jrhendryx

i know, the styling on the c,d, and e were garbage. that blocky tank, the solid wheels..... ugh. the bike is already heavy, it doesnt have to look that way too!

sure do.

yeah, i found a new clutch lever, but im going to need a new gear selector. the alignment is totally hosed too. if the handle bars are held at dead center, the wheel points off about 5-7 degrees to the left. im going to try and figure out if its as simple as adjusting the forks, or if i need new ones. its ride-able, but it feels a bit odd.

hi! nice restore. are the handles the stock ones, or aftermarket? i have the stock hi-rise ones on my xs500, and i want to put some lower ones like yours on mine.

oh... forgot about that. well, i checked on the video, and it was after dark. this is an old system, so its not digital. it runs on standard vhs tapes. so, after dark, all i would have been able to see would have been a green blob that pulled into the spot and back out. no plates. also, the person really did just hit it and run off. one of my co-workers who also rides was the one that saw it lying down and picked it back up. so, since the camera pans across the whole parking lot, the odds of it being aimed at the area where the bike was during the 5 seconds or so that it took them to hit it, back up, and take off, are not good. no dice on the video.

well, an update: replaced the clutch handle, and today took the shifter off and hammered it back into some kind of semblance of the correct shape. i will be replacing it asap though, because its only cast aluminum, and its taken a hell of a beating. it seems to have knocked the bike out of alignment as well, since the handlebars were locked when it fell. im going to try to straighten everything out tomorrow by loosening the nuts that hold the forks on, and just see what i can do. im bummed out, but hopefully it will work out. this is why i bought a used bike.

thats what im going to try, but i would imagine its made out of the same forged aluminum that the clutch lever was, and once its fatigued.... tough cookies. with any luck, i can pry it out, throw on a new lever and at least manage to get it home.

tonight while i was at work, some asshat hit my bike with their car. they didn't bother to leave a name, number, etc. damage: broken clutch lever shredded left hand grip broken mirror damaged lights/blinkers switch both left side blinkers are cracked cosmetic damage all along the left side and the worst;:::: the gear shifter is jammed in under the engine cover, so i cant even take it out of gear to get it loaded up. luckily our parking lot is covered by a closed circuit camera. hopefully the tapes haven't been taped over yet, and it was panning to the right spot in the lot when this happened. i just don't understand the mentality where people have so little respect for other people's property.

have you contacted a yamaha shop? they might be able to look it up, even if they generally cant work on them.

"I'll second that. I've learned quite a bit about cold-weather riding from my snowmobile. It may be 32 degrees outside, but the chill factor while riding will easily bring the temperature down to zero and below."

i realize that this thread should be dead, but i just found this and recalled this thread, and had to post it here. http://spokane.craigslist.org/mcy/456983764.html its basically the same bike, that someone else is selling on criagslist in washington. weird

saw those too. i think im going to get one and add it to my winter projects list, which currently includes, but is not limited to: new front brakes new rear brakes new tires front and back re-painting the gas tank and side covers re-painting or powder coating (havent decided yet) the frame possibly powder coating the wheels and exterior engine parts if possible (hoping to go for a totally blacked out look) re-wiring the entire bike to make it more reliable front fork seal replacement (possibly front fork replacement, i think they may be bent slightly). good times. would the forks being bent slightly cause them to leak?

we had frost on the grass the other morning, and my thermometer read 30F, so i actually tossed my raingear over the top of my normal clothing. worked pretty well as a windbreak. its also less bulky than the bottom half of my riding suit, so its less work once i get to work the big problem ive been running into, is having to carry a large bag to work, and then change clothes when i get there... i need two sets of clothing, one for in the building (heated) one for on the bike (frozen!). layers...

hrm, this probably isnt your answer, but since it only seems to happen in cold temps, heres a maybe.... cold air makes things shrink up, so fittings arent as tight as they might have been before. in a truck or car, this can cause the dashboard to rattle. maybe whats happening is that your airbox is developing a slight leak, so you get a whistling noise, like you would hear with a car window that is open slightly? maybe the cover isnt seating as tightly in cold air, but its pulling harder at higher rpm/kph, so maybe thats whats happening? or it could be something else that the wind is whistling through strangely on cold days... the entire rest of the bike would experience the same flex between cold/warm temps. probably not whats happening to you, but a thought.

well, if youve never ridden before, i would consider starting with an r6. the low end torque that an r1 has makes it a bike that even experienced riders will lay down on occasion. ive ridden both (my friends are very trusting), and i have to say that the r6 was plenty quick and handled corners well..... it could hang with the r1 up to about 100mph, and then those extra 400cc began to show. the main reason that the r6 could hang was that the r1 has too much torque to really add much throttle below that point. if you do get an r1, just be more careful, deliberate, and gentle with the throttle. definitely get good protective gear, and absolutely take a riders safety course. oh, and try to keep the rubber side down

when i mentioned the back tire skidding, i was talking about over braking when moving in a straight line. now, as far as what brian said, let me try to help out. your tires contacting the road can only create so much friction. as you go into a corner, all of the friction that your tires and the weight of your bike create is being used to keep the tires from sliding out from under the bike, causing the bike to tip over. now, if 100% of your tire friction is being used to corner the bike, applying the brakes to slow the bike takes up a portion of that friction. so, maybe your tires are using 75% of their friction to hold the bike in the turn, and 25% is being used to slow the bike, basically, force is being directed to the side (keeping the bike cornering) and is pushing the bike backwards (slowing). you now have less friction being used to keep the bike cornering, so you risk having the tires slide out (particularly the rear tire). the tighter the corner, and the faster you are going, the more important that you have all possible friction being used to keep the bike cornering. in a fast hairpin curve, applying very little brake could cause the bike to slide out. on a slow, sweeping curve, you may be able to apply nearly full brakes before the tires lose traction. basically, avoid using the brakes or removing power from the back wheel whenever possible in a corner. if you find yourself going too wide into a corner, push further in and slowly/gently roll on more throttle. i think i mentioned this before, but in my rider training class, we were told that nearly half of all fatal motorcycle accidents in the US are caused when someone goes wide in a corner, or loses traction in a corner due to operator error(brakes) or something like gravel in the path of travel. you really should take a rider's safety course.

