New vision owner!

[zreinke]

Hey everyone, I just re envy purchased my first motorcycle! It's a 1982 Vision. It's in pretty good shape. The two previous owners did a lot of work on it. The only thing I've had to do so far is buy a new starter. I don't have the space or tools to work on it myself so it's currently at a mechanics shop. Hopfully ill be on the road soon. I look forward to gaining some knowledge and experience from this board!

[Re-Vision]

Pull the pin!      BDC

[devotee]

Welcome to the fold. So I looked at your profile and it has you on a golf course. Are you golfing?

The bike looks clean. I hope it treats you well.

[zreinke]

Welcome to the fold. So I looked at your profile and it has you on a golf course. Are you golfing?

The bike looks clean. I hope it treats you well.

No im not on a golf course...Big fingers on an iphone screen can make things tricky lol...I cant wait to hit the road with it!

[QBS]

Congratulations and welcome to the Forum.  Since you are new to the V, which in your case also happens to be returning from the shop, you might want to consider giving it local daily shake down rides for 1 to 2 weeks before you hit the road with it.  By that time you should have gotten a pretty good idea about what Gremlins (if any) that you should attend to.  After the bike has shown itself to be dependable and free of critical gremlins hit the road for a 100 to 200 mile daytrip and see how the bike performs.

Did the new starter that your shop recently installed contain the upgraded spring lip design oil seal?  If not, within 10K or possibly less miles the starter motor will fail and present itself oil soaked inside and in need of a through cleaning, probably new brushes, and most definitely a spring lip design oil seal.  The V starter motor mounts below engine oil level.  A non spring lip design oil seal will not seal well enough to ensure a  long term/permanent oil free starter motor interior.        You need to know which seal your starter motor has in it.         All Vs left the factory with this defect.  My '83 had its' factory starter motor, non spring lip, oil seal, fail as described above at 10k miles.  My local Yamaha dealer knew of the problem and the correct fix, and installed the spring lip design.  78k miles, 2 armature brush sets, and 29 years later that seal continues to seal well with no oil inside the starter motor.  The spring lip design is a permanent fix.

This is your first bike.  Do not think of the V as a small displacement beginners bike.  It is not.  Rather, its' a considerably potent and somewhat heavy, 550cc sport twin that just so happens to also be one of the finest sport touring mounts ever produced.  A good running V kicks butt and should be respected.  If you haven't already done so, save yourself some serious grief and take some type of motorcycle riders safety course as soon as possible before you start riding on the street.  Your first 6 months on the street could possibly be the most dangerous time of your life.  The best place to learn how to really ride a motorcycle is in the dirt on a used 100cc dirt bike.  Learning how to ride a bike at the same you're learning how to ride a bike on the street can make for a pretty dicey learning curve.

I hope you don't find this a little too strong.  I'm just trying to pass on a little of what I've learned along the way.

[zreinke]

Congratulations and welcome to the Forum.  Since you are new to the V, which in your case also happens to be returning from the shop, you might want to consider giving it local daily shake down rides for 1 to 2 weeks before you hit the road with it.  By that time you should have gotten a pretty good idea about what Gremlins (if any) that you should attend to.  After the bike has shown itself to be dependable and free of critical gremlins hit the road for a 100 to 200 mile daytrip and see how the bike performs.

Did the new starter that your shop recently installed contain the upgraded spring lip design oil seal?  If not, within 10K or possibly less miles the starter motor will fail and present itself oil soaked inside and in need of a through cleaning, probably new brushes, and most definitely a spring lip design oil seal.  The V starter motor mounts below engine oil level.  A non spring lip design oil seal will not seal well enough to ensure a  long term/permanent oil free starter motor interior.        You need to know which seal your starter motor has in it.         All Vs left the factory with this defect.  My '83 had its' factory starter motor, non spring lip, oil seal, fail as described above at 10k miles.  My local Yamaha dealer knew of the problem and the correct fix, and installed the spring lip design.  78k miles, 2 armature brush sets, and 29 years later that seal continues to seal well with no oil inside the starter motor.  The spring lip design is a permanent fix.

