New to the XZ550

[zore]

I just picked up this 82 today for nothing and really don't know much about them other than what I've read on the intarweb the last 2 days.  It seems to have the original rubber on it and an original 2460 miles on it.  For a bike that's 23 years old, it's mint

It came with this huge fairing on it.


Now for the questions.  It's been sitting for atleast 3 years.  I had worked on it for my brother in law to get it running but it never seemed to run right.  It does seem to run much better now believe it or not, but it seems that even thow it idles at a normal rpm, if you give it a shot of gas, it takes a while for it come back down.  I unplugged the yics module and blocked the ports in the head but it made no change.  I took some carb clean and tried spraying it around the intake boots to see if i could get the idle to change, but it didn't. It also seems to not run smooth at part throttle, but doesn't seem to be lacking for power.  Any inside would be apreciated.

[h2olawyer]

Great find!  The tires are not original.  Most - if not all - US models came with Mag Mopus blackwalls.  Don't remember if they were Dunlop or Bridgestone.

Your carbs probably need a good tear down & dip in Berryman's, followed by a good pilot screw setting & synch.  Carbs sitting for any extended time get gummed up & from the sound of your with the low miles, it's sat for a long time. 

Cosmetically, you are missing a radiator shroud.  There would be turn signals located on the rear holes of the headlight frame if you didn't have the fairing.  By the way, is that a BMW fairing?  Never seen one like it on a Vision before.

It looks fantastic & you sure got it for a good price.  Welcome to the forum!

H2O

[zore]

The fairing is really ugly so I'll be putting it in the attic for now.  I guess I'll be combing ebay for a radiator shrowed.  I think I'm going to replace the existing front and rear signals with the ones from my Ducati that I'm no longer using, that leaves me to find mirrors.

[steve]

congrats on getting a great bike and one you'll have a blast riding! ?I got mine just a couple of months ago and it only had 2600 miles on it. ?It ran terribly and I'm not a motorcycle mechanic so it took over a month and some professional help to get it really rideable. ?I had a couple of vacuum leaks and a bad gasket in one of the carbs. ?He also said that the inside of the cylinders may have some deposits from sitting but just using it will eventually get some of those deposits works through. ?I had a loose screw on my yics box and some bad rubber hoses. ?Now it works good, my gas mileage went from 20mpg to almost 50mpg and it idles properly. ?The mechanic also replaced fork oil seals and oil. ?I couldn't believe how much better it handled! ?It's not practical to pay the high price of a mechanic all the time and I can't wait the 3-4 weeks for him to work on it so I did invest in the repair book and I'm doing what I can myself. ?I'ts really not that hard. I spent some time and money to get the bike working good and I'm glad because I really like it. ?

[zore]

I yanke the YICS box off and that did help some of the slow idle issue. My initial thoughts are is that it's a gimicky thing anyway.  I'm going to do some more research on it to see if it's worth installing again.  I did give the vacume lines a quick test and they seem ok, but we'll see.  My only plans are is to replace the radiator shrowd, find a trip meter reset knob and screw, put some mirrors on it and some real tires.

[QBS]

You'll be blown away by the size of the trip meter knob screw.  You've got a great find.  Read up on all the V idiosynchracies on this site and Luckys' site.  Your slow return to idle sounds like carb non synchronization.  The consensus here is to run with a known good YICs' installed.  '83 owned since '84, approx. 85k miles.  Cheers.

[h2olawyer]

I'll second QBS's suggestion of running with a properly functioning YICS.  The idle on mine is at least 1000 RPM higher with it installed.  May be a little gimicky but it does work.  They do have a tendency to leak internally and/or externally.  You can find details about repairing it at www.xz550.com.

Mine sat for a few years a couple different times in the past.  It took me some time to get all the gunk out of the carbs (2 berryman's dips) and sort out all the little things before it was running great.  Then, just when I thought I was 'done', I decided to hybridize it & add most of the better 83 bits.  It runs, rides & handles better today than it did when I bought it new 21 years ago.  The knowledge and help available on this site is amazing.   8)

H2O

[Lucky]

Yup, synq the carbs& set the pilots & that should cure the slow return to idle & flat spot.  you'll end up rebuilding the carbs sooner or later, Keyster has a kit on Ebay for about $30 ea, you'll need two.

I have a shroud if you want it, email me & we'll haggle on price.

--Lucky

[zore]

Well, good news.  My brother in law has the shrowed so I wont be needing one of those.   It turns out, the last time it ran was really about 5 years ago.  I know he bought a new battery when we were getting it running and i was suprised to see it not take a charge, then I did the math and it's been 5 years and not 2.  He bought the bike in 1990 and had the forks rebuilt about 98.  I'm not exactly sure what my plans are yet with it as I've already got the monster and i've got a triumph sprint st so where this bike is going to fit, i'm not sure.  I'm pretty sure I want to find an after market exhaust for it.

[QBS]

It will be very intersting to see how the V compares to your other bikes.  Pristine stock V exhaust systems are very difficult to aquire at any price.  Give very carefull consideration before replacing yours.  The best option there is probably a Preditor system.  But bring $$$.  IMHO definetly not worth the $ if you already have a good stock system.  Cheers.

[zore]

Well, since I've only really put about 4 miles on it and it's not running 100% yet, it will be hard to say.   The sprint st is about 530 pounds with fuel.  I3 955 is about best power delivery you can ask for out of a street bike.  It gets 45 to 50mpg and has been dead reliable in the 1.5 years and 27000 miles I've owned it.

The monster put out 86hp at the rear wheel last time I dyno'd it.  It's my muscle car replacement.  Since it fell over on the trailer 4 years ago, I've been repainting it every year so that it always feels like I have a new bike.  It weighes about 390 pounds with gas and is my canyon carver/track day bike.

I took the xz out a few times to make sure the brakes worked and the like.  Obviously, it doens't have the power the other bikes have, but I still managed to suprise myself popping it into second gear and bringing the front wheel up.  I like the I3 for it's power and sound, but i've always been partial to vtwins.  I really do want to get an after market exhaust so that I can fully enjoy the vtwin sound.  There were 3 things that attracted me to this bike.  It has low miles and is extremely clean, It was a vtwin, and it was shaft drive.