Brand new to the site. Need some advice about a purchase...

Hey guys. First of all, thank you for the site! I have already been on here for about 5 hours...after one day. Secondly, I have the potential to buy a 1982 Yamaha Maxim XJ750. The guy had it listed at $800 on CL and said it needed tlc. I emailed him and he ended up living literally 2 streets over from me. :lol: I met up with him and he said the following is wrong with the bike:
1. Needs tires front and rear
2. Neads new header pipes
3. Needs a new header bolt
4. Tach gauge sticks
5. The front fork seals are leaking a little
I am thinking of doing a bobber style with it...take off the whole rear end, side mount license plate/light bracket, led turn signals, new headlight, new mini speedo/tach gauge, take off front fender, and find a comfortable solo seat.

After talking to him for a while, we came up with a price of $500.

I anticipate doing the small repairs myself, but I am going to end up going to a shop for tires/fork seals....

IS THIS A FAIR PRICE CONSIDERING THE WORK THAT HAS TO BE DONE?

Thank you for any help/information/inspiration

 

Take a close look at the header that needs a new bolt. If the old one is broke off inside the head then you're looking at taking the top end apart to get the old bolt removed properly.
Fork seals: do 'em yourself. They are not difficult at all.
Tires: Do it yourself, or take the rims/tires off and just take them to the dealer.

At $500 you'll be OK. Plan on spending at least that over the summer doing little repairs though. There's no such thing as a cheap old bike, you may get a deal up front but maintenance and repairs will add up. Not saying don't do it, just don't expect to pay $500 and be ready to ride.

 

Re: Brand new to the site. Need some advice about a purchase

The fork seals have the potential to get out of hand. Inspect the inner fork tubes carefully for scratches or pits (even small ones). If the surface is damaged it'll add hundreds to your fork rebuild.

 

Re: Brand new to the site. Need some advice about a purchase

Excellent tips guys, thanks! I will check out the fork tubes a little closer and see where the bolt is broken.

Does anyone know about aftermarket speedo/tach? More specifically which ones are compatible to the set up I have now. I want to buy 2 sepearte mini gauges and swap wires and go...does that exist for the xj750?

 

there are aftermarket tachs. most are electric though. and they aren't cheap.

$500 bikes have never been worth $500. i've had fairly decent luck but this last one just hasn't been worth it.

you might consider a bigger motor though or at the very least, one with a chain drive. these small shaft drives spin wayyyy too much on the freeway if you're planning on doing upwards of 80 mph.

with a chain drive you can change the front sprocket to lower the rpm down.

 

The only chain drive XJs are the 550/600s. ALL the big XJs are shaft-driven.

 

wasn't talking about the xj specifically

 

Does it run????
I`d offer him $400 with a plan to say o.k to $500. The worst he can say is no.But I`m cheap and I dont mind a ood haggle. Anyway even a clean $500 bike is set at a price of $500 for a reason.

 

As you can see $500.00 can be a great deal or a poor one.
Nowadays unless a bike has very low miles (20k-) and
is in very nice shape with only gen maint issues $500.00
would be the most I would pay for a 20+ year old bike.
There's a dude down the block with a '80 xs400 with lots
of stuff the needs addressing including a headgasket!
and he wants $700.00! WTF. Damn thing needs paint, leaks
in at least 3 places,looks like crap.
Plus there's all the stuff you'll need to do that the PO doesn't
even know about.

 

I got my bike for $550 and it had lots done to it. With that said after riding for a little over 100 miles a few bad things happened. It looks like the carbs were not set up right and if you look at my last post I had lots of flaking rust in my tank that caused issues. I guess the bottom line is that it`s an old bike and will need some work regardless of what has been done. But also the reason most people buy older bikes is for a few reasons--first were on a budget and they are cheaper to buy up front and second there fun to work on. If you buy a bike or car this old then there will be some work to do to get it the way you like it.

 

$500 bikes wouldn't be so bad if the parts weren't so damned expensive. and all parts weren't seperate like a car.

it also be nice if bikes had ONE carb. ONE coil. ONE exhuast. ROFL.

but on a serious note. usually $500 bikes aren't worth $100 and considered a parts bike. but it amazes me the money people want for ANY bike for the last 7 years. at some point and time gold must have been used.

i see lots of $500 bikes that are in peaces. every now and then one is complete. but they usually want $1500 to as high as $4500. PFFT.

the old v65 magnas are still being ridiculously overpriced. because they were HOT. nevermind the fact that they had camshaft problems that wore out at 5000 miles.


i paid $1800 for my 1982 maxim 650 from the dealer. 30 years later and they're worth $2500. I DON'T THINK SOOOOO.

 

Re: Brand new to the site. Need some advice about a purchase

Hey guys, update on the bike. I was able to take it for a spin. It rides great. The exhaust is RIDICULOUS because there is a huge hole in 2 of the header pipes. Its loud as *&^%. The header bolt should be a quick and easy switch. The fork seals look to be not an issue either.

I agree with everyone, we buy older bikes to either
1.save money
2.have a project

I guess I'm a little of both. This bike is going to be my therapy!

I have a 3 year old Autistic son, so it will be nice at the end of a long day to go out to the garage, crack a beer and mess with the bike.

I am picking up the bike Monday. I will post pics of whats happening in my neck of the woods! Thanks again everyone.

GOOD NEWS! I talked him down to $450...

 

Nice! You got the therapy part right.
Have fun and good luck.