Struuner Precents himself!

[Struuner]

Good morning my fellow XZ550 (Vision) riders!

Just shy of 2 year ago, I purchased my Yamaha XZ 550. It is my first bike (I got late to the motor riding party  :P). So, one might ask, why go for a xz 550? Well,...: I was looking for a non-expensive bike to buy ( oke oke, I wanted a dirt cheap one, with "EL-Cheapo" written all over it). Innitially I had the idea it would only have to run for about a year. I reckoned if I would drop the bike, no serious harm to my wallet would happen. Thus I entered  in the search filter €1000 or less. (It's amazing how many bikes show up!  :o).

On a side note here: as far as my love for bikes go (even after a year and a half driving motorcycle I am still more a car guy, sorry guys  :-[); I absolutely adore V-twins and shaft drive. And knowing myself, I knew I should NOT start off with a 1200 or 1300 or 1600 cc.
The bike that made my go for my motorcycle license is a Royal Enfield C5. ..... Sorry just lost myself in  a day dream, driving that thumper along the small twisty and winding back roads here in the  north of The Netherlands. I will own one, one day.

Oke, back to the search for my first bike.
The bike I now own, appeared in that list as well. €600 was asked. I was, immidiatly charmed by the looks of the motorcycle, but it was actually a bit on the more expensive side. (Yes Yes, I know, how cheap does one need to get. but I reckoned that it would need new tires, oil filters, a good look at various systems like brakes, clutch, electrics, etc. Which, I would let a motorcycle garage take care off. It had to be cheap, but not complete and utter unsafe. So i would get atleast a bill of around €500. I would get that bill for any second hand motorcycle, so why not start cheap.)
But the XZ550 had virtually everything I wanted in a bike. Low cc engine (but a surprising performance from it, considering age of the bike at 34 years) a shaft drive AND it was A V-TWIN(!) so all my happy buttons were pressed!

About a year past, I managed to get my motorcyle license. The xz550 was still for sale. BUT a cheaper one had gotten for sale about a mile from my house. I hopped into the car and did some low altitude cruising.
The bike was rolled out of the shet and gave a somewhat used look. oke, sad, but nothing I couldn't live with. Had a look at the engine and other insteresting technical stuff, but wasn't impressed by the amount of rounded screws throughout the bike and the sweating of oil from the crankcase covers.

This bike was NOT good. And that's still sugar coating it!

The seller was clearly not worried about the look on my face and fired up the engine...

...It was like angels pissing in my ears. Oh my, what a fantastic exhaust note! In retro spect I was very happy that my dad, which I had brought along, dragged me away from that bike. For that price there were enough other "projects" to buy which would be a far better start than this particular xz550.

But as I was now, ehm, well... kinda in love with this bike. I knew I had to have a Yamaha XZ550.

Needless to say, I pushed my dad back into the car (I always bring my dad when i am going to buy something I really want, to act as a concious. Saved me from quite a few moneypits and gray hairs!) and we set the destination to the €600 one, which was about a hours drive away.

I had a chat with the seller. Great guy. Had a small custom motorcycle shop. He was selling the bike from a friend of his. He did the maintenance on the bike for his friend.
I took it for a small test drive. Tetsted brakes, shocks, electrics, steering. Then after some proper haggling about the price, the deal was settle at €380.

I HAD MY YAMAHA XZ550 '84!   ;D

I then drove the bike for about an hour, to motorcycle garage which I trusted (perhaps a bit expensive, but i figured it was worth it) keeping the speed of the trucks (didnt quite trust the bike).

After some days I got the call the bike was ready to be collected. It had gotten new set of tires, new final shaft oil, new coolant, new oil, new oil filter, new air filter. new brake fluid. One of the frontbrake callipers was not working and they freed that up. the bill was a little over €500.

