New to Forum- Have Vision need assistance/ advise

[DeanNichols]

I am a Vision Owner Black '83 XZ550 RK and am new to the forum.

I am the second owner of the bike.  It's first owner was my brother in law who took good care of the bike while he was the owner.  I acquired the bike years ago when my sister, his wife, insisted that he get rid of a motor cycle before he could buy a new one (I think he had 5 bikes in the garage at the time and no room for the car).

For many years I rode it recreationally and as a commuter bike (40 to 100 mi/day round trip... and enjoyed every ride).   Then after a couple of incidences of vandalism while parked at work I decided to stop riding to work. It was no fun arriving at my bike at 11PM at night and finding that air had been let out of the tires or that the owner installed fan switch on the dash that bypassed the ignition had been switched on and the battery was dead. My interests turned elsewhere and recreational rides became few and far between.  Since the bike was not being ridden regularly, it was always a chore to get it ready for a ride... replace or charge the battery and hope it would start.  So for the last few years it has pretty much been stored in my condo parking stall, covered with a nylon cover.

The bike is not currently licensed or insured (a cost saving effort on my part since I was not using it), and the Condo Association has asked me to get it licensed or move it off the property.

I miss riding, but I just don't have motivation to refurbish the bike. I am not mechanically inclined and do not have the tools or space to do the work even if I knew how. I can not justify the cost of having the work done at the local Yamaha dealer. 

What I am looking for is someone that is interested in the Vision and is willing to work on it as a labor of love (and a negotiable amount of $$), or absent that I would like to find the bike a good home.  I would hate to sell the bike to a salvage yard for a few dollars or to donate it to some charity for the tax deduction.... knowing that it would be junked immediately and parted out and sold to a fellow Vision owner for lots of bucks!

A few years ago I exchanged eMails with a local Vision owner looking for a parts bike on Craigs List.  Since he had found the parts bike he was looking for, he directed me to this group, and encouraged me to get my Vision back in shape. I have lost his name and eMail.  Is there anyone in the Santa Clara Calif area interested in consulting with me on this project?

Thanks.


Dean Nichols
fivecents@aol.com

I get a lot of junk email... please use the word VISION in the subject header so it doesn't get deleted.

I will also monitor this forum for comments also.

[kwells]

You will find many willing to help you get this vision back on the road.  Being an 83 you will find many people willing to take 'parts' off your hands but that is generally frowned upon on this forum being that whole 83's are a fairly rare bike. 

Ask as many questions as you want and you will always find an answer that you can work with here.  We've basically seen it all and know how to fix it efficiently and as cheaply as possible.

If you still want to get rid of it I'm sure you will also get a couple offers.

How many miles are on the bike?  Do you have any pics?

[Brian Moffet]

There are multiple people in the Santa Clara area.  I am in San Francisco, but I already have an 83 :-) And I am renting a small place in San Francisco so I can't really help out with the rebuild but can offer advice in email.  I recently went through and rebuilt my 83 2 years ago.  Since then I've been commuting on it daily.  Though it's easier since I have a covered garage, and my workplace has a security patrolled parking garage.

Most likely you'll need to have the carbs rebuilt if it's been sitting long enough.  I would assume that by "not registered" you have let the registration lapse, and not listed it as "not in use" per California law.  So you'll need to get that taken care of.  But listing it as not in use is a whole lot cheaper than full registration.

Brian

[DeanNichols]

Wow, quick response... 2 responses while I was browsing other areas.  I hope to get in contact with other local owners who might be interested in getting this machine going again.

The vandalism to the bike at work WAS in a security patrolled garage.  I guess the lure of letting the air out of someone's tires or flicking the switch on the dashboard to see what it will do was just too attractive.

Even driving the car is not the complete solution.  I have had a side window and the driver side door lock broken.... nothing in the car to steal, but it was a few hundred $$$ to fix.  I now leave the car unlocked. So much for the security guards.  It is a five story parking garage that is pretty much empty on the upper floors, where the employees park, after 5PM.  I would not consider my workplace a high crime area, but vandalism is a regular problem.  I few years ago one of my coworkers had her car stolen.  It was never recovered.  Another had her truck stolen.  It was found stripped a few days later.

