admiralplux's Yamaha Vision/XZ550 1982 - sort of Café project

Hello mates,

I've been reading on this forum for a few months (without a account) and been getting inspiration for my Yamaha XZ550 -82 model.
Since I really like Hondas and a few older English and Belgium bikes, this thing with Yamaha is a bit off for me (Yamaha's are not really considered as a "real" bike in my family, at least my dad thinks so and I can agree a bit.)

I got this bike around 2 years ago, bought it for roughly around 100$ and it was a good runner, with pretty high mileage on it. But still it was cheap and I thought why not have a modern bike (Everything after late 1970's is modern.) as a change of pace instead of constantly fixing oil leaks on the Sarolea's (and the same goes for the Velocette's also..).

I think this will be a pretty good bike to build on since it's quite rare where I live (and that's because of "natural selection") rare in the means of they where not so reliable and stuff, so they got crushed..

Anyway I didn't like the fairing so I removed those after 30 mins of getting it home, and it looked a bit better, I did put on a "temporary" electrical box and a Honda 800F 1982 frontlight and it looked a tad better. Then I parked it for almost 2 years, since my Alfa Romeos swallowed all my money + a new apartment swallowed a tad more.

Now when everything is back to normal in the money side of things I started to look at the bike again, since there was a electrical issue with the front cylinder turning off when using the blinkers (only left side though) I tore it apart and thought, let's rebuild this a tad better.

So here we go!
Pictures in this first post will be from oldest to newest changes, since I've done a little bit already.

When it got off the trailer it looked like this;


After some cleaning it looked like this;


After removing some of the fairings and some other stuff it looked like this;



After these images (sort of) the bike sat like this for almost 2 years..;


Then I started for a few weeks ago to tear it apart and it looked like this;



I started by "lowering" or more so removing the front forks travel distance by 50mm;


And I bought some clip-ons and made some bushes for them to fit the 35mm front fork (and yes I've been redoing this after these pictures);


And this is how the bushes look like;


I (this weekend actually) bought a set of rims from a XV750 that I wanted instead of the aluminium(?) that sat on, as a bonus I got a bigger rear brake ;


Downside is coming from a Jap-glide, it's looking like a bobber/chopper..


So I took the fueltank of a Honda 900F 1980 and cut it to fit over the frame (still need to weld it.);



To remove the "bobby"-ness of this bike a removed the rear mudguard and removed the spring and shock to see if I could fabricate a shim or something to allow for a 20-30mm of height to the rear tire;


And I'm also almost always weighten the stuff that I remove or replace and as of now I've reduced 10,3kgs of weight (I've not weighted the fairings and exhaust system yet and I have not weighted the stuff I put on) but a goal is to get the bike below 200kgs wet since original they weight around 215kgs wet. I will bring up a complete calculation of it later.

Cheers, mates!

(and I hope I'm doing all the right things as far as following the rules of DTT, and I do apologize if I misspell anything, writing this on my lunch.)

admiralplux's Yamaha XZ550 1982 - sort of Café project

Hello mates,

This will be a update of how far I've come on the bike since last time, it's not that far but it's progress, and progress is good.
I unfortunately have a ton of work and been working 6 days a week and around 14hrs/day, so I've not really got the time to travel the 5hrs back and forth to my garage. And to top it off the enduro training season has started, and my enduro bike broke (frame snapped) so my money is pretty low since I ordered a new bike (which will arrive around 1st of December.. ) but on the other side it means I got more time to fabricate on this bike!

what's been done since the last time is that I stole (traded) carbs with my dad and I got 2 fully working carbs which I will put on each side in between the cylinders pointing outwards (I will somehow take a picture later), and I made the suspension raiser, welded some on the fuel tank, and that's about it.

The suspension raiser is not completely done yet and I know it'll affect handling somewhat, but since this bike is not capable of speeds over 220km/h (around 136mph) it's not really an issue, and I don't know how bad it actually will be, I've done this modification before without issues so. It'll raise it around 20mm.



Welding on the tank is on it's way and looks like this at the moment, I'll need to fabricate some fastener for it and see how it goes.




Cheers mates and if you would like please comment and have a nice day!

Re: admiralplux's Yamaha XZ550 1982 - sort of Café project

Holy cow, Admiral, that's a Yamaha Vision!
That bike was called a Yamaha Vision here in the states.
I haven't seen one of those in many years!

That's a really good looking frame, I would try to show that off as much as possible.

Your upper shock mount looks like it could rotate, is that welded in place?

Keep up the great work!