This is your first bike.  Do not think of the V as a small displacement beginners bike.  It is not.  Rather, its' a considerably potent and somewhat heavy, 550cc sport twin that just so happens to also be one of the finest sport touring mounts ever produced.  A good running V kicks butt and should be respected.  If you haven't already done so, save yourself some serious grief and take some type of motorcycle riders safety course as soon as possible before you start riding on the street.  Your first 6 months on the street could possibly be the most dangerous time of your life.  The best place to learn how to really ride a motorcycle is in the dirt on a used 100cc dirt bike.  Learning how to ride a bike at the same you're learning how to ride a bike on the street can make for a pretty dicey learning curve.

I hope you don't find this a little too strong.  I'm just trying to pass on a little of what I've learned along the way.

Not too strong at all. I appreciate you taking the time to put that out there. It is my first bike but I have been riding for a few years. I got a chance to ride it a little bit before I put it in the shop and you are right! She is a pretty powerful machine! Im not certain about the starter. Ill have to check into it and see. Im suppose to pick her up tomorrow so hopefully ill be able to give a tour of the town!

[Rikugun]

Do you know if the previous owners were forum members or lurkers? The bike looks well looked after and it's quite possible the starter seal has been addressed allready and hopefully some of the other peccadilloes too.  :D Good luck with the new bike and welcome aboard.

[zreinke]

Do you know if the previous owners were forum members or lurkers? The bike looks well looked after and it's quite possible the starter seal has been addressed allready and hopefully some of the other peccadilloes too.  :D Good luck with the new bike and welcome aboard.

The guy I bought it from told me about this place. I don't believe he is a member. I think he just lurked from time to time..From what he told me a lot of the common problems had been addressed. I spoke to my mechanic today and he said the only thing he's noticing on it is the solenoid is not getting enough power. Any ideas??

[Rikugun]

I guess you mean the starter solenoid but I'm not sure what he means by "not getting enough power". Taken literally it's possible the battery is not providing enough power or the solenoid connections internally are pitted and offering resistance. Another possibility is the short cable connecting the battery to the solenoid and the longer one feeding the starter motor may have corroded ends. The other half of the circuit is equally important that being the battery ground cable and it's connection to the engine case. I'm sure any good mechanic would have considered the basics and ensured all those connections are clean and sound. Keep in mind the ends may look good but all these factory cables are connected to their eyelets by a mechanical crimp. Resistance increases as a natural progression over time at these connections despite them appearing OK at a casual glance.

Another possibility is the starter motor is in need of attention.  Just cleaning the starters internals, undercutting the commutator segments and putting in new brushes can make a big difference. If not done allready, a new seal will keep the oil out too.  ;)

It may not be one thing but the cumulative effect of small weakness in several areas described. The battery, starter, cables and ends and solenoid all have to be at 100% to get reliable starting on these bikes. For whatever reason the Vision places high demands on the starting circuit - even more so than a four cylinder of equal (or larger) displacement with a smaller battery.

[fret not]

This sounds like a good time to get out your volt / ohm meter.

[zreinke]

This sounds like a good time to get out your volt / ohm meter.

I think that will be my next step!

[QBS]

Do you know if the starter clutch has been reattached?  If not, find out if you can.  What you need to know is what specific "common problems" have been addressed?  You might consider installing volt gauge if the bike doesn't already have one.  They are easy to install and needn't cost much.

[zreinke]

Do you know if the starter clutch has been reattached?  If not, find out if you can.  What you need to know is what specific "common problems" have been addressed?  You might consider installing volt gauge if the bike doesn't already have one.  They are easy to install and needn't cost much.

Ill have to check on the starter clutch. A volt gauge is on my list of mods to make.