My old girl's birthday...

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cafe_bill
XJ Enthusiast
XJ Enthusiast
Posts: 774
Joined: Wed Feb 01, 2012 3:28 pm
Location: Seal Beach, CA

20 years... How many out there have owned their Seca for 20 years? Ok, so I'm probably not the only one but... anyway... As of this month, March, I'll have owned my Seca II for 20 years. I bought her new in March of 1993. The '93's were already out but they still had left over '92's and I managed to talk them down to $3,150 out the door. She wasn't even on the showroom floor but in a crate...

(Actual photo of her when she was only a few months old and I still had dark hair...)
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Over the years she's shared her garage with a whole lot of other bikes. Mostly Harleys but also a smattering of Kawasakis, Buells, Hondas and even a Vespa. She's outlasted them all.

Pretty much every other bike I've ever owned I've modified to some degree, but not the Seca. She's just been "ole reliable", as dubbed by a very good riding buddy of mine. Reason being whenever we were going to go on some ride I'd have either taken the bike I was going to ride apart or it broke (that would be one of the Buells...) and I'd just pull the Seca out and she'd always get me to wherever I wanted to go.

Most of the last ten years though, she's languished in the garage, mostly buried under stuff. The Sportsters and Buells typically garner my attention. Oh I've always had plans for her; FZR wheels, a hybrid front end, better suspension... but just never got around to actually building her. Over the years I collected all the parts when I found them, but they just sat in boxes. But when I realized her 20th birthday was approaching I decided it was time to pull her out and give her some love...

The pictures you see here were taken about 10 years ago, the last time I really cleaned her up. I'd taken all the paint off her forks, triple trees and wheels and polished all of the aluminum. Well, I only polished the rims of the wheels. Too much work... This is how she was when she started collecting piles of junk on her around 2002 when I bought a new Sportster to replace my beloved '95 Sportster that was totaled on the 405 freeway. All my efforts went into building the '02 which is why the Seca just ended up sitting around. (I was riding a Buell back then, at least when it wasn't self destructing.)

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And Harley, my helper 10 years ago. Unfortunately he's been gone for a few years now...
(And no, I didn't name him!)

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So this is my starting point and these are the best pictures I have since I didn't really bother to photograph her before I tore into her a few months ago. My planned modifications include:

FZR600 wheels front and rear
Hybrid Seca/FZR forks with dual disk brakes
A new rear shock (I've lost track of how many shocks she's already worn!)
Deep cleaning and repainting as required, but maintaining her original body paint.

Truth is I started all this months ago and just never got around to posting about it. So I'll try and post a bit every day or so...

And yes, somewhere I have more really cool photos of her when she was brand new, but those are still in the possession of one of the ex's... Over 13 years later and I'm still negotiating to get them back!
Bill
'07 FJR 1300
'02 Sportster
'97 Sportster
'96 Buell S2
'89/'95 Sportster
'92 Seca II

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