Total Motorcycle Community Forums

I'm looking to buy a 1981 Yamaha Maxim XJ650H.

This bike was trade in and it is currently at a dealer. It is one of the cleanest bikes I've ever seen before for it's age. It has 67,1xx miles on it though. I can probably get it for about $1100 out the door with tax, title, and 30 day tag.

I know that these bikes were meant to last if they were well maintained, and the dealer told me an older man owned it for over 20 years and road it a lot. They said he took extremely good care of it, and it does look like it. Cosmetically I could only notice a small dent in the fuel tank on the right side.

The mileage scares me, but what would you guys suggest? I only heard it run at idle, and it did start cold immediately. I will test ride it before buying of course.

Any thoughts would be appreciated guys. Thanks!

The bike is 2 hours away, so I'm trying to get a good opinion if I should move forward with it or keep looking.

Picture of the bike is attached.

Hello Kevin and welcome to the forum. Kelly Blue Book on a 81 Yamaha Maxim XJ650H, in the Kansas City metro area, is $685 wholesale and $1,235 retail. That's for a low mileage, pristine example. I would offer them $800 (remember it's the end of the season) for it and see what they say. I wouldn't pay any extra for the saddlebags.

Thank you, and thank you for the reply.

Kbb is coming up with the same for prices in Ohio. I have saddlebags from a previous bike I owned, but I'm pretty sure those are coming with the bike even if they try to upsell.

Does the mileage throw out a warning to you or do you believe these old Yamaha inline 4s will really go far if maintained well?

In my opinion.. an older bike with more miles was probably maintained better than a bike with low miles and is really old. Lets things dry out and rot. Agree?

I'm probably going to go up there tomorrow. They also have a 1991 Honda Nighthawk 750 (20k miles) for $999 listed. Both the xj650 and cb750 are listed for that, and are "on sale". Kbb on the Honda is higher.

Anyone have personal opinions between the two? I like the look of the XJ650 better and that it comes with a windshield. Any thoughts?

Attached a pic of the Nighthawk. (Uploader said it was too big.)


Thanks in advance, and for the help.

I ended up purchasing the XJ650H yesterday. Already have 150 miles on it and it's running great. I got ~48 highway and ~35 city. Doesn't seem bad for the year.

Thanks.

KBB is a joke. They are way too high for cars and too low for bikes.

Congratz on the bike. It looks extremely clean.

HYPERR wrote:KBB is a joke. They are way too high for cars and too low for bikes.

Congratz on the bike. It looks extremely clean.

Thanks! I put another 50 miles on it today. Runs great.

I paid $995 to the dealer for the bike. He had it listed at $1399, but a "sale" price of $999 to move it out. Considering the condition I think I did well. I don't even think you can buy a bike on Craigslist for that much and have it run for more than a day. He showed me the work order they did on it, and they changed the oil, and torqued all the bolts. Fair enough.

I'm happy with what I got for the price. Considering it is extremely clean as well .. all stock.

Happy bike day!
Enjoy it.

pchast wrote:Happy bike day!
Enjoy it.

I did. Thanks