The Seca Finds a New Home

After a good 10 months of on/off working and tinkering to get it running again, I finally sold the old 1980 Yamaha Seca XJ550 today. A young classic Yamaha collector saw it on Craigslist, had to have it, and came over from Woodstock to buy it from me. He was thrilled with it, and rode it home, while his friend followed behind.
Its hard to believe the bike is gone. I've sunk so much time, money, and energy into bringing it back to life (with a colossal amount of help from my father and several friends) over the past year, I was a little sad to watch the new owner ride off with it.

I first discovered the bike from my UPS guy, Ronney. He had bought it as a true "barn-find", languishing in an old barn. He bought it and began work on it, hoping to give it to his son. That never materialized, and so the bike sat in Ronney's garage for the next several years, collecting more dust and rust. He mentioned it to me one day a couple of years ago, when he made a delivery one afternoon. I pursued him over it for the better part of 2014, until he relented and sold it to me last December. I then wrenched on it off and on over this year, until we finally got it running and on the road, for probably the first time in possibly decades. I've had several motorcycle shop owners tell me it is a rare bike, a collectors item, so I'm glad it has ended up in the hands of a collector.
Now, off to look for the next project bike...