82 750 Seca test ride question: chirping noise

I looked at an 82 750 Seca touring last week. There was a chirping noise while rolling on the throttle. Is this normal or indicative of a vacuum or exhaust leak?
Just wondering. I saw so many other things wrong with it I’d only be interested at half the price they were asking.

 

I've heard the 550's don't make that noise, it's the Primary Crank gear on the Clutch Basket gear. It's part of the motor's music.

http://www.xjbikes.com/Forums/viewtopic ... vious.html

 

Could it be brakes or speedometer making the noise?

 

It's an engine noise like the YICS motors make, or do you need to be moving?

 

It can also be the telltale sign of a classically burnt valve.

We need a better description.

 

Ah yes, the challenge of verbally describing an engine noise. Honestly “chirp” is the best I can come up with. Imagine a mid to high pitched note that rises and drops in volume as the engine RPM goes from 1200 to 2400. I don’t recall it making the noise as it went down through the RPM range. It made the noise in neutral and taking off in first gear. Once on the road I was distracting by the fairing bouncing around and wondered if it would come off at highway speed and take my head with it so I wasn’t paying attention to noises at that point. (The owner told me the fairing was added after she bought it. It made me wonder if they had the correct mounting hardware or if a poor garage fix was used.)

Would you tell a seller their bike is probably worth half what they’re asking? This bike had obviously been stored outdoors for some period of time in its history. Plenty of obvious rust and whitened aluminum and the intake boots were cracked and faded. Cosmetic problems everywhere. Looked fine in the craigslist pictures though.

 

Would you like to talk price??
For instance, my 750 Seca was bought for $700 and needed brake caliper rebuilds, new tires, a battery, carb cleaning- - and more.
I have since put another $700 in it and got 3 years of use from it.
I had to drive to Georgia to buy all the Touring stuff that had no mounting brackets, then figure out how to make mounts for everything.
It's still not painted and finished, so I'd be lucky to get $1,200 in today's market- - (my opinion).

 

Does it sound like a happy chipping? Happy to be riding again !

 

What are they asking for it?

Around here a working bike thats below 750cc and older then '85 would probably got for around $800. Similar bikes but in great condition would probably go for around $1100-$1300. (Remember these are craigslist prices, you can expect that they would probably go for about a $100 less then listed and some people think their stuff is just worth gold)

I bought my bike 1982 maxim 650 for $300, and we drove it home. It didn't have mufflers and it took us about 45 mins to get it started it had been sitting for a couple months. (Mainly just needed a carb clean + a airfilter, the guy was running open carbs)

But really you need to get familiar with bike prices in your area. I would say that you might end up kicking your self if you dont watch craigslist for a week get familiar with prices.

 

I believe TimetoRide has the correct answer wrt the noise. It really wasn't a bad sound, like, turn-it-off-now-its-about-to-blow-up!

gratscot: Yes, I've been keeping my eye on the CL prices. This was an 82 750 Seca with 42k miles. They were asking $1200. I've seen others near the same price with less mileage and better looking.

What is it worth? Someone might come along and pay the $1200. I looked at all the attention it needed and compared it to other bikes out there and it just didnt balance out. My "half the asking price" is probably out of line. It's a subjective thing.

The first thing I noticed was the headlight rotated about 15 degrees out of plumb in the fairing...

 

Dang I was gonna ask that for my stocker if I sell it and is waaaay better than you describe, I better start at 1800 LOL