Hey All!
I recently bought a 82 Yamaha Virago 750 for a cafe racer build. The bike was in rough shape but was running which was important to me as I am new to motorcycles and wanted a running bike to make things easier for me. My plan was to fix up a few small things and then ride the bike for the rest of the summer and into fall before I strip it all down and get into the big stuff. I am fortunate enough to own an autobody shop with my family so disassembly/reassembly/fabrication does not scare me, the electrical on the other hand is frightening.
The first thing I did was change the oil, that was fairly easy and the bike was still running afterwards. The previous owner broke the start button on the right hand controls and fixed the issue by fashioning a bypass by removing the starter solenoid and installed a manual switch in order to turn the bike on. The speedo was not working and had broken components and the turn signals were not working. I was planning to change the right side controls so that I can have a start button again, install a new starter solenoid to get rid of the bypass and install a new speedo and turn signals. I was a bit overeager to get started on everything and disassembled the all the electronics in the front and this is where all the headaches started. Ive spent the last few days going over the wiring diagram and figuring out how all the electronics works. I have a much better understanding now then when I took everything apart and I wish I would have done my research first instead of just jumping right in.
I took out the bypass and installed the new starter solenoid, installed and wired new right hand controls and was able to get the bike started. However, the bike was not running very well. It sounded like it was struggling to stay running and when I would give it even a little bit of throttle, it would die. I have a feeling that the issue is with the carbs as the previous owner told me he never cleaned them. I have a rebuilt kit on order and will be attempting that this weekend. Has that ever happened to anyone before and is there anything else I should be looking at other then the carbs?
The other question I have at the moment is regarding the wiring and how it works with a cafe racer build. I have seen videos of people making a "bare bones" wiring harness from new. I would prefer this as I plan to ride this bike often and would like it to be reliable. However, this would be a big task for me with how little I know about wiring. Is making a new wiring harness required in a cafe racer build? Or do people use the same wiring harness from the bike? The builds that I have seen that are the inspiration for my build you can see very minimal wiring and everything looks clean. Looking at the wiring on the bike now, especially on the rear section that will need to be removed, I have no idea how I would hide all that wiring and have a clean look. If someone could give me some insight on what people do with the wiring harness on cafe racer builds it would be greatly appreciated!
I apologize for the long post. I'm pretty bad at remembering to take pictures and videos so I can show what is happening but im getting better!
I recently bought a 82 Yamaha Virago 750 for a cafe racer build. The bike was in rough shape but was running which was important to me as I am new to motorcycles and wanted a running bike to make things easier for me. My plan was to fix up a few small things and then ride the bike for the rest of the summer and into fall before I strip it all down and get into the big stuff. I am fortunate enough to own an autobody shop with my family so disassembly/reassembly/fabrication does not scare me, the electrical on the other hand is frightening.
The first thing I did was change the oil, that was fairly easy and the bike was still running afterwards. The previous owner broke the start button on the right hand controls and fixed the issue by fashioning a bypass by removing the starter solenoid and installed a manual switch in order to turn the bike on. The speedo was not working and had broken components and the turn signals were not working. I was planning to change the right side controls so that I can have a start button again, install a new starter solenoid to get rid of the bypass and install a new speedo and turn signals. I was a bit overeager to get started on everything and disassembled the all the electronics in the front and this is where all the headaches started. Ive spent the last few days going over the wiring diagram and figuring out how all the electronics works. I have a much better understanding now then when I took everything apart and I wish I would have done my research first instead of just jumping right in.
I took out the bypass and installed the new starter solenoid, installed and wired new right hand controls and was able to get the bike started. However, the bike was not running very well. It sounded like it was struggling to stay running and when I would give it even a little bit of throttle, it would die. I have a feeling that the issue is with the carbs as the previous owner told me he never cleaned them. I have a rebuilt kit on order and will be attempting that this weekend. Has that ever happened to anyone before and is there anything else I should be looking at other then the carbs?
The other question I have at the moment is regarding the wiring and how it works with a cafe racer build. I have seen videos of people making a "bare bones" wiring harness from new. I would prefer this as I plan to ride this bike often and would like it to be reliable. However, this would be a big task for me with how little I know about wiring. Is making a new wiring harness required in a cafe racer build? Or do people use the same wiring harness from the bike? The builds that I have seen that are the inspiration for my build you can see very minimal wiring and everything looks clean. Looking at the wiring on the bike now, especially on the rear section that will need to be removed, I have no idea how I would hide all that wiring and have a clean look. If someone could give me some insight on what people do with the wiring harness on cafe racer builds it would be greatly appreciated!
I apologize for the long post. I'm pretty bad at remembering to take pictures and videos so I can show what is happening but im getting better!
