What kinda Yamahas out there?

Runningdog · Posted: Tue Feb 02, 2010 5:38 pm Post subject:

I have a '77 DT250 that I got re-registered last year...it had been a farm bike for over 20 years, but still ran well...just needed all seals, bearings, controls replaced.

I also have a '78 XS400 that I'm cafe-ing...lots of fun. Did I mention that I don't spend more than $300 for a bike?

I had a '81 750 Virago a few years ago, but never really bonded with it.

I have a couple of Suzukis, as well, but that's not the thread, so never mind....

timmy_o_tool · Posted: Thu Feb 04, 2010 12:38 pm Post subject:

It seems my bike just needed a new battery. I got a new battery in it on Sunday, and it fired right up...

davecycleman · Posted: Sun Feb 07, 2010 7:22 pm Post subject:

I have a 1973 RD350 that I bought 3 years ago. It was complete but not in great condition. So far I got it running and have started taking it apart with the intention of having the frame powdercoated and cosmetically updating the bike. I've had the motor apart and had the cylinders honed and installed new rings.

I also have a 1977 XS360 that I bought last summer just for the fun of it. Another complete original motorcycle in decent condition. A good runner and something you don't see very often.

I have a 1979 XS650 that I purchased brand new. I sold it in 83 to my brother. He gave it to our nephew several years later who rode it a little and then put it in a barn. I got it back 2 years ago in rough shape and I'm in the process of building a street tracker out of it. I have it mostly together and I'm waiting to get the paint work back. I should be riding it when spring ever returns.

My newest cycle is my 1992 FJ1200. I've had it about 10 years and love it. I use as my every day transportation and have taken several long trips with it over the years.

I'll try to post some photos in the next couple of days if I can figure out how.

Dave

650hardtail · Posted: Sun Feb 07, 2010 7:36 pm Post subject:

my old 72 xs that was chopped in the 70's..
heres a pic just before i got it wired/running..
its staying a rat for now..kinda like the patina...lol
but i do have a stock length front end and spoke wheels that may go on it w drag bars

tjls8011 · Posted: Fri Feb 12, 2010 9:45 am Post subject:

Here is a pic of my 76 xs360 cafe bike. Has less than 10,000 miles on it. It is a great little bike to ride around town

sesshomaru · Posted: Mon Mar 01, 2010 3:00 am Post subject:

Hey everyone! First post here...why not write about my bikes? I love Yamahas, so naturally I checked this board out. I saw this thread and decided to introduce me and my bikes here.

The first and my favorite is my DT400B. Bought it because it had a title, was in fairly decent shape, and I figured it would be a hoot considering I had a 175 of the same year and loved that bike. Unfortunately the sucker seized up on me back in the fall because I forgot to reconnect the oil injector line back up to the carb after I cleaned it out. Lesson learned; I was kicking myself for weeks.

I went to get it oversized a couple weeks ago but my machinist buggered the bore up. Age is catching up to him, but I think it has something to do more with the fact that he's a Suzuki dealer that doesn't like Yamaha much... Confused

Oh well, I do have a friend with an extra barrel and piston, so hopefully it will be back on the road in the near future. Right now it is getting restored and cleaned up. The going is good!

The other three I have are a LS2, YAS1, and a HS1. I bought those three not running and stuck in 6 inches of mud sitting in a guy's backyard covered in a tarp. The LS2 is history...everything is so rusted together the bolts just break, and the motor is crap: bearings seized, completely filthy, rusted out and nothing comes apart. I wonder what happened to that one and I feel bad every time I see it.

The HS1 is not too bad cosmetically, and is the most "complete" of the three, but the motor is also crummy. It was stuck solid when I got it and the carbs are the absolute worst I've seen. To this day, I still can't get the pilot jet and air screw from one of them. Thankfully it's in fairly solid shape with little rust. The motor is all apart right now, and won't be going back together because of a bent con rod. There's no trace of the road legal stuff as it was stripped down and used as a dirtbike as per standards of people and motorcycles around here.

The YAS1 is like the HS1...missing things here and there...and the motor was also really bad, if not the worst in some respects. The pistons were dented on the top and scored all over, the rings fell apart when the barrels were lifted and the locating pins in the ring groove on the pistons were gone. The bottom end was in good shape though. Same story with the road legal stuff here too. At least it has the original Dunlop tires! Laughing

Now you're probably wondering why I bought those bikes. One reason is I literally couldn't sleep knowing they were going to sit there and rot...at least I could put them in my basement and keep them nice and cozy until I get the time and financial resources together.

Secondly I managed to get them for so cheap that I figured I could take apart the engines and learn things. I found that they are simple and quite straightforward as long as you keep off the drinks!

Lastly, and this is the biggest reason: I really want an RD or a pre-RD piston port twin (AS3, CS3, DS7, RD400F) and these are as close as I could get because those bikes are impossible to find around here. If they do pop up, they are show bikes that someone wants some ridiculous price for. I want a rider that needs a little bit of work...I'm just waiting on the right bike for the right price.

