Vintage Yamaha knowledge?
 

I have a chance to pick up a 1996 XJ 600 S diversion, (the kid that took it in trade owes me five yards) I have looked the bike over. It shows 6k on the Clock scratches on the Fairings tell me it has been down on its right side but there is no indication is anything more than light cosmetic damage. The layers of dust and grime indicate it has been in Storage for quite some time and oil on the front wheel and forks seem to indicate new seals are needed. Apart from the usual drain the fluids clean and check the fuel systems is there anything specific to watch for with these bikes?

Nope. Built like little brick shithouses, see em with many 10's of thousands of miles on them, dropped abused neglected...short of running them over with a cement truck or running them out of oil, not much bother's em.

Oem parts still available, used parts abound. easy to work on, what's not to like. A running example in average condition run about 12-1400 bucks around here.

Ps forks are the usual spindly damper rod units, a long threaded rod with a couple 3/8 in nuts welded on the end can be used to disassemble. Punch out the old seals, use a large hex drive to tap in the new oil and dust seals.

Yamaha built them from 1994 to 2004 pretty much unchanged... does that tell you anything.

Oil seals are about $30 bucks...the only other thing you ought to plan for is to rebuild the calipers (oil seal, dust seal and new pads; about $25 per calipe) as these usually seep and either seize or contaminate the pads.

Thanks for the heads up on the Calipers