Any old Yamaha owners here (1982) ?

[Gerry]

Bit of a longshot, but...
My nephew's girlfriend has had a little Virago (575 ? ) for a while but it died recently and has just bought a 1982 XS750 SE U.S CUSTOM.
It's roadworthy but she's worried about it until somebody has checked it over for her.
I'm no use as my mechanical knowledge is extremely limited.


Is there anybody on here who either has the knowledge to do this (I'm happy to cover a reasonable charge) or can recommend a good guy who's not going to rip her off ?
No panic as she won't be riding it on the road until April.

She's in the Chippenham / Malmesbury area.

Thanks for reading.

Cheers

[WR6133]

Short of tearing it apart which would be excessive I don't think there is a lot someone is going to check that you can't yourself/herself.

Tyres... check wear and for damage, have a gander at the wheels at the same time. Check pressures, inflate as needed.

Check oil level and state of the oil (drop oil and replace if it's nasty)

Get front wheel in air and spin wheel if the bearings are knackered you'll notice, while front is up move bars side to side full lock, if the head bearings are knackered again you'll notice from the feel (any notchy/scrappiness)

Check the forks for corrosion in travel area, misting on forks (indicate bad seal), bounce them up and down.

Look in tank it's condition

Check chain for condition and wear, check sprockets

Look over the rear shocks for condition, push down on the rear end to see if they are working

Lift seat, you'll get a good view on the neglected bits of the subframe and frame

While the seats off you will probably be able to see a fair bit of the loom.... the amount of added tape and cut wires is directly proportional to how abusive past owners were.

Access battery (will either be under seat or behind a side panel) make sure it's properly connected, stick a multimeter on it if you have one (12.4 or above is good, lower may indicate knackered battery or bike has been stood a while). You could test the alt and reg/rec but I wouldn't bother unless you know there is a charging system issue.

Check the brakes... meat on discs, meat on pads, feel at lever. Bleed if needed. I'm guessing a rear drum? I'd check cable adjustment on that but if anal you could get the back wheel off and look in the drum.

Fire up bike, check all lights work. Check brakes work. Ride it round the block working up and down the box, be a bit unsympathetic with your shifts and throttle hand (try to make any issue show).

Personally I'd change the plugs, filters, oil, coolant, brake fluid so you know it's all serviced, fresh and tip top.

If you take it to a garage I doubt they will do much more than the above. Excluding changing plugs, filters, etc you could do that in under 30 minutes.

How did she kill a virago?

[Trev]

Good list Chris,
Ditto on oil & filter, I always do this on any bike (4 stroke of course) I get unless absolutely 100% confident it has been done in the last couple hundred miles/months, so cheap and easy to do on an older, unfaired bike then silly not to.
I recall the XS triple did suffer from dodgy cam wear and wasn't one of Yamaha's most reliable designs, having said that, if it's got this far then any such should be well behind it. Nice , quirky alternative to an older Harley and, if in decent nick, then will appreciate a bit rather than go down in value - enjoy ��

[Jon_W]

Hi Gerry,

I'm no expert on old yams, but am happy to have a quick butchers if it help at all.

[wheelers]

did send a pm but not had reply