1978 Yamaha XS500

[MacMcMacmac]

There is a very nice example for sale locally for $700. 18,000 kms. I know the early TX500's were problematic, but as this is the second last production year for this bike, I was wondering if the bugs had been ironed out by then. Looks like I'll be shifting my Seca Turbo this weekend. I had planned on banking the money but this thing came up, and I had been hankering for a middleweight twin, but wasn't too cracked up about 450 Nighthawks and the like (though probably a worthy bike). The rarity appeals to me, as does the 70's styling, the flipside of rarity being the scarcity of parts of course. It doesn't seem to have been a particularly popular model. Still, I can't help thinking that crankcase would look beautiful with a mirror polish. Anybody here ever own one?

[79XS11F]

I owned one of those and it was VERY reliable for me and a lot of fun to ride. In fact that is the same model and year and was my first bike.
Rob

[79XS11F]

Did you pick that bike up? I think the asking price is a little high unless in very good condition. Otherwise a buck a cc is the going rate as long as it will start and run. If not the price should go downhill accordingly.
Rob

[MacMcMacmac]

No. I'll see if the Turbo sale goes through this weekend or early next week. It might still be around by then.

Buck-a-cc limit is nice when you can wrangle it. This might be a negotiable price, who knows. Trade it for an early Katana....

[79XS11F]

Hey MacMcMacmac > I was sure your 1100 was a "E" model, I didn't know it was a Katana...

Rob

[markjs]

In defense of the old Nighthawk's 450, while there was nothing rare about it (so parts availability is excellent), it is a wonderful bike. PLENTY of power, tops out at about 110MPH (nice to have a 6th "overdrive" gear on a little bike like that) even with a big guy like me on it, and while it does have to maintained by periodic adjustment, the balancer shaft makes the Nighthawk, or any of the honda 450 line of that era, run smooth like a four and not vibrate like a lawnmower like most standard twins.

The bitch about maintaining the balancer system is that if you don't have a deep socket of that size to adjust with (I think it's a 14) then buy one, because the screw in plug on the case side is such that when I stuck a regular one in there and adjusted, even though I was careful, I managed to lose the socket in the crank case and had to take the clutch side case cober off, which involved of course a premature oil change. Then when I tried to go on the cheap, and use gasket sealer, and not the proper gasket to put it back, that changed the internal clearance just enough, that upon reinstall, the bike would no longer pop back into the middle shiftable position between gears! So when I pushed it down into first it stuck there, and I immediately had to change the oil again, and wait for the gasket to come on order.

Then also when I had to change the clutch a few years later it has this nasty center nut in the clutch hub that needs a special Honda tool to remove it, if you can't manage to tap it out with a drift and something to lock the hub in place (a tricky procedure, since one can easily break the hub "basket" once it is this far disassembled that far, if you were to slip). I managed to do it with the drift, but it was a little scary.

Other than those two issues, the Honda 450 twin from like I think 78-85 is an awsome, bulletproof little powerplant.

[markjs]

Oh yeah, and also since the Nighthwak and otherwise Honda 450's were so popular, they were often "starter bikes", and people often moved up to a bigger bike quickly, what that means today is that they are still easy to pick up cheaply with low miles and in excellent condition.

It's a lot rarer, but the Rebel 450, was a damn nice bike, and that engine was just a tad different, but no less worthy, and I believe it was interchangeable with the other 450's. I'd kill for a Rebel in good condition.

[79XS11F]

That XS500 also made use of a counter balancer but it was not adjustable. It was a pretty smooth ride for a twin.
Rob