Finally, I also had 2 DT175Bs...great little bikes, and I sold both to help pay for other bikes. One for my GPz305 and the other for a Kat 600. In the near future I will be picking up a DT250F. All in all, I think I like the enduros more than the street bikes, but they both are likeable bikes.

ol55 · Commuter Joined: Feb 09, 2009 Posts: 391 Location: VA

Welcome to VJMOG. I thought this bike was a good deal but too far for me. I like the RD's also.

http://www.hondatwins.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=3012

Larry

sesshomaru · Posted: Tue Mar 02, 2010 9:14 am Post subject:

LOU · Weekend Warrior Joined: Feb 05, 2007 Posts: 8

mqqn · Posted: Sun Mar 14, 2010 2:29 am Post subject:

Hi folks -

I have a few Yammies - I have an old JT80 and a GT 80 - both need work. I have a 73 RD350 basket case, and a pretty nice 83 YZ 490 -

Here is a link to a huge pic of the 490

http://www.iammoon.com/images/bikes/1983YZ490K/DSC02872.JPG

best regards -

mqqn

neo297 · Posted: Sun Mar 11, 2012 2:39 pm Post subject:

[quote="neo297"]Love the forum this is a great site.
I love my yamahas. I currently have a 1984 fj1100 with a '92 1200 motor wiseco 10.25:1 pistons keihin 33mm cr roundslide carbs, 92 fj1200 forks 17" fzr600 front rim and brakes with cbr600f2 17" rear rim/brakes. It has a corbin gunfighter and lady saddle and I ride the hell out of it. I'm almost 40 years old with 3 teenage sons and do not realy want a R1 or gsxr.My days of super agressive street riding are passed and if needed I will go to the track. I just love to ride anywhere anytime. My children take most of my time and money now yet I will always keep my fj. My big fj is my daily commuter. I used to commute185 miles round trip daily from west houston to Galveston Island to go to school and then work, and did so for 5 years straight. Now I have since moved to rural north east Texas and my commute is more reasonable but I actually miss the amount of riding I used to get to do on a daily basis. I have owned, in order, 2 honda cb125's, a 1972 gt350 tripple, 2 1985 fj600's (loved this bike), fz600, fz750, and now the fj11/1200.
All of my mid 80's yamahas were easy to work on ran well with minimal maintenance and I rode them all in all weather 365 days a year as i had no car. This was in houston Texas so summers were hot winters were cold but no snow and occ. ice so riding year round was feasable.
I have made trips from 45 miles south of Houston to Chattanooga Tenn. straight through then from there to new york on my fj600, and again two days to get back. I have taken my fj1200 from Dallas straight to Atlanta 12 hours and back in 10. It is comfortable, powerfull just plain fun. My big fj went 12 years and almost 80,000 miles without a valve adjustment only oil changes, tires and brake pads. I have not ever had the 2nd gear undercut and it gets run hard with only an occaisional slip out of gear. I have never had any catastrophic failures with any of my yamahas, the fj600 had weak/ leaky valve guides and when run hard would eat oil. This was not a ring or compression issue and did not detract from the fun factor. The fj 600 chasis was flexy but let it osscilate a little through a corner and you would be fine. It was comfortable and the engine was bulletproof. It was in stark contrast to the lack of comfort on the fz600! for my 6'1/2" 230 lb body. The fz 750 was fast and fun in the twisties but not the best long distance ride.
My next bike I would like to be an rz500 one of my friends has three but wont part with any, they are all fully legal and titled in texas.
I wish I had some pics to upload of my old bikes and will do so for my fj11 when my digital camera is fixed.[/quote

I'm back to riding have been out for a couple of years due to kids and life. My 84 still runs but I just picked up an '86 fj1200 mostly stock with corbin saddle,F1 slip ons and K&N filter it had <10,000 miles on it and is immaculate. i have already moved my super trap pipe over to it and have my V&H pods with my DJ needles at 3rd groove from top with DJ 144 Mains for now the cv carbs are easier on the wrist than the keihins and I'll save the dyna ignition and coils for later.

ductune · Posted: Sun Mar 11, 2012 3:36 pm Post subject:

Here's a video of my TZ750. I might have posted in this thread before, if so sorry for the re-post.
I showed this bike at Stockbridge Mi a few years ago but didn't start it. Here's what it sounds like.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r11YOKygc2o

jstava · Posted: Tue Mar 27, 2012 4:53 am Post subject:

This is for Russell,

I've still got the SRX6. No other bike. Finally got the thing back from the mechanial dude after doing: 5th gear, shift forks, cam chain and tensioner, new barrel (resleeve) Carillo rod, and all the important bearings down there, Dynojet kit for the carbs, and K& N filters. Had a mystery fault when running in the rebuild. I was getting varied oil levels, not a problem during the run in time, as it prompted me to drop the oil just to see if it was still all there. It was. Upon investigation, found that they had blocked the crankcase breather tube (leads from case to oil tank) with a short roller bearing to keep the crawlies out and forgotten to take it out. It was blocking the air return to the case, so the oil level in the tank would run down. Once spotted, its all good. Now I have a reliable bike that gives me a lot of pleasure. Previously, the inconsistent oil levels were alarming.