What has been done since that time:

- Lot of rust in the tank. I found out when the motorcycle stopped along side the highway and didnt want to run proper. It had actually almost run out of gas, but I didnt know and took the fuel hose of the tank. A reddisch brown liquid came pooring out. I managed to get home on own power.
So the tank is now coated.
- Because of the above I tooke the carburetor off. Send it to a shop for supersonic cleaning. Installed it. drove back to the shop for carb synchronizing...
- after a roadtrip of 4-5 days trough The netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg and Germany, I noticed a leak on one of the front suspension forks. So I've taken off both front forks cleaned them and renewed the oil and seals.
- I continued having carburator problems. So I took the carburator of again. bought a few bottles of carb cleaner and cleaned it my self. everything i could make loose and remove WITHOUT completely destroying screw heads or other stuff I took out. But alas, still not good.
- At the garage they also didnt know exactly what the problem could be, but the mechanic suggested I would partially block the air intake, because to him, the engine sounded as if it had to much air when ripping the throttle. I read, probably on this forum, that the airbox might have a flap and if so, it might needed some weight added. Mine indeed had a flap. I put 2-3 small screws in that flap and the only problem I now still have is at 4500-5000 rpm.

So there we stand. a stumble at 4500-5000 rpm when giving throttle. which is absolutely shit it corners.
and when alternating between low beam and high beam I sometimes have NO light for a split second. I know this problem is in the handlebar switch itself.

TL;DR:
- New owner of a Yamaha XZ 550 from 1984 (probably sold in that year as production stopped somewhere '83, correct?)
- Lives in The netherlands.
- Has throttle issues at 4500-5000 rpm. (with constant throttle somethimes "holding in" and stumble when giving throttle, both rolling on the gas as when ripping).

WARNING: The pictures, as always, make the bike look more nicer than it actually looks.

Greetings,
Struuner

[Walt_M.]

Welcome to the forum. Sounds like you have accomplished a lot but it has been my and many others experience that these carbs must be surgically clean to work properly and complete disassembly is the only way to accomplish this.

[Struuner]

Thank you Walt,

I probably will need to do a bit more cleaning then!

I need to take it apart anyways, to replace butterfly valve rod seals and check the correct jets and floater heights.

I do very much enjoy and like the bike. I learned to ride around the stumble range.
In fact i like it so much, I am in the process of purchasing another one. This time with full fairing. But it depends if the sales man can make it run. It's been standing still for 2 years. but the man sold and maintained these bikes back in the days. So i have good hope.

[QBS]

Welcome to the Group.  Straight to business.  Things to determine if not already known:  Does the starter have the upgraded spring lip design oil seal? What is the battery voltage reading at 4000 rpm?  Check the condition of the stator coil to regulator/rectifier connector.  How many miles on the bike?  Is there a center point of resistance in the steering head bearing?  Your love for the V is understandable.  I feel the same way about mine.  The factory full fairing is wonderful.  Be aware that it features more sporting ergonomics and requires specific handlebar risers, foot peg hardware, and rear brake lever and related actuation rod.  Also know that Vs demand a properly functioning charging system and an inline fuel filter. 

[Struuner]

Good evening QBS,

Thank you for the pointers!

No such points in the steering. thank fully. I cannot remember clearly, but I think the guy from whom I bought it, said he changed that bearing.
After my rusty gasoline experience, the first thing I installed was an in-line fuel filter.
So far the charging system has held up. Nonetheless I will check the voltage and that connector
I haven't had the starter disassembled from the bike yet. If I read correctly on this forum. I might need to check the starter clutch holding bots (3x) as well. When I pick that up. I'll do that lipseal as well.
I also read about the rearbrake drum anchor rod bolts. I'll have to replace those as well ASAP.
It almost makes me happy that I hardly ever used that brake, as the bugs smashing into the front of the bike are generating more braking force than the rear brake ever did.

About the milage. Hehehe... :P

The counter says 32k Kilometers. BUT, and this is funny: it only counts the beautiful/ or nasty kilometers driven. Allow me to explain:
When, for example, I drive 150km the counter will say I've done 56km or if I would do that same trip on a different moment in time, it will say 87 or perhaps even 145. it just does something. I've checked: its not counting miles. Also, I've opened the mechanism, but couldn't really find worn cogwheels or such. so I just drop by a pertrolstation every 2 to 2.5 hours of driving.

I didn't know that the fairing one was so different. The bike, although showing some signs of usage, still seem to have all the oil and other liquid stickers on various places on the frame. also inside the fairing it stateds its an original yamaha fairing. that bike has done 33k km according its counter, which I think is possible/feasible. and I think/hope/(and quite unsafely) assume it is an originally faired bike by Yamaha and has all the items you listed.