there are lots of ways to high side. skidding the rear tire, and then releasing the brake with the rear tire out of line with the front will cause it to regain traction violently and return to the correct path of travel, but it will often over correct. the movement is violent enough that you can be thrown from the bike. mostly, it is caused by a loss of traction followed by an overcorrection which puts the tires out of line... the bikes normal inclination is to follow a straight line because of its forward momentum/gyroscopic motion of the tires and engine.... so when it tries to get back there, you can get tossed over the high side. i nearly did it the other day when i hit a patch of sand on a twisty mountain road. you just have to be careful and know the limits of your bike and yourself. even professional riders can get caught off guard and thrown. buy a used bike

thanks, i will have to find that one.

are the tx and the xs 500 basically the same bike, except sold in different markets? i found this tx500 engine on ebay....... and i have an xs500b. think its worth it? it has the same engine model stamp (371) so i assume that it is the same engine. any thoughts?

psshhhh, manuals? we dont need no steenking manuals! i already checked the haynes and yamaha manuals, and the only useful one was the haynes. it says to remove the spring, and then compress the piston fully. if it comes up rapidly for half its distance and then slows down for the last part, it should be fine. im just pretty much sure that these are the original 1975 shocks, though the bike probably only has about 10k miles on it (has had the tach/odo replaced, only reads about 3000 miles) they are pretty rusted and pitted, so i was considering replacing them, but if they are fine, im not going to bother.

I pulled the right side shock off tonight because it was the only one i could take off without removing anything else, and measured it out so that i could start looking at new shocks. how can i tell if these are worn? I was almost completely unable to compress it when i had it off the bike, at least not by just pressing down on it, though both do compress when i sit on the bike. They are adjustable shocks, with 4 positions. They are currently set at the 3rd of 4 settings, towards the stiff side. I looked at mikesxs.com to see if i could find shocks, and i like some of the ones that they have. basically, i need to know how i can tell if they are worn, and how much travel i should expect out of them? also, the shocks on the above website are made for the xs650. does anyone know what the curb weight of the 650 was? my bike only weighs 500 pounds, and i am concerned that even if they bolt in properly, that they might be too stiff if the 650 weighs a substantial amount more than my bike does. so, your thoughts?

i had my first one the other day.... my only issue was that i wasnt wearing the bottom half of my gear, so i was pretty uncomfortable and cold with just slacks on. im also running on some ancient tires that need to be replaced, so it was a bit sketchy, though i actually kind of enjoyed it.

that frame number might just be buried under a few dozen coats of paint... a wire brush might bring it to the surface?

you could just get a map holder that attaches magnetically to your tank.... unless maps reading falls under the directions problem

any bike, especially a sport bike like an r6 or an r1 is going to be incredibly expensive for insurance purposes if you purchase it new and have to make payments, for a number of reasons. 1) if you have to get a loan, you are required (as stated above) to have full coverage (if the bike is destroyed, the bike gets paid off, even if its your own fault). 2) sport bikes are (like sport cars) more expensive to insure, simply because people are statistically more likely to wreck them doing stupid things. they are high performance machines, designed to travel at high rates of speed, and due to this, insurance companies charge higher rates. 3) If you can swing it, get a used bike so that when you drop it, knock it over, go wide in a turn, hit gravel/a deer/a turkey (almost happened to me the other day, turkey that is) you already have it paid off, and you can chalk it up to a learning experience. if you can pay the bike off, you dont have to pay for full coverage insurance. The nice thing about being able to purchase my bike outright was that i can decide to have bare bones liability on my bike. also, since its not a sport bike, its less expensive to insure. 4) age will work against you here. the 2 main reasons that his insurance is 2500 a year are a hes only 17, and statistically males between 16 and 25 are more likely to die in auto accidents across the board (drivers ed factoid). and B hes riding an r1, a bike that is designed to go very fast. he would have high insurance too if he was driving a sports car. at $200+ a month in insurance, im guessing that he also had to take out a loan to get this bike or at least has full coverage just in case. basically, my advice is this... purchase the bike that you like, but learn its weaknesses. purchase a used bike so that you can get liability coverage on it and save yourself some cash. if you get liability though, make sure that you get the uninsured motorist bodily injury coverage, as well as the normal bodily injury coverage. mine is 50,000 per person, up to 100,000 per accident. i dont have any coverage that replaces or fixes the bike if it is my fault, only stuff that fixes me. the best insurance is the stuff you protect with your helmet. use your head and you should be ok. get a bike that fits your skill level and needs, get good protective gear, and most of all, stay alert. being aware of whats going on around you and what might happen in the next few seconds will save your ass more often than the best protective gear money can buy. /end sermon