As for registration... it is PNO (Planned Non Operation) status, so if I ever decide to ride again I just need to renew the insurance and Pay current registration fees.

I am pretty familiar with what needs to be done.  I just have to decide how much I want to ride again, or should I sell/give it to someone that would appreciate it and give it a good home.

Dean Nichols

[Aelwulf]

Sheesh, I'd think by now they'd have some sort of camera system installed. :P I'd almost bet it just a couple of folks, if not the same one(s), responsible for it all since they know vehicles there are easy targets.

Good luck with it, I'd be surprised if you didn't find someone.

[GT @ oh.]

Does it run? If not...... from the sounds it is a clogged carb from sitting.....very common....you could clean/soak it yourself $40...or take it to a worthy shop $100-200.....good luck

[kwells]

the good thing about bike registrations is they are pretty cheap.  Unless you also need to insure in order to register...then it can get pricey. 

I would be suspicious of the security if cars continued to be stolen. 

[DeanNichols]

Yea, for the work security thing, it probably is a few individuals that know how easy it is to break into vehicles.  Late at night there is only one security guard on duty, so it would be easy to have a spotter on a lower level sounding the alarm to their confederates when security approaches.  There are cameras all over the complex (it is a Medical Center), but none in the parking structure. There are a lot of people coming and going at all hours, although most of the traffic stay on the lower floors when possible.  The employees are parking on the upper floors... therefore more vulnerable (although patients are also affected)... alarms are not terribly effective as they are constantly going off, and are therefore pretty much ignored as most are false alarms.  The stolen vehicle events took place over a few years, although vandalism seems to happen to someone I know a few times per year.

The bike worked fine last time it was driven... although who knows what condition it is in now. I am sure that the battery is DOA.  I used to remove it and put it on a trickle charger in my apartment.  But that got old after a while.  No power in the carport, so I used to run a long extension cord out the bedroom window down to a charger.  That worked until someone complained about it being unsightly, so I had to resort to charging after dark!  That too got old.  I bought a solar panel but never got around to hooking that up.   Maybe I can find some time soon to at least brush off the cobwebs and give it a wash so at least it will look good.  What I need most is some spare time to use it!

Dean Nichols

[YellowJacket!]

Batteries aren't that expensive, so if the current one wont hold a charge, you can get a new one fairly cheap.  Like the others have said, the main issue will be cleaning the carbs.  If it was not properly stored, then it is almost certain that there will be some amount of gum/crud in them that will cause problems.

You may want to consider an oil change too but get it running first.

I work at a hospital too and had an incident with my Visio na couple months ago. Not vandalism but the bike sunk in the gravel in our overflow lot during a rainstorm and fell over (it was on the center stand).  In any event, we now have designated motorcycle parking (YAY!!) and its in a more secure lot.

We also had an incident last month where a group of kids stole a truck and went on a demolition derby run in one of our lots.  They were gone before our (very professional and quite effective) security dpt responded.

Reason to ride:  I have not driven my car in just over a month now.  Total gas used - just over 6 gals!  Same amount of driving that I do in my car would be two tankfuls or more, or 28+ gals.  A couple hundred dollars invested in your Vision now will pay you back very quickly if you change over to it as your daily commuter.

Welcome to ROV.

David

[Tiger]

 ::) Bugger, I thought that I had found #9...but thats a wee bit to far away for me ;)

               8).......TIGER....... 8)

[Rick G]

If you need professional help with the carbs, I rebuild them . Just send me a PM and I'll send you the docs.

[h2olawyer]

Tiger's the one who needs professional help - after fixing up all those Visions, he's probably lost most of his mind!   ;)

H₂O

[Tiger]

Tiger's the one who needs professional help - after fixing up all those Visions, he's probably lost most of his mind!   ;)

H₂O

:D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D  8)

[Aelwulf]

Speakin' of that Rick you get my PM's with the e-mail addy? :)

[Rick G]

Yes, I did but I'm having a small problem. The file where I keep the carb doc. is empty . I'm trying to see if any one , I emailed it too can email it back, so I won't have to peck it out, to recreate it. 
Edit . I found it in an old email , I'll send it out today.

[Coil Coyle]

Check your mail, Dean.

;)
Coil