New Project - '77 Yamaha 750xs

[lawlberg]

Yesterday I got a text from a friend I've been trying to get into riding, he found this baby an hour outside of the city, and when I realized it was an old Yamaha triple I couldn't contain myself. We went out there last night and put a deposit on it, knowing it would go fast - went back today and picked it up. The rear brake seized up on my test ride this morning, and it has a host of electrical problems (mainly headlight and turn signals) but she started cold on the first kick in 15°F!

Shaft drive, disc brakes front and rear and a thirsty 750cc carb fed triple! It'll be fun getting the electrics, brakes, cables and exhaust sorted out but she ran strong(ish) and shifted smooth. I'll keep you posted on the status, but here's a teaser pic

And now there are 4 bikes in my garage! View attachment 51768

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[motojoe122]

Congrats!
I don't know anything about them, but it looks like a fun bike to ride:thumbup:

 

[PosterFZ6]

Congrats!

I was looking at the very same bike but from '78 a week ago.

Cosmetically it was very good, had a problem with the second gear, which I hear is pretty common in that bike.

I wanted to buy it considering that it was only $500, but I grew disillusioned with the fact that it has a shaft drive. Kind of limiting for me since I wanted to pretty much strip the bike to the bare bones and retrofit it with modern age suspension, brakes and electronics.

I had to pass on it sadly. Triples are addicting though!

Good luck and it looks pretty damn good if I say so myself.

I just hope that you will give a lot of pictures from this build.

 

[lawlberg]

Yeah, will do - even though it's not mine per-say.

Second felt fine on this one - 20k miles or so on the odo - shaft scared me too.

This one actually has a redone paint job that matches the '78 year color options.

Brakes were definitely modern enough (though the rear seized up when I was test driving it so we had to take the caliper off before loading it up into the back of a Tundra). whatever you do, don't have a friend with a Toyota Tundra (new one) help you move a bike, those beds are so high off the ground. (No incidents though)

Probably gonna wind up doing a front end swap (triples and all) on it during the process. Problem swapping the rear suspension out is it's dual side mounted shocks - I suppose I can convince him to go with a pair of Ohlins! - shaft does make that tricky though, cause the rear/subframe/swingarm is definitely set up differently from a chain drive bike - a few extra joints, spindles and other things. And that whole joint looks pretty bad - but yeah - we'll figure it all out.

 

[Yasko]

I love the sound of that tripple.:rockon:

This is what I'd do to the xs750.

 

[PosterFZ6]

Yeah, will do - even though it's not mine per-say.

Second felt fine on this one - 20k miles or so on the odo - shaft scared me too.

This one actually has a redone paint job that matches the '78 year color options.

Brakes were definitely modern enough (though the rear seized up when I was test driving it so we had to take the caliper off before loading it up into the back of a Tundra). whatever you do, don't have a friend with a Toyota Tundra (new one) help you move a bike, those beds are so high off the ground. (No incidents though)

Probably gonna wind up doing a front end swap (triples and all) on it during the process. Problem swapping the rear suspension out is it's dual side mounted shocks - I suppose I can convince him to go with a pair of Ohlins! - shaft does make that tricky though, cause the rear/subframe/swingarm is definitely set up differently from a chain drive bike - a few extra joints, spindles and other things. And that whole joint looks pretty bad - but yeah - we'll figure it all out.

Some time ago I have seen a custom build with a mono shock in the rear even though it had the shaft drive. It's a hell of a hack job though. One has to have the ability to fabricate custom mounts etc.

I am not particularly fond of shaft drives because of the loss of power and the power delivery can be a bit abrupt.