Fresh Meat: '83 Virago Cafe Build

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pichufo

New Member
Hey guys, I'm new to posting around here but not new to the site. Been prowling around for a long time and finally had the opportunity to get a project of my own so I decided it was time to "log in".

I have always been interested in owning and riding my own motorcycle but there isn't much time for that in college. Now that I'm done I've decided to take the plunge. No motorcycle endorsement, no riding gear, never ridden a bike, never worked on a bike, but I figured "what the hell, I'm good with my hands and I could use a project". So I prowled Craigslist for a few weeks and stumbled upon a 1983 Virago about a week ago for $800. The bike ran, idled, and sounded pretty spectacular overall. The seller rode it around the block for me and it seemed fine other than some minor rust and a dent in the gas tank. (You tell me if that is a good deal or not haha)

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First thing I did after I trailered it home was sit on it and just be as happy as a pig in mud haha ::).

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Within the last year or so I've really gotten interested in the cafe style bikes. I looked and looked for the typical Honda CB or Yamaha XJ but all of them were just out of my price range or falling apart and too big of a project for me to tackle. I knew nothing of the Viragos until I stumbled on the listing. Did a little research and found my inspiration...I'm sure you guys have seen this bike before. I was just floored by how cool it looked with the engine slung under the frame like that.

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Anyway, this evening after I had a few days of staring, turning on and off, and showing my friends, I decided it was time to get down to business. Started documenting and teardown:


Took off the god awful saddle bags and windscreen first thing then worked my way to the seat and subframe.

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SO MANY DAMN WIRES! I'd really like to get the wiring harness off in one piece but for every wire I identify and wrestle loose I feel like I find ten more behind it. I've made a point to label everything seeing as I know absolutely nothing about electrical systems. I'll deal with that later though. Subframe is unbolted and will come off completely tomorrow after I can get the wiring harness out.


One last thought - If anyone in the Gainesville, Fl area happens to see this post and would be willing to help I'll provide beer and pizza haha.
 
Well I don't live in Florida and I know nothing about Yamahas! But I love v-twins and have always thought that one of these big viragos would make a great project. The inspiration photos you post look fantastic!! I'd love to do one myself but I have too much on my plate at the moment.

Welcome to DTT and good luck with your build
 
More teardown today. I'm starting to get to that point where I need to decide if I want to go all the way and pull the motor off the frame to have everything cleaned and painted or if I should leave the majority of it together and just work on getting to the main goal quickly and efficiently. Decisions, decisions...

Anyway, pics of the teardown continued:

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Working on a digital sketch of what the rear subframe will look like next...


Any idea on which route I should take?
 
I left my engine in the frame - it ran fine and everything just needed a good cleaning / polishing.

If you want to de-tab and smooth the frame - or you suspect the engine needs any work (ie. starter clutch) - then pull the engine.
 
I've been wanting to do one of these up too. Looking forward to your build. You're original pics are gone if you repost maybe?
 
legendary_rider said:
I've been wanting to do one of these up too. Looking forward to your build. You're original pics are gone if you repost maybe?
Click to expand...

Fixed.

Moved the photos around on the hosting site, sorry about that.
 
Thats' better. Yeah I hear ya. Do you tear it right down to the crank and do a proper rebuild or just stick to the focus points and get her on the road? Well...I always think I'd be worried about worn bearings...something sitting in the motor ready to shake loose...a broken tensioner, plugged oil holes, whatever number of scary shit that can go wrong after all my hard work is complete and causes the wheel/motor to lock up at a high rate of speed. But that's just me. Also I'm always wondering what kind of wear the cam/followers have on them and can't resist knowing everything going on in there. I just picked up another bike to test aftermarket cam chain tensioners on and it feels wrong not to tear into it. And the things not even going to be riden! lol.

Ps. I will be following your build closely and doing up my own Virago soon. Lots and lots of pics please.
 
