Thoughts on why so many XJs have "sat a while" & low miles?

I was wondering if people had any theories or info on why so many of our XJs "sat for a while" and/or have relatively low mileage?

I know alot of knew HD owners are weekend only riders/wash & waxers. Was the same true for our XJs in the 80's?

Is the low mileages due to the fact that they are NOT touring bikes and probably used in the cities alot?

To many people dump their rides? To many get bored? Injured? Dirty carbs? Other gremlins?

Just curious what others think or KNOW about why our XJs tended to sit around.

I'm a new rider (away from the "big city") and I've put on nearly 2k miles in less than 6 months. I see many people buying bikes on here with less than 10k. WOW.

 

Sure. A number of factors, all adding up.

-Yamaha made way too many motorcyles in '81-'82, and as a result was selling them at "fire sale" prices. As a result, a lot of sales were to people who didn't stay committed to motorcycling so the bike got shoved in a corner. Once it sat for more than a year, it now had problems so it either sat some more or got sold to somebody who couldn't fix it either.

-The XJ series required an initial valve adjustment at 3000 miles, and thereafter every 5000 miles. Since this service was expensive at the dealer, and beyond the DIY skillset of a majority of these new owners, it simply got overlooked. Once the bike started to run crappy as a result, it got parked and forgot about. This would be anywhere from about 7000 miles to a max of around 25K when it would stop running altogether.

-a lot of these bikes had a "second life" where the original owner sold it off to somebody who couldn't fix it either (and by now the sitting had caused carb issues) or struggled with it so it got parked and forgot about... again. Sometimes this "second life" would result in another couple thousand miles, sometimes not.

-you can sometimes count the sets of friction plate "etches" on the plain plates in the clutch and tell how many times the bike has sat for a long time, kind of like counting the rings on a tree.

Of my three XJs, only one was regularly ridden and (halfway) maintained. The highest-mileage bike, go figure.

The other two were the direct results of the scenarios outlined above; a second (or third) owner who did some work but gave up after putting a few more miles on the bike while struggling with it the whole time. Then parked it.

 

Very interesting and good to know. Thanks

 

I know that same thing happened to the 650 I have. it needed service and the owner didn't want to spend the money and it sat the that carbs filled up with junk and it sat for along time. I picked it up and set the valves and cleaned that carbs and it runs real sweet. I just need to do the fork seals and its road ready again.

MN

 

And of course the conditions under which it sat have a lot to do with the nature and degree of the deterioration. As do any hamfisted attempts by subsequent owners to resurrect it. ("PO syndrome.")

Except rear brake delamination. It seems to have occurred under a wide variety of storage conditions.

 

I wonder if there is a "National" reason also?
In the UK bikes have always been assiciated with transport for the working classes, certainly up until the 70's when they became more widespread.
I remember being turned away from various pubs simply because I rode a motorcycle in the 80's.
I think the steroetypical "Mods and rockers" image of pitched battles at the sea side had a lot to do with this. Most XJ's I see for sale have 30 - 40k miles on them although occasionally a low mileage with 15k turns up.

In the US it seems that biking has a more "leisure" assiciation with it - possibly due to many states having better weather that good old England, so it is perfectly acceptable for "ordinary" people to want to ride at the weekend?
Perhaps that's why there are so many low mileage bikes around, exactly for the reasons Fitz has listed.

Biking is much more popular with 30-50s age group here now and sports bikes seem to fit the bill. No sign of shorts and flip flops though, it's all taken very seriously with heavily armoured full leathers!

 

I have run across several 80's bikes with low miles due to lost interest, never registered, needs a new rear tire but I never got to it and the list goes on. Occasionally you get that barn find, where the bike just needs a good cleaning and some fuel maybe a carb clean, and you're off and running.

 

Yep, I would say most often its a lost of interest for motorcycle riding in general. Or some people get in their heads that a Harley is an upgrade, and they are never happy with what they have to begin with.

 

Not just in the UK, in most of the rest of the world. Until the influx of returning GIs after WW2, motorcycles in the USA were more of a novelty than anything else. The automobile was already the transport of choice for most everyone. The GIs came back from overseas, bringing British bikes and small Jap bikes with them, and motorcycling here changed forever.

What DIDN'T change was the "recreational vehicle" aspect. While pure-motorcycle riders DO exist in the US, most motorcycles here are the rider's "second" or recreational vehicle, not their primary (or only) mode of transport.

Interestingly, here, the "anti-motorcycle discrimination" thing didn't FADE until the recent onslaught of Harley-Riding Yuppies and weekend warriors. (You can thank the movies The Wild One and Easy Rider for that attitude developing here.)

But you're right, Markie; it's our "classification" (relegation?) of the motorcycle as a recreational vehicle that keeps the miles off them.

To MANY Americans, they are/were just toys. Not serious transportation.

