Yamaha SR500 incoming
- Thread starter MarkShelley
- Start date
That looks lovely, well done you.
Fantastic find Mark 
That looks very original apart from the grips & silencer
I've had an 81 SR500E (the one with the bigger headlamp & alloy wheels) and a couple of XT500s too
Gotta love a BIG single
That looks very original apart from the grips & silencer
I've had an 81 SR500E (the one with the bigger headlamp & alloy wheels) and a couple of XT500s too
Gotta love a BIG single
Larry Langford
Registered user
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Just remember that when the kick lever is all the way down it is dis-engaged and cannot kick back ...
They are also easy to kill when starting out and sometimes don't like to start when warm. These are the reasons why the unbalanced 500 single went away, but also make it very desirable for performance and racing. No counter balancer or even a heavy flywheel on these bikes or of course electric start ....
I had two 78 XT500s and rode one of them as far as Ensenada Mexico, and many other places ... My dad had all the models at one time or another, SR, TT, XT.
On my first XT, I had a carb off of a TT (34mm) on it and it worked really well, when set up right. Those came stock with a 32mm accelerator pump carb, which tended to get very high fuel economy. But the bike ran better with the 34mm, which is also the size of the intake valve. But I set the jetting up a little different to compensate for the lack of a accelerator pump. I.E. a one size smaller main jet with the needle up at least one notch, maybe two. That keeps the bike rich at lower to mid range rpms and then leans out just a touch at higher rpm and generally has outstanding throttle response ....
Have fun with that SR .....
The silencer is very loud and might get on my, and my neighbours, nerves. I will investigate baffling options and alternatives.
I know these can be temperamental to start, The current owner, who has owned it for 9 years, has been honest and said it can be a pig from cold occasionally, but has always started easily from warm/hot. I will probably only use for max 100mile single outings so hopefully once I have left home all will be well. It started second kick when viewed today and downpipe was cold.
I wanted a tax exempt classic to fiddle with, polish and to give me pleasure when I enter the garage. I have viewed several. This one ticked all my peace of mind boxes as the vendor is a lovely chap, true bike enthusiast (the Harley special he has nearly completed is stunning), nice property and soft labrador. There was a lot of interest in it so thankfully it was close enough to view quickly.
The ergonomics remind me of the RV125 VanVan I owned in the past which I found really comfy.
I know these can be temperamental to start, The current owner, who has owned it for 9 years, has been honest and said it can be a pig from cold occasionally, but has always started easily from warm/hot. I will probably only use for max 100mile single outings so hopefully once I have left home all will be well. It started second kick when viewed today and downpipe was cold.
I wanted a tax exempt classic to fiddle with, polish and to give me pleasure when I enter the garage. I have viewed several. This one ticked all my peace of mind boxes as the vendor is a lovely chap, true bike enthusiast (the Harley special he has nearly completed is stunning), nice property and soft labrador. There was a lot of interest in it so thankfully it was close enough to view quickly.
The ergonomics remind me of the RV125 VanVan I owned in the past which I found really comfy.
Larry Langford
Registered user
The main thing about starting them is getting hurt ..... If you let the kick lever start to come back up then if it doesn't start it can backfire and run backwards and engage the kick start. don't underestimate the power that can be transferred back into the kick starter ...
But for hot starting our bikes seemed to like having the choke full on for one kick. And they almost always started with one kick hot and the choke on. If it doesn't start on that kick you still shut the choke off and continue to kick .... The problem is doing this in a intersection trying to turn, when you kill it off the line .... their not a beginners bike for sure ....
On the exhaust we used to run super traps, which allow you to adjust the noise level by removing plates. I had one set up with two sets of plates lol it was as loud as a dragster.... the more plates the louder on those ....
That looks like a BSA Goldstar Replica 'silencer'
Did the owner mention why the barrel is no longer black?
Kedo in Germany do an electric start conversion
No, but it doesn’t concern me particularly as it sounds sweet. It has had some restoration in the past. The wheels have been rebuilt, frame painted etc. i guess somebody in the past preferred it unpainted.
Very nice Mark.
A friend has one that is 8 days newer than yours (WUX 204S) he has owned it since 1981-82.
A friend has one that is 8 days newer than yours (WUX 204S) he has owned it since 1981-82.
nerg nail
Registered user
Last edited:
nerg nail
Registered user
Gotta love a big single!Fantastic find Mark
That looks very original apart from the grips & silencer
I've had an 81 SR500E (the one with the bigger headlamp & alloy wheels) and a couple of XT500s too
Gotta love a BIG single
You've obviously never owned/ridden a Honda FT500, I would rather walk miles In poorly fitting shoes with blisters.
Anyone who tells you different is not wired right or as one to sell.
often turn up unused in original packaging (see bikes and beards) there's a reason for that.
How could the cb250rs be so perfect and the FT500 be so wrong?
Looks great, but why does the key have Kawasaki on it?
Nice that.just the job for blatting around your part of the world Mark
Larry Langford
Registered user
You know, back in the day we wouldn't have wanted that ... too heavy and you would prolly need a stronger larger battery. The XT weighed about 325 pounds stock but the stock muffler is massive. So we would get the super trap and a KN air filter and the dirt bike tail light, dump the turn signals and that would get the bike down to around 300 ... which for a street legal bike is fairly light imo. These bike were a terror on the tight road racing courses in Colorado at the time. They finally made a special class for them to get them out of open super bike ... very embarassing for the four pot guys.
One definite flaw was the chain, a 428, which was never strong enough really and had to be replaced very often. I would use 2 or 3 sets (chains and sprockets) in a riding season. And tires too. several sets in a season. a 520 chain mod would have been the ticket.
I lived on the bike ....
One thing I forgot to mention is the fact that the bike has spoke wheels. It must be a later year. The spoke wheels are much lighter than the alloy wheels that were on the american version of the SR ...
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