-Sherm

Re: admiralplux's Yamaha XZ550 1982 - sort of Café project

Bigsherm said:

Holy cow, Admiral, that's a Yamaha Vision!
That bike was called a Yamaha Vision here in the states.
I haven't seen one of those in many years!

That's a really good looking frame, I would try to show that off as much as possible.

Your upper shock mount looks like it could rotate, is that welded in place?

Keep up the great work!

-Sherm

Click to expand...

Yes indeed it's called Vision in the US of A! Shame on me for not being international in the title.
They had a lot/few of problems and that's maybe why you have not seen so many in recent years (and they didn't sell that well either even with the problems fixed.)

I like the frame except for the weirdness around the swingarm and footpeg area where they have a small boxed frame for the battery and for keeping the drive shaft in place. I will see if I can make that "square" part of the frame a tad less "square-ish" or at least more nice looking.

Regarding the upper mount I asked myself the same thing when I made it.. But it's not welded in place (maybe want to go original sometime and will not overdo the modification. yet.) but it will not rotate since it's resting on a 1,5" (45mm) wide metal-box-plate-thing, which goes between the frame tubing so it will not even wiggle, it's a snug fit. I will try to make a "paint-o-vision" or take a picture of it later if it's interesting.

I've also made a few arrangements to the fueltank since the way it mounts is a bit awkward otherwise, pictures will come late ron.

Cheers mate

Hey Admiral-

How much of that square portion of the frame is there just for the center stand? I would surely consider getting rid of the center stand, and whatever excess framework is there with it.

Also, what's your plan for the exhaust?
Some exhaust, maybe megaphones, near that section may make that square area appear less obvious.

Are you planning to cut off the old handlebars and re-use the clamping portion to hold the top of fork?

-Sherm

Bigsherm said:

Hey Admiral-

How much of that square portion of the frame is there just for the center stand? I would surely consider getting rid of the center stand, and whatever excess framework is there with it.

Also, what's your plan for the exhaust?
Some exhaust, maybe megaphones, near that section may make that square area appear less obvious.

Are you planning to cut off the old handlebars and re-use the clamping portion to hold the top of fork?

-Sherm

Click to expand...

Hey Sherm!

The red square portion is the one I'm mentioning, since if I remove battery and "electric-magic-box-stuff" it will look weird I think.
The blue one is for the center stand and engine (and I think footpegs) but it will be somewhat removed because I'll not use it.



Regarding mufflers and exhaust I'm thinking of doing a 4-to-1 system with the exhaust being a small cone ending right before the rear wheel axle, going out on the "right" side of the bike.
(sort of like m511y has on his XS750 http://www.dotheton.com/forum/index.php?topic=51097.0 )

I do like megaphones, very much. But I'm not sure yet what exhaust it'll be. Probably fab something up.
I'm going to remove the old handlebars completely and build new clamps since I've got some really good aluminum at home for that purpose, and since I maybe when I'm getting older want to have a stock looking bike, I might want to add them back.

Best regards,
-Admiral

Update on the bikebuild!

Hello mates,
This weekend I've been doing some stuff on the bike and been looking for new gear (for offroad) so it's just been a small update.
I've been welding the fueltank and the fasteners for it, made a new rearbracket for the fueltank and for the rearshock, shortened the frame and removed some not needed fasteners and braces (and made new ones that matter).

The fueltank and front fasteners:



The rear fastener (the old one is removed)

and while measuring:


The new rearshock extensioner:


Shortened and some stuff removed:




I've made a rear hoop (just no picture of it) and the new front fork top tripple holder thingies (no pic still).

More is coming the next weekend hopefully!

Cheers mates.

Hello mates,
I've been doing some work in the past weekend, and I've got a tad done.
I've finished up the fork embraces/clamps and removed unnecessary tabs and pieces of the bike, put a protective coat of paint on the frame and rolled the bike off the lift and noticed that it's very low..
Hopefully the seat will take care of that.

Started cleaning off the frame;




And put a protective layer of paint on it, (I actually masked it better then it shows..)


Bad news on this side of this post is, due to manufacturing and shipping issues from my bike dealer, my new Offroad/Enduro bike order is cancelled and another model is ordered from another dealer...
Which means my bike will arrive in February next year, so I'm a sad sod. But I will get some extra stuff with it as a bonus for my wasted time.

Cheers mates.

Hi there
Great inspiration.
A friend of mine donated a Yamaha xz550 to me yesterday. Now I'm looking to reverse it to a cafe racer. Yours is good inspiration. Did you finish it?
Regards
Thomas