Phone Call to Salvage Yard

[zayanteman]

 >:( >:( >:(
Called my local wrecking yard today.   And asked the guy if he had any 80s era Vmaxs or Viragos.  I told him I was looking for "upgrade parts."  He asked what bike I have.  I said, "Yamaha Vision."  He started laughing and said that I would be wasting my time trying to upgrade that bike.  

"I worked for Yamaha as a mechanic for 10 years, and I remember all the recall bulletins on that bike.  It was a total piece of crap.  The only other bike that was worse was the Yamaha ... (something).  They actually wrote to all the motorcycle magazines to apologize for making that bike.  But the Vision was a close second to that junker.  It had problems with the engine, the carbs, the gas tank, the stator, the starter, the regulator, and don't even get me started on the transmission and final drive!"

"Tell you what.  Figure out what bike you want a front end from, then go and buy that bike.  Then ride that bike instead of your piece of crap."

"If you want a real cult bike, get a Honda Hawk.  There's a few guys up in San Francisco who keep their Visions running, but they're crazy.  So guy and buy yourself a REAL motorcycle."  

So, I didn't buy any parts for my Vision.  I guess I should be spending my money on a REAL motorcycle...

Which motorcycle is a REAL motorcycle???

[bikehandle]

Bikes are like women! All that maters is what you fall in love with! Looks and performance comes second!
But then thats just my opinion!
Bikehandle  ;D

[Rick G]

 I ran into the same attitude, when I first  got mine , most mechanics didn't really know the bike and were going on hearsay. I deceided to fix it up and unload it . Well, after I got it running, I found that I really liked the bike , I also found out that it was far more reliable than those jerks thought.  Most people who bad mouth the V , when asked for first hand experences , admit that "some one told them it was crap" They have NO first hand experences! I've put 15000 miles on mine and it has never failed to get me home, furthermore  repairs have been no more than any other 21 year old bike. If you have the will to spend the money on a new bike start looking, but as for me, I'll stick with the V.

[Tim B.]

I guess I was fortunate that my local mechanic is a former Visionary. He used to race one back in the 80s. He said to me, " I sold my Vision for $800, I wish I'd never sold it." He had done some interesting mods that some of the guys here have been speculating about. He got the front end off a Seca 750 and flipped the forks around to keep the axle position the same. Added a Fox shock, clip-ons, oil cooler (he says never fried a stator again), and I think a MAC pipe. Said GPz's beat him in the straights but in the twisties they couldn't keep up.

That guy sounds like a real blow hard. Although I do have to admit I probably would have given up if this forum and it's wealth of information wasn't here. My 1st Vision had a bad stator and carb problems and a loose starter clutch- without the info found here I doubt there a very many people who could troubleshoot all these problems on their own.

These bikes are uniquely cool. Let the myths prevail and we can continue to pick them up for cheap!

A few years ago I was riding my Dad's two Viragos (535 and 700) thinking how cool it would be to have that V-twin power in a sportier frame - Who knew?

[Dave T.]

Seems like that salvage yard doesn't have very smart people. That kind of attitude means to me that the guy was pretty stupid. If he thought it was a piece, why couldn't he fix it? If he was such an expert, why couldn't he get it reliable? I'd like that guy to be a Yamaha engineer from Japan and see what bright ideas he would come up with.

It's probably a waste of time to try to upgrade the bike is a statement of a person who doesn't really want to take the time and effort to challenge him/herself. It's all relative. I have worked on bikes since I was 12 with no formal training. I just do it for the love. My neighbor at the lake cottage had a Vision about 10 years ago, and I thought, man, that's a cool motorcycle. Then I heard the Ducati's at the superbike races and I thought, I have to have a low cost V twin. $810 later, I had a Vision. Right off the bat the stator was open (burned), but the guy had a spare he gave me plus a TCI module. It was fairly easy to replace the stator. The rest of the bike got fixed with a lot of work and advice from reading this fourm.

I don't have loads of dough to spend on a Suzuki SV1000S (the bike I'd REALLY like to have) so I make due with what I got, my cool little Vision.

No complaints here....   ;)

[RobTx]

My problem with salvage yards is that they think they're sitting on solid gold used parts.  Someone gave me a lead on a Vision exhaust in Houston.  The guy wanted $200!  Same price for the carbs, unless I bought both, then he'd give me a discount.  Forget that!  Patience is a virtue and I eventually picked up a complete exhaust for $25, and carbs for $35.  Thank goodness for ebay.  It's fun to poke around those places, and it's even better to have a friend that works at one.  Nothing beats seeing a part in person, or just looking at piles of stuff to get ideas.  I don't mind buying things from them every now and then, because they do serve a purpose.  The exhaust and carbs I bought on ebay both came from salvage yards, why can't they just price this stuff like that to begin with?  
Rob

[Cdnlouie]

What makes this opinion really significant is when you consider the source.  Oh Yeah, like there is good junk and bad junk?   :o

Zayanteman you are a rabble rouser!  Anything to get a rise out of Vision owners.