I'm looking into getting this street bike, but I'd like some second opinions. The bike is an 82, but a good friend of mine aquired it and rebuilt it. The tank and paneling has been repainted. The chrome has been repolished, and it has new tires. The engine has been professionally stripped and rebuilt. The bike also has new wiring. It runs, sounds, and looks awesome. Horn and lights work. It only has 6024 miles on it! My friend said he'd sell the bike to me with a brand new helmet with clear and amber tinted sheilds for 1,650 dollars. Is the price worth the bike or will end up getting ripped off? Also, would this be a good bike for my first street bike?

PS: I'm not looking for a monster in power, but something that'll handle easy and I can get around with easy.

I voted YES -- if you can get it at a much lower price (max $1000).

The XJ550 would be a good starter bike to live with and learn on and you could ride it for years and still enjoy it.

I can understand the high asking price ($1650 USD) as it sounds like a nicely restored collectors bike (low milage, 6,000 miles). But for a new rider like yourself, this bike isn't for you at that price.

A nice used (non restored), good running condition, higher milage (20-30,000 miles) XJ550 price is around $750. This bike you won't have to worry about so much if you do drop it.

A word of caution about used helmets: Don't buy em. As they are designed for ONE (just one) drop you never know if they have been dropped. As they could fall 5' they could still look perfect and be damaged inside. If it is going to be your primary helmet, buy one at a local dealership and that way you can find one that fits well for you.

Mike.

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Thnx alot Mike, especially for such a quick response. I'd never buy a used helmet. The helmet is brand new, straight out of the box. The only reason I'm so straight forth for this bike is that it has such low mileage, and the engine has been professionally rebuilt and tweaked... I failed to add that in my first post. Tony, the man selling it, had the bike tweaked for full performance. I know that the price is hight, but I've come to find the reason for the high price is that he doesn't want to go in the hole with this bike. 1650 is the exact price it came to with all the work on it and new parts. Like I said before, the engine is rebuilt and basically brand new. All the fuel/air parts are new as well. Sprocets and chains, all new.