Chapter 1: The Beginning
At the end of April 2019, I bought a very very sad and neglected 1992 Seca II. A young man had posted pics of it in a local FB motorcycle group, and we worked out a deal.
The seller learned to ride on this machine. He put 4ooo miles on it (now showing 44k). He described a "starter" problem that wasn't the starter at all - what I already knew to be stripped idler gears based on his description - so he had been push starting it for awhile. It had a trashed rear shock, severly leaking forks - so bad I thought the fork lower was painted black - carbs that didn't like idling, front brakes so soaked with fork oil they were at best a suggestion, worn wheel bearings, and a poorly-aligned rear wheel with a most unlikely nail in it. But hey, the chain and sprockets are new, and it is basically complete.
The sorry state of repair certainly provided an anxiety-provoking first year of motorcycling for that guy.
Looks alright from a few feet away, sorta...
I remember considering the Seca II back in 1998 when I bought my first new bike, a dealer left-over 1996 Suzuki Bandit 600 (GSF600S). I'm excited to have both now.
I'm no stranger to car/motorcycle projects, so I know I've bitten off a lot with this particular bike. I could have simply cleaned it up, put new tires on it, and sold it for a profit to the next rider. Or parted it out for even more profit. However, I have more elaborate plans for this bike.
In addition to the starter idler gears, fork seals, brakes, shock, goopy gas tank repair, etc, there is the matter of making it look good, too.
