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No love from shops for a XT 500

krongsak

krongsak

Member
Joined
Nov 4, 2006
Location
San Mateo
Moto(s)
RC8R, ZRX1200, 990 Superduke, XT 500, Dax
Name
J.bond
I am the happy owner of a 1976 Yamaha XT 500. It was a barn find that I restored and rebuilt over the course of the past 10 years. I know it look a while!

In the process, I opened the bottom end, replaced the gearbox because a gear at a broken dog, but did not bother replacing the piston or honing the cylinder. The bike is running nicely now, starts reasonably well, idles but smokes a bit much when cold.
I thought I'd offload the work of installing a new piston and doing a rebore to a local shop. Much to my surprise, 3 reputable shops declined to touch the beast. They all kindly explained that the economics were not working out and that they did not need the stress of finding what's in the engine.

While I definitely understand their reasoning, I was surprised.

Thought I'd share my experience in case anybody else thinks about getting lazy about working on their vintage bikes
 

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I found the same thing with my Kawi 500 H1f.

Same need. I found a couple that said bring us all the parts and we will do the work.

I tiddled looking. Found some stuff but not all. Frustrating having a nice classic just sitting in the garage.
 
budman said:
I found the same thing with my Kawi 500 H1f.

Same need. I found a couple that said bring us all the parts and we will do the work.

I tiddled looking. Found some stuff but not all. Frustrating having a nice classic just sitting in the garage.
Click to expand...

I replied to this in another thread a while back. Have you spoken with Chris at CW Racing? He knows his vintage 2-strokes... even uses them as his dailies!
 
Yes I did.. He can do the work.

Same issue.. sourcing parts. He sent me to a website that had a bunch. Just a couple that I need were not there.

Thanks for the follow up Pete.
 
Owning and working on vintage bikes that don't have a big following can be tough.
I found the part number for a seal/boot that I needed for my 1974 CB350-4, but NOBODY had the part available. After hours of internet searching, I was fortunate to finally find one sitting in someone's back room at a reasonable price, and I snatched it up.
If you are going to play the vintage/custom bike game, you have to be dedicated to searching or making your own parts. The return on investment is NEVER a profit, except in your heart, and the satisfaction of a job well done.
 
Lonster said:
Owning and working on vintage bikes that don't have a big following can be tough.
I found the part number for a seal/boot that I needed for my 1974 CB350-4, but NOBODY had the part available. After hours of internet searching, I was fortunate to finally find one sitting in someone's back room at a reasonable price, and I snatched it up.
If you are going to play the vintage/custom bike game, you have to be dedicated to searching or making your own parts. The return on investment is NEVER a profit, except in your heart, and the satisfaction of a job well done.
Click to expand...

No bike left behind !
 
Thanks for chiming in folks.
I had good luck having desmoto work on a 1993 RGV250 but even then they had a hard time sourcing some parts despite the availability of most parts from Aprilia Europe.

Regarding the XT500, I was naively thinking the bike was common enough, and still in use in flattrack, to make it straightforward to work on it. I clearly was wrong.
 
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