moto review - 82 yamaha xj650

while staying with my friend todd last week (todd is a kindred brother of all things moto) i got a chance to ride the latest adoptive cycle to find its way into his garage, a 1982 yamaha seca xj650.
first though, a few words about todd. if old motorcycles respond to an invisible magnetic field, its properties are from todd. many of us dream of magical barn finds where by word of mouth or divine inspiration we find our self knocking on some old guy's door and asking what's in the garage as if led there by a field of dreams type of call saying "i don't know why i'm here, but i just had this crazy idea that you might have some old motorcycle in your garage that you might want to part with" to which the owner would reply "well come to think of it, yeah i do" and would then lead us out to an old shed, hurricane lantern in hand, guiding through a dusty entrance until he finds the light and then...behold, your eyes come to rest on an old canvas tarp laying over something in the back corner. the old guy pulls it back and, voila! an all original 1955 vincent with less than 2000 miles on the clock. "how much do you want" you ask timidly. "oh, i don't think it's worth much anymore" he says "a couple hundred bucks ok?"
alright, now it's time to snap out of the dream. but while the rest of us scratch our heads and wonder where where the good deals have gone, they are regularly finding their way into todd's garage. this latest gem came as a part of a bigger deal whose details i won't go into here as they'll only serve to make you cringe.

although it still has a few kinks to be worked out, for the most part this bike ran smoothly. electric start and a little choke had it warming up nicely and in a few minutes we were on our way. the first thing you notice is the seating position. the two-tiered bench style takes a little getting used to as you slide around trying to find a comfortable sitting position and the pegs feel like they are somewhere between touring and sport bike. and although i didn't feel cramped on our little nighttime ride, i imagine over a longer outing it might be an issue.
compared to my everyday bike the seca feels much more modern, and it's the first four cylinder bike i've ridden. but despite that it felt very well mannered as we sped around town. taking off from a start the shaft drive is even and smooth and there's plenty of power from 3-9000 rpms as you turn the throttle. and as a city bike i thought it handled itself well. it never felt too big cruising from stoplight to stoplight.
but when we got it out on the backroad it really roared to life. pick a line, tap the throttle and it locks in. and the cross braced frame felt solid as we blew though the old lake road. i would have liked to do more of that kind of back roading as the seca just seemed to want to straighten out the twists.

and in overall appearance i think this is a very good looking bike. it fits well in a transition era where sportier bikes still retained a solid classic look. i would place it in the same aesthetic category as the kawasaki gpz in that regard. they later added a little cafe fairing for this bike which is a nice touch. in a couple years the game would be completely changed and all that beautiful metal would get replaced by plastic bits.
in 1982 the movie tron came out, and looking at the side panels on the seca they feel very tron. 1982 was also a year about survivors. rocky 3 pumped survivor's "eye of the tiger" into our brains and would ultimately work its way into every guy's workout mix tape. and in 1982 i listened to asia sing "soul survivor" again and again as i navigated pitfall harry through quicksand and crocodiles on atari 2600. and looking at the seca, which is now worthy of classic status, it too is a survivor.