1982 Yamaha XJ 650 – $14,500

SELLER SAYS: A beautifully maintained classic, owned for over 20 years and always kept in a fully enclosed, soft-lined cover. This bike has had a full engine rebuild only 1,500 km ago and has seen very little riding since, ensuring strong performance and long life for its next owner. Genuine examples like this rarely come up for sale—especially in such well-preserved condition. A fantastic opportunity for collectors and enthusiasts alike. Contact Mark on 0438 911 209 (Burleigh Heads, Qld.).

EDITOR TERLICK SAYS: Motorcycle design generally falls into two camps. The first camp is the safe, low-risk, likely-to-be-profitable camp in which you design bikes pretty much the same as a bike that’s already on the market, already selling well, and easily recognisable by consumers. The second camp is the less safe, higher risk, might-be-really-profitable camp in which you stretch the envelope and build something you think might just take the world by storm because your marketing department has come up with a bold new idea. Yamaha’s XJ650 is in the third camp. By the early 1980s, most of the motorcycles built for city-and-highway duties were either big (750-plus), sporty, chain-driven, four-cylinder Japanese bikes, or even bigger belt-driven Harley-Davidsons (or copies thereof). Designers at Yamaha wanted to come up with something different. But not too different. Smaller, lighter and easier to ride than the bigger-is-better brigade, but with enough engine to hit the highway with confidence. And, just to stand out from the crowd, shaft drive. The XJ650 was the outcome. An inline four-cylinder engine kept in step with the fashion of the day, but a bit smaller and lighter than most. The XJ produced a claimed 71hp at 9400rpm compared with the same-year Honda CB750’s 70hp at 9,000rpm. Top speed was north of 115mph. It’s fair to say the XJ650 did not have the market impact that Yamaha might have hoped for — the bigger-is-better brigade just kept on getting bigger and the Harley crowd didn’t actually give a toss — but it did prove a point. You don’t need a monster engine or half-a-car rolling mass to build a thoroughly competent city-and-highway motorcycle. This bike of Mark’s presents as an exceptionally well-kept original XJ, holding an interesting place in history and ready to serve a new owner for many years to come. Nice one.