 

I agree with the observation that lack of serious commitment is the big factor in finding so many low mileage XJ's. I think you will see this same thing on a much larger scale, with some hints at the trend on craigslist and the internet, namely that the largest percentage of Harley purchases made in the last two decades were by people trying to buy an image. Thanks to the FTC and its screwing the import 750 and above market in the early 80's and the need to feel "adventurous" with a little "rebel" by the expendable income crowd and you net the same thing.

I think too with the XJ/FJ series they were the last of a bread of sport bike that was replaced by the FZ's, VFR's, GPz's and GSXR's that opened a whole new way to look at sport bikes.

 

I know of alot of 80's multi carb jap bikes that people ran for a few years until the carbs got dirty and out of synch and alot of people ran scared when they saw all those carbs and it was pretty pricey to get the carbs cleaned and synched professionally so there became a myth that you had to constantly mess with the carbs and they were not considered reliable.

 

I can certainly understand the thought of paying or DIY'ing 4 carbs being a bit scary.

Also people not properly cleaning AND syncing them PROPERLY leading to bad rep.

Because of their age (and messed up #2 idle screw hole), I grabbed an extra set of carbs. I haven't tore it apart yet. Thankfully my ride was smooth when purchased and so far still is.

I'd agree there was (and sometimes still is) a bad rep about MC riders in the US. Depending on the location MCs are not ideal commuting vehicles year round. I'm in Chicagoland so 1/2 to 2/3 of the year is about the most you could/should ride.

I think Craigslist is the best thing invented for buying/selling older MCs
eBay and Chacal is obviously a great source of parts!

 

I agree completely with the comments above. I think a lot has to do with what the bike was meant to do/what it does well. It has great attributes to be a commuter bike. Reliable, good mileage, simple (at least reasonably so) to work on, insurance is cheap. What it lacks is any protection from the elements during the commute. Which pretty much relegates it to the garage in the Northeast in October, the Central states in November, and the Western states by December/January. In the Northwest the rainy season can start in September and an open bike is a PITA to ride in a downpour. The Southwest, i.e. Arizona, Nevada, parts of New Mexico, Parts of Texas, etc are way too freakin' hot to ride in the summer months. Summary: The XJ's are far from the best year round bike in most parts of the country for commuting. If it is sitting for months at a time it isn't accumulating any miles.

They are not particularly well suited for long distance touring either. Zero wind protection, a little wind protection if you have a Seca, and reasonable wind protection if you install a modified after market fairing such as a Vetter. See recent thread for what it takes to make this idea work. The other problem is they are not comfortable on the keester for any length of time when touring. Four hours on the factory seat and you don't know whether to cry your eyes out, or just get off and catch the next bus going toward home. I'm good for 10 - 12 hours on my Tourer seat but after that I need to rest for 15 minutes every 2 - 3 hours. A new custom seat, rider/pillion, will set me back $1100 to $1500 depending on the mfg. Worth it? Yeah probably because I am REALLY READY to get off after 12 hours and the cost doesn't double the value of the bike. After market seats are available for the Yamahas but most will set you back probably more than half what the bike is worth. Just not worth it.

So what is it good for? Is there anything cooler sounding than an in-line 4 cylinder motorcycle with well tuned carbs, valves that open and close the right amount, and is as pleasant to look at as these old Yamahas? Can't think of many things more enjoyable than resurrecting a heap and making it look as nice as BigFitz, Wizard, and others have made their bikes look. As well as many others out there. And I would bet they run just as nicely as they look.

Great fair weather commuter, short to moderate range weekend touring, and learning and honing motorcycle repair skills.

Great bikes. A lot of fun for not a whole lot of money.

Loren

 

I know mine sat for a long because had a hard time trying to get it out of Canada, even though it was willed to me by my late brothers wife. Had it in the back of a pick-up, with all the paperwork i though i needed, but because it had no EPA sticker on engine (talked to factory about this, they sent me a letter stating, As Canada does not require a EPA they did not even have specs on it & the only difference was 50cc larger bore,different cam&jets then the 700 imported into the US.) So the Border said I had to send a letter to the Head Office of EPA in Washington,D.C, & request a Waiver, before I could legally bring it though. Luckly I had a friend whose parents lived 5 miles from border so was able to store it in there shed. Sent 3 letters to EPA have not received a word back. Also had mechanic put petcock kit in it witch lasted about 2 Months. Finally found this site put one in myself & seem it be OK. But there is way to much snow to test ride. Plus want to take motor out and start detailing whole bike because have loved it since I saw it on the showroom floor in 1986. Its a 1985 XJ750XN that pulls until you are going so fast you need to back-out of it. I have had the speedo all the way to the end.

