worth to get it back on the road is not a great plan. If you decide you want one in the future and have the time and space, buy one then.
 
The Kijiji link in post #2 is a gift. Follow up on that.

If it was a Seca Turbo in good shape, it might be worth something, but a standard model isn't worth much. A basic search of Kijiji finds a few for sale by owners that are on crack, and a couple that are in the range that I suspected ... $1000 for one that "needs carbs cleaned" and $1500 for one that appears to be a runner.

Outside storage, even under a tarp ... is not promising.

It should not take long to establish whether it has any hope of being worth saving. Does it roll, do the brakes work, do the key locks work, open the gas cap and look inside ... is it clean, or rusty, or full of mystery awful-smelling varnish. Are there cosmetic parts visibly in decent shape or is it all just thoroughly trashed.
 
Thanks for the follow ups.

This is my father in laws bike, he has more attachment to it than i do really, i was just thinking that he may be getting rid of something more valuable than he thinks and trying to avoid a facepalm down the road! I am by no means an expert in MC's at all so can't really tell much.

Brian P said:
If it was a Seca Turbo...
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It is. now as far as condition goes, i might have to go there and pull the tarp back to see what condition it is in... havent seen it a few years.
 
So it IS a Seca 650 Turbo?

That changes the situation somewhat, even if the bike isn't a runner, because that's a rare and unique bike with some parts on it that are somewhat-valuable unobtainium (as opposed to the regular Seca's no-one-cares unobtainium).
 
Do you WANT a '82 Sega 650?
Resurrecting a 40 year old bike is no simple/cheap task.

Nobody else wants it.
 
Brian P said:
So it IS a Seca 650 Turbo?

That changes the situation somewhat, even if the bike isn't a runner, because that's a rare and unique bike with some parts on it that are somewhat-valuable unobtainium (as opposed to the regular Seca's no-one-cares unobtainium).
Click to expand...
Finding bits and pieces for the this bike would be tough, not many were imported and they didn't sell very well. Part of the reason for that is they weren't particularly faster than the carbureted version.
raresportbikesforsale.com

Rare Bird: 1982 Yamaha XJ650LJ Seca Turbo - Rare SportBikesForSale

This entry has been published on August 18, 2013 and links to eBay may have been updated to point to similar bikes of interest. If Rodney Dangerfield comes back to us reincarnated as a motorcycle, this would be his gig. All the right pieces, no respect. Built in the early 1980s and riding the fad…
raresportbikesforsale.com
 
^ Based on those articles, I would definitely move it along (or part it out if the rare expensive parts are in good shape). It's going to be expensive to get it running well, if you crash it, repair parts may be unobtanium and the bike sounds kind of marginal to ride.
 
Just because a bike is about 40 years old doesn't mean it is collectable or worth anything at all................ Would you want to spend any time and money on a Mercury Comet, a Chevrolet Vega or some other type of drone type vehicle?
 
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ReSTored said:
Just because a bike is about 40 years old doesn't mean it is collectable or worth anything at all................ Would you want to spend any time and money on a Mercury Comet, a Chevrolet Vega or some other type of drone type vehicle?
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Totally agree. But sometime in my life i would like a VW Beetle again.
 
ReSTored said:
Just because a bike is about 40 years old doesn't mean it is collectable or worth anything at all................ Would you want to spend any time and money on a Mercury Comet, a Chevrolet Vega or some other type of drone type vehicle?
Click to expand...
i'd slam that vega with a nice small block
 
lucky2 said:
i'd slam that vega with a nice small block
Click to expand...

Good luck to you if you can find one that hasn't rusted into oblivion. I remember the Vega very well. A tin can garbage car produced to compete with the relatively new influx of Japanese economy cars. Crap engineering, rust bucket, wimpy 4 cylinder motor. Its only redemming trait was its ability to be shipped via rail on its nose in a vertical position.........
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