Cafe Racer Newfoundland Style

Most of my posts are about me and what I have been doing. While they are typically motorcycle and XJ650 related sometimes they are more of a rant to keep me out of the clock tower with the bottle of Southern Comfort and the high powered Italian assault rifle.

I go through pretty much every motorcycle website that has anything to do with Yamaha Maxims and Secas. Recently, I checked out a build page titled "83 SECA 650 Cafe Project". I have seen some nice rebuilds and some crappy ones but never one that deserved to be praised publicly, until now. When I clicked on the link the first picture I saw was this (the before shot):

Elvis' Cafe Racer

This has got to be one of my favorite motorcycles. Mainly because it's mine. But also because I know that no detail was overlooked in the building of this custom Yamaha XJ650 Maxim Cafe Racer. This bike was built for a 'round the world trip starting in Europe. The entire bike was stripped down to the frame and built up from scratch.

Reliability was the number one priority when this project began. The exhaust has been ceramic coated, the carbs fully disassembled and balanced, and the engine rebuild from the crank up. To conserve the charging system the OEM tail light and turn signals were replaced with LED lights.

Silver Surfer

This is a 1983 XJ650 Maxim Special. This bike is pretty close to stock with the exception of the silver upholstery on the seat. This motorcycle was exported from the United States to England back in 1989.