| Author | Message | ||
     86129squids |
I grew up on late 70/early 80 metric bikes... almost wadded my best buddie's mom's Seca 550 before I graduated high school. Check this thing out. https://knoxville.craigslist.org/mcy/d/1982-yamaha -920-virago/6681561711.html WANT. | ||
| 86129squids |
Found another one... https://knoxville.craigslist.org/mcy/d/2000-kawasa ki-w650-only-970/6675165104.html This guy seems to run a privateer resto/sales shop for vintage collectible bikes, "Existential Motorcycles", seen him post many times over the years... in the text of the ad he mentions a collection of both BMW and Moto Guzzi bikes. I'd be curious to talk/visit with this guy if I made it to Alexander, NC. | ||
| Pwnzor |
That Virago was ahead of it's time... great bike. More than one of my friends have had those or a very similar variation of it. A hoot to ride, torquey and fuel efficient. Kind of like some other bikes I've heard of around here... | ||
| Tootal |
A good fried of mine had one and so did my brother. Only problem was the starters. Other than that they were excellent bikes! Well, one year had a bad batch of cams, the heat treatment was done wrong and they would wear out. But, OTHER THAN THAT, they were good. | ||
| Buellish |
Joe Alberts had an XV920,kind of a sport standard.It had a nice mellow exhaust note and like Greg said a box of rocks starter. | ||
| Zac4mac |
I've almost bought a couple of those Kawi 650 Triumphs. So close... | ||
| 86129squids |
I used to be a buyer scout for used metric bikes... I've never seen a Virago built like that. | ||
| Natexlh1000 |
Something I remember from those Virago things is the starters were wonky. There was a time in the early 90's that you could get old Viragos really cheap or free. "all it needs is a starter!" I had a friend that took the bait. "Free" bike cost him $$$$$. The replacement units cost more than a couple hundred bucks, junkyards didn't have them because that what went wrong with them. They had to be shimmed in some magical way in order for them to last more than a month too. My poor friend fixed his free bike twice in a summer. SOLD it after it was fixed the second time. Caveat Emtor even if not actually being bought! | ||
| Crusty |
I bought a book the other day. It was titled, Memorable Japanese Motorcycles. It had 128 pages and all of them were blank. (Message edited by Crusty on September 04, 2018) | ||
| 1313 |
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| Nuts4mc |
Have to agree with Natexlh1k...I believe the Viragos had a problem with their "Sprag" clutch on their "starter"...similar to the "bendix" on your car starter...lot of info on you tube | ||
| Tootal |
It's been a long time but there was something to do with belleville washers which put the pressure on the starter clutch. You had to add a washer or something. I fixed the one on a friends bike that I forgot about. It was the 750 version but the starter was the same. My brother pulled up at a stop sign next to a guy on a Harley. The Harley rider looked over and asked him why he bought that instead of a Harley. My brother just said, "Here's why". He then proceeded to smoke the rear tire all the way across the intersection leaving the Harley sitting there going potato potato potato... | ||
| 86129squids |
Crusticle, LOL!!! However, for once you're wrong... Vmax V-four Honda iterations Z1R RG500 Gamma RZ350 Wes Cooley GS1000S Yamaha GTS1000 PC800 Yamaha FZR400 CBX CB400SS I could go on... if you've not been, YOU MUST make it to Barber Motorsports one day. Tons of notable metric bikes. It's on my bucket list to attend Vintage Days one of these years. | ||
| Natexlh1000 |
The PC800 is so unmemorable that it's memorable! | ||
| 86129squids |
OK, NO hating on the Pacific Coast! I owned an '89 model, first year, the only one with a 2 tone white pearl paint job. Yeah, "Tupperware Bike", "oversized scooter", blah blah. The dang thing handled Deal's Gap like a champ, worked beautifully. There's an owner's group that have lots of schweet PC's. Severely underrated tourer, quite sporty. I'd love to hotrod one, make a "Tupperware" sleeper. | ||
| Aesquire |
Virago 920s! Besides the starter issue, ( there IS A FIX??? Yea! ) the exhaust pipes were nigh impossible to get replacements for, and the carb was not adjustable, so you had to change carbs if you wanted to install headers. But by golly that made it run great. And you have to love the name. ( look it up ) |