I used to own a virago ran great aside from the well documented starter slippage problem. That inspirational pic of the virago is an awesome bike. Saw a benelli tank like that at mid ohio really wanted it but it was like 300 bones and as in need of some fixin. Have to find a good welder to help you build that type of subframe.
If you want to ride a motorcycle this year. I would honestly stop right now put back together what you have taken apart, tune the motorcycle up, learn how to ride it well and get it running well. Then tear it down. There is nothing more frustrating than dropping alot of coin on a bike that once you have back together runs poorly, and you don't like riding that much. My virago was pretty fun to ride though i suppose.

But my negativity aside. welcome to the forum and have fun.
 
Welcome, brave XV'er! I think Doc's Chop is an inspiration to all who have chosen to convert this ugly duckling into something spectacular. Good luck with the build! Oh yeah, forgot to mention that you might want to check out Johnny Ryland's ClassifiedMoto web site. He's become like the guru of XV conversions. I just love his stuff (no homo)!

http://www.classifiedmoto.com/
 
Sold mine when it was nearly finished :(
Still regret it some days...... but you just can't keep them all.

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I will be a follower of your posts ;)
 
Cool, another virago. I'm working on mine currently, should have another round of updates on it in the next few days. Search my name if you want to see my take on the subframe. If you want to paint the motor, its a while lot easier to go ahead and pull it.

Will be following, if you have specific questions along the way, let me know.

Btw, what size virago (sorry if i missed it).



Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 2
 
if it where me.. I would do this (because this is what I did with my bike)

if it runs, and the engine doesn't HAVE to be pulled.. do all the design work to the bike first, get everything set the way you want.. subframe, seat, signals, bars, etc, etc, etc... get everything on the bike.. everything that you plan on doing to it besides paint and polishing.. and when all that stuff is done.. then you can strip the bike down and get everything painted and polished at the same time.. so that way all of your colors match and everything will be off the bike to polish and clean.. if you can get it all together.. it will be kind of a mockup.. and ride it around a bit to make sure nothing major needs to be changed before you put together the final assembly..

it would be a huge waste of time if you tore down the bike and did all this stuff to it.. and put everything back together.. and had some major engine troubles that you didn't know about.. and had to pull the motor again.. or something like that.

great looking project.. I really like the Virago's.. if I didn't already have my xs750 I would be looking for one of them to build up.
 
Alright...so...after putting some thought into my timeline and budget I've decided to amend my original thought process. I'm going to go ahead and leave the bike at the point it is now and start building back up from here. I see no benefit in tearing down if I never get to ride it haha. So, that being said, I decided to start searching for parts and do what I can in the mean time.

How she sat at the point I made my decision:

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Got phase 1 of paint started as I really dislike how faded everything has become. Wire brushed and sanded first then went ahead and used some high heat paint for the exhaust and other parts that might get somewhat...warm.

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As the bike sits now:

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The idea is to highlight the engine, tank, and seat so I'm going to paint pretty much everything else satin black save for some accessory chrome pieces.


I've also decided to reuse the original tank. As this is a budget build I'll be trying to reuse a lot of parts. I figure a tank is an easy thing to change down the line anyway.

Does anyone have any suggestions on where to get some cheap parts other than on ebay??
 
As a small side note, thanks for all the input. You guys are giving me some great ideas and definitely helping me define the project! 8)
 
I read your post and dont know if you wanted to buy a rear subframe or have something made up. You can buy the subframe already made from Doc's Chops. He's the guy who built the inspirational virago we all love. He has an ebay page, I'm pretty sure if you go to his website he'll have a link or you can search for it.
 
it depends on what kind of parts you are buying.. I use these sites regularly... but may not be of any use to you..

http://www.dimecitycycles.com - misc/universal cafe parts
http://www.mikesxs.net - misc xs parts (but also good cheap misc parts like coils, electronics, etc)
http://www.partsnmore.com - good parts resource
http://www.oregonmotorcycleparts.com - electronic componenets (I replaced most of my connectors from here)
 
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