So what's the attraction? Of this very modestly powered bike. There are many.

Firstly, I have "ducks disease" a common affliction which puts my backside rather close to the ground. I'm a little "old school" and like to be able to straddle any bike with both feet on the ground and at 5'7" this bike fits. It weighs 170 kg and could be lightened by 10 kg eaily if I was keen.

Secondly, I like the engine characteristics of the big single. It's an over square 608cc kick start only thing that can be a brute to start if you aren't paying attention. This keeps me alcohol free if I am riding. It takes a big kick and I would fall over with anything approaching the legal blood alcohol in me. It has torque. Twist the trottle and it goes. No need to go for a lower gear and the ratios in te top three gears with stock gearing suit the standard speed limits of 60kph, 80 and 100. At each of these, the "right" gear has the engine turning at just under 4000 revs, which is just right. While it does go fine, it does not encourage me to ride at illegal speeds and I'm afraid this is a major consideration with the tools that law enforcement has these days. I recently test rode a 100hp bike which did 160 as easily as 100 (kph) and I'm afraid the life of my licence might be counted in days if I had bought it. I'm happy to blat around on my SRX without having to keep an eye on the dial. I have an aftermarket (Staintune) exhaust on it, and it's obvious from the note of the engine when my speed is changing. I'd rather watch the road in front anyway, and let the speed take care of itself. The power characteristics are also very good when the roads are wet. This is an all year pursuit here, and inevitably the roads will be wet at times, and can be diabolically so if it hasn't rained in a few months and they just get a little wet, but not wet enough to give them a good wash and rinse.

Reliability. Any half decent country mechanic can fix it, and there is not much to go wrong. I can still get any part. The "600" series of engines had a long life and the model shares a lot of parts with other Yamaha bikes. In the change back from wire to stock cast alloy wheels I used a brake master cylinder from an FZR900. It's the same. I've kept the nifty little Nissan half inch setup just in case I ever want to go back to wire wheels. I also love it when I go to rallys and invariably there is someone, usually more than one, who have trouble leaving due to something that does not plague me - Flat battery. I could do without it entirely by fitting a big capacitor, but like to have electric light when I stop the motor after dark.

Handling. In Australia, these were only sold for a year or so. Most of them were snapped up later for Super Singles racing. They have a very rigid frame, a motor which responds well to tuning, and while mine is no exception, it could do with a set of progressive springs in the fork tubes. One day not so far off, I'll do this, and add a set of better shockers on the rear. It stops well, and if I've got a gripe, it's probably in the steering, but it's probably a comparison thing. My last bike was an XT550 with a very different geometry and a much larger front wheel (21 inches if I remember right) This has much quicker steering on the road, but is not confidence inspiring on gravel. Horses for courses and this IS a road bike after all.

It's still a bit of a work in progress. I'm not totally happy with the carburetion, but there are many different fixes ranging from a single large carby feeding the engine through a Y shaped manifold off a Yamaha Grizzly, to pairs from Mikuni or Keihin. These latter setups are proven and while they require a little modification, it's all doable. I'm also told that a pair of carbs off the first model of GPX250 Kawa fit right on. I wouldn't mind a little more power maybe 45-50 hp max would be plenty. It's all about torque anyway and this is fine as it is. It's a punchy engine and suits my riding fine. It's fine to go places on, apart from the narrow seat which starts to get to get a bit hard after a while but there's a fix for that too if I pursue it. I like to fiddle with things a bit, and there's plenty of scope for that.

Then there's the son in laws. 2 of the three have motorcycles. One of these is a quite a good rider and I'll even start it for him for a bit of a swap-n-ride. Once warm, its fine, there is no "trick" but for the other one, I'd rather he not ever throw a leg over it. "If You can start it, you can ride it. If you fall over trying and break a mirror, I will not be amused" That's fine. Works for all of us.

It's a great little all rounder, not fussy about fuel, and I'm happy enough to travel 5 or 600 kms in a day on it, and do use it to go away a bit if I am on my own. It's an easy bike to live with, and I can see I will have this one a very long time. I'm accumulating bits, and next time I need to do an upper cylinder rebuild, I'm hoping I'll just be able to bolt on the replacement top end. If I plan this well, I should to add 10 or more hp at the time without sacrificing reliability. That would be plenty. I really have no need for any more than 45 or 50, and like my power in the midrange, so I can't see a radical cam in my future.

redstedman · Posted: Tue Mar 27, 2012 6:47 am Post subject:

Russell · Posted: Tue Mar 27, 2012 8:00 pm Post subject:

Anywhere north,east or south of here I have a myriad of sinuously curved two lane blacktop that the SRX would be magical on. Riding the torque wave of a single is so much more satisfying than twisting the throttle of a crotch rocket,braking hard, then if you are still able to, going home to change your undies. There is so much more to learn about riding than simply hanging on tight while brute force dominates.
Long may you enjoy your version of one of the genuinely 'great' motorcycle engines. Its no coincidence that amongst the hordes of rental bikes here in NZ, catering for the well heeled motorcycle tourists, there are many high kms XT600's doing the business.