1982 XJ550 - lets make this thing cooler - thread

Custom XJ builds, restorations, major modifications or just a topic dedicted to your own bike. Look here for long term cool projects.
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arnehulstein
Yearns for The Scrambler
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Joined: Wed Sep 26, 2012 12:17 pm
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Just to recap:
Back in October 2012 I was finally able to get my motorcycle license. To make sure I could ride, I bought an old XJ600 pre-Diversion that needed 'some' work. In the end I did a lot of work on it. You can see what I did in the XJ600 project thread.
In the end, the XJ600 wasn't my ultimate bike. So, I sold it to make room for another bike. My Honda Transalp. Which, funnily enough, is a bike bought in the US that has made a trip across the ocean to end up here in the Netherlands. Read more about that in the Transalp project thread.
That was when I thought I would quit the XJ's and move on. But faith intervened. I came across a guy that wanted to sell his XJ550, but nobody wanted to have it. So, after a bit of emailing, I snapped it up for a song and took it home.
This thread starts at that email exchange and will hopefully evolve into a full project thread where I will get the XJ550 running (already did that) and modify it into something cool and different.

Stay tuned!
(Recap added 7 March 2014)

Ok, I might be back as an XJ rider sooner than we all expected. I talked to someone and one thing led to another, which means that I will hopefully be picking up a 1983 XJ550 on Saturday evening. It has had a service and a new rear tire, but runs like **** as the current owner switched to pod filters and never changed jets. So the cold start is terrible etc. Fork seals are shot and the bike was meant to be a winter bike, so it is not that much of a looker. I am thinking about turning this one into a cafe racer. But first I have to make some room in the garage. ;)

Pics as the bike gets here...
Last edited by arnehulstein on Fri Mar 07, 2014 4:24 am, edited 3 times in total.

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