Hello all! I purchased a 1982 Yamaha Vision Xz550 from a guy who was just gonna junk the thing 'coz he said he could not get it running anymore and has been sitting since 2003. I stumbled upon this site as I was researching what this bike was all about. Seeing pictures of this bike made me like it more and more and decided to go buy the bike. Got the bike for a really good deal. I took her home and took all the fluids out and cleaned her best I could. Put new battery, new plugs, new gas, new brake pads, new oil and new coolant and she fired right up. Few things I had to get were replacement speedometer and speedometer cable, rear brake switch and a helmet. Just have to register and insure and she's ready to go. I learned a lot about this bike from this site and have addressed a bunch of the issues that I have read from here. Thanks.
feel free to fire away any questions. Some of us are nearing a salvage yard status so parts are available...
Quote from: achie on October 30, 2007, 02:58:18 AM
Hello all! I purchased a 1982 Yamaha Vision Xz550 from a guy who was just gonna junk the thing 'coz he said he could not get it running anymore and has been sitting since 2003.
Hahaha, this a common tale among us here ;D :D :D :D :D... ;) However, hello and welcome to the "ROV family", the best place for any Vision with an owner 8) You need it...help, advice, part's, etc you'll get it here.
8).......TIGER....... 8)
Welcome achie, wow that's pretty good that you got it to fire up without a total carb overhaul (don't be surprized that you still may have to do that yet however). As Tiger sort of said, we see alot of Visions that got beyond the ability of the previous owner to fix (time, money, or no shop will touch it) and they have just been sitting around.
It you haven't already, get an inline fuel filter on.
So where do you call home?
Yeah, aside from those bought new, I'd say that most Visions are in the category of being rescued. I've seen 1 or 2 in boneyards, not too many other on the street, but I hope to change that soon! ;)
My Vision had been sitting in the PO's backyard without any cover for I don't know how long, after he'd bought the new BMW K-bike of the day. He'd "outgrown" the Vision, were his words. She was a nice change for me, who had been on a GS750 up to that point. And, albeit, I didn't pull her out of a dark corner, the gremlins had been there playing... I think time sitting is the bike's worst enemy. :-\
Quote from: ironb12s on October 30, 2007, 02:01:02 PM
...I think time sitting is the bike's worst enemy. :-\
:) Dead right...These Vision's have to be ran on a regular basis...Not just ran but
RAN HARD, they love it!!!
In the three year's of owning/riding my '82, "The Mistress", each year she run's better. We have run more mile, this year than the past two and apart from a blown, (used OEM), stator she has run grrrrrrreat 8) Prior to me acquiring her, she sat for eight year's :'( wasting away...
For those of us with a break in the riding season, commonly called winter, brrrrrrrr!!! Then you
HAVE to drain the fuel system, from the petcock down thru', of gas, before you put her away for a few month's of sleep.
Nice to know that there is another Vision being readied for enjoyment... 8)
achie, where are you located... ??? you may have a Visionary near you :o
8).......TIGER....... 8)
welcome, welcome and, congrats on buying a vision!!! we are all here to help u as much as we can if u need any help.. there are alot of very knowledgeable (i think iv been paying attention in english class... i keep using big words..) people here when it comes to visions.
Thanks all for the warm and kind welcome. I live in Wildomar California. It has been a very long time since I had a ride with two wheels and the last one was only 125cc back in the late 80's so you can say that I'm pretty much a newbie all over again. I have worked on my own cars before but never a motorcycle. Fortunately I found you guys over here and with lots of luck was able to get my old girl alive again. I think the previous owner didnt bother tryin to clean the tank and put new gas in her...dont know for sure but I m very glad she's alive now. I do hope to get her on the road soon and maybe meet up with other visionaries as well.
Achie: A warmest welcome to you. It's stories like yours that really make all the posting that goes on here worthwhile. So glad that you had the insight to really appreciate what I think is one of the best bikes that Yamaha has ever produced. There are very very few bikes that can virtually do it all, from sport to tour, as well as the V. Only a few select BMWs share this breadth of functionality.
I'm not familiar with your CA location, but we have several Vnaries that call CA home. No doubt you'll eventually hook up with them. All the best. Cheers.
Let me add my welcome to the list. Always great to hear of another V saved from the scrapyards! Good luck with it & I'm sure there is a CROVer near you to help out if you get into any real problems. (California Rider Of Vision - they were first to choose an acronym & didn't opt for the postal CA abbreviation). Otherwise, about anything you run into has probably been figured out & fixed by at least one of the folks here.
H2O
Wildomar is a small unincorporated town about 30 miles south of Corona maybe 40-50 miles north of San Diego. Temecula/Murrieta CA is my neck of the woods.
When I was looking for a bike I was hoping to buy new then all of a sudden I got laid off from work...that was pretty disappointing specially when I had a set of plans in motion. For a while all I could do was just look on-line at the bikes - new and used. One day I stumbled upon craigslist and just started poking around. There were several bikes around the $1000 range that were close to home. I emailed a few of those people just to find out their bikes were sold. I came upon the vision and was posted for $800 but no picture. I emailed the guy and he sent back the pic. The Vision other than being pretty dusty didnt look too bad at all - looked like little rust but mostly faded paint. I couldnt really afford $800 but hoped that the guy would still have it long enough for me to save the money. 2 weeks went buy and looked again and saw that he had reduced the price to $200. I called right away and asked if he could hold it until I could pick her up...he said ok...Woohooo! So I had to sell a few of my things to get her but fortunately they were things that someone else could get better use from anyway. Rented a U-haul trailer and picked her up and now she's got a new home. ;D . I have been test ridin the old girl around the block every few days and she seems to get better the more asphalt time she gets.
Sorry for ramblin on...didnt think I would like this bike as much as I do now and thanks for the welcome.
I spent some time installing SCE cycling devices , in the early '80s, in your neck of the woods. Welcome aboard. you have come to the right place! Good luck, Rick :D
I'm in a similar boat on plans for a new bike scrapped for now. I'm a new transplant in Santa Maria, about 4 hours or so north of ya. Mine's off the road at the moment but maybe once I get it up and runnin' again we can go ride sometime.
Quote from: Aelwulf on October 31, 2007, 01:49:01 PM
I'm in a similar boat on plans for a new bike scrapped for now. I'm a new transplant in Santa Maria, about 4 hours or so north of ya. Mine's off the road at the moment but maybe once I get it up and runnin' again we can go ride sometime.
That would be fun. Your's is off the road so is mine but hopefully not for much longer...I went to DMV to check how much to register and it would be $421 but the good news is DMV told me to take the Non-OP certificate and have previous owner sign it and there's a big possibility to cancel out a lot of the back fees at least $200 or so... so we'll see. Hope to see you on the road one of these days.