 

I have thought about this a while back and I came up with the fact that a lot of the folks that bought these bikes could barely afford them to begin with so after a winter of sitting up the bike wouldn't run and they couldn't afford to take them to the dealer. I also recently found out that Yamaha factory made the dealers put in their orders for the entire year so a lot of them got stuck with bikes they couldn't sell and ended up going out of business because of this so for some folks there wasn't even a dealership to take the bike to. Another thing the economy was really bad in the early 80's remember gas prices and interest rates where going up

 

Exactly. And not only did the dealers get "stuck" with a lot of bikes, Yamaha built a whole year's worth or more at a time, ahead of time, and so ended up with a whole lot of bikes on their hands above the dealership level.

My '81 Seca 550 was made in December 1980, not an unreasonable lead time. Two years later, things were getting a tad ridiculous; my '83 Seca 550 was built sometime in the middle of '82, August IIRC.

Yamaha had engaged in a "pre-producing" frenzy with no way to anticipate the economy and the market suddenly dropping out from under them.

I don't think they actually made very many bikes in 1983.

 

I agree 100% i bought a new maxim 750 in 82 loved the bike my dad co signed for it .he died and the bike was paid off a few months later i traded it in at the dealership saw a 900 seca with about 1200 miles if i remember correctly i drove it for a year or two had to sell it for financial reasons . was seeing all these great deals on leftover 81-82 this was in 85 i was working at the yamaha dealership part time was really good friends with the owner. I helped him out for bike week he got the first vmax and maxim x in the southeast so we cruised them around for bike week did some photos for various magazines basically took the bikes to the beach and different spots so they could take pics had a great time after that i needed to buy a bike. So worked out a deal with him bought an 82 seca 750 off the showroom floor in april 85 i believe it was about 2300 bucks but for helping him ride the bikes around got it for about 1800 he still had 3 left. drove it for about 2 years. was really into power and fast cars the seca had a rough time keeping up with the faster cars. so i traded it off in 87 for a fzr 1000. by then all the 650 and 750s were long gone. I didnt think of it at the time but seemed like all those leftovers were 650s and 750s didnt see any 550s i guess because they were more affordable at the time

 

Re: Thoughts on why so many XJs have "sat a while" & low mil

I think another reason is that for the most part XJ/FJ's were amoung the last "sport" bikes made with steel frames. You could dump a steel framed bike a few times and fairly hard and no damage was done. The next model year started the aluminum frames and if you look at the weight difference between the FZ600 and the FJ/XJ 600 it is over 50 lbs, if memory serves. Dump a bike with an aluminum frame and swing arm and you've likely totaled it.

I see this evedinced in how hard it is to find an early model GSX or Interceptor. They just don't crash well

Another thought is that a lot of guys were in their late teens or early twenties soon to find themselves married with children and so begins a lost few decades.

Great thread. It is nice to be in the company of so many thoughtful riders

 

As to bikes left on the showroom floor, in 1988 there were still a few new RZ350's left and I could still kick myself for getting the FZ600 instead. The RZ was a rocket.
.

 

I noticed mine had been in a accident (bend handle bars, broken front turn signal and more).
I'm guessing mine sat after the wreck for a period of time and the PO went through the carbs ( more than a few times from the shape of all the carb screws ).

 

The same with mine. As I took it apart I noticed a bent bar and some typical wear patterns that suggest an un-skilled rider history. Original brakes the front look like new the back worn out, the clutch looks and smells new, the tire centers were flat with no wear near the sides,little things like that suggest a rider who crashed early and was forever afraid to ride or learn to ride except within the narrowest range of the bikes capabilities

 

My theory is that the Owners developed a problem that was going to mean needing some TIME to fix.

Brakes, Clutches, Carb Cleaning and Tuning put a number on a Work Order that they weren't prepared for.
Owner couldn't wrench.
Start the clock.

We weren't there when the Bike went "On-the-clock".
But, we sure know who some of the lucky ones were that found a sitter and stopped the clock.

 

I recon you're right, Rick, could be as simple as a fuse keep blowing.....

 

I'd love to find a mint barn bike with dirty carbs and blown fuse for next to nothing

 

A "kid" was pushing a 650 Turbo down the street with a flat tire.
He didnt make it home- - I gave him $120 for a bike he got for free.
2,400 miles, all bodywork lightly rashed, but no title.

The likely story; guy bought it new, couldn't figure out Turbo lag and kept dumping it in 1st gear. Then asked the Dealer how much a complete set of body panels cost. Then parked it until the shed rotted away.

When I found that complete and running Turbo's went for $1,500 I decided to part it out. (then it burned)

 

They are out there. A few years ago someone in Santa Rosa, Ca. found a few bikes still in the crates I remember one was a XJ Turbo. Then there was the guy selling off some bikes from his museum on Ebay and the fellow in Colorado selling 2 like new 750 Maxims.