Thoughts on whether to buy a TX500?

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BBS360

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The XS650 board might be better suited to answer but I'm not yet a member there.

There's a 1973 TX500 for sale near me. I know they are notorious for engine problems but at only 11k on the odometer and apparently running pretty well, I might get plenty of miles out of it.

The problems are fairly well documented and steps might be possible to mitigate them.

This is the listing: http://www.usedvictoria.com/classified-ad/1973-Yamaha-500_23131498

At $1200 it's not the cheapest but for a running bike with original parts I don't think it's too bad of a deal.

I've already arranged to look at it tomorrow.
Just wondering if anyone has some thoughts?
 
This has been brought up on the xs650 forum and on this one a few times. Run away from it!!! The later xs500 (77-8) where a little better motors but the first few years had lots of issues. If the bike was only a few hundred dollars I would say go for it. There is a reason why you don't see a lot of these bikes and ones with lots of miles on them:wink2:
 
Thanks Chris. That's about what I figured but I needed someone to counter-balance my wife actually encouraging the purchase. Doesn't usually happen.

The annoying part is, with the local market, he'll get what he's asking for it.
Another seller is asking $1300 for an xs250. Running but not in excellent condition. Seems high...
 
If your wife is willing to let you buy it and you have the money then go for it. But being the first year they made them don't expect to get a lot of miles out of it:shrug:
 
seems to be a ton of bikes up there... Are you looking for a bigger bike, which is why your considering the 500?
 
The 400 is a far better design in everyway than the 500. I wouldnt buy it. Well, i guess in terms of successfull engineering....the 500 had good ideas...poorly executed...sort of like the tx750.
 
Yea, they get a bad rap, and some of it is deserved.

I have had three 500's and still use one as my daily rider , a '74 TX500. It is a marvel of Yamaha engineering with DOHC, 8 valves, chain driven counter balancer all on what was basically a scaled up RD350 chassis.

The '73-'75 had a two piece head, that was prone to leaking at the mating gasket. The top half of the head can be removed to replace that gasket without removing the engine. Simple enough job. Of course if the entire head is to be removed, the engine comes out.

The factory valve clearance specs were very tight. Too tight. .. and when the engine heats up, they get tighter, causing high idle. There was a little known Yamaha service bulletin back then with revised specs. Most go unadjusted or are set to old specs, both causing issues. Adjusting the valves is a simple job.

The head can also develop hair line cracks between the exhaust valve seats and the spark plug hole from over heating. The cracks generally do not affect anything, and go unnoticed until the head is removed for other reasons, however this also contributes to the bad rap the 500 gets.

The balancer chain requires adjustment. If loose, it will eat the sprocket that is physically part of the crank giving it a bad rap. The early bikes have a very small range of adjustment , however fitting the later style adjuster solves this. Some just remove the chain and balancer altogether.

The Keihin CV32 carbs on the early bikes are finicky, however work excellent with a complete stock intake plenum/ airbox and stock exhaust system. The bike gets a very bad rap from people who use open exhaust or cheap filter pods. It takes a very experienced tuner time and patience to set these bikes up in a non stock configuration

Yes, the later XS500s were better, however you don't have to be afraid of older TX500s if you do the adjustments and maintenance.

There are a bunch of us on :http://www.xs500forum.com/
 
Sesty said:
seems to be a ton of bikes up there... Are you looking for a bigger bike, which is why your considering the 500?
Click to expand...
I'd be happy with anything from a nice 360 to a 650, maybe even the 750 triple. Mostly just looking to get on the road.

I'm on Vancouver island. Go over to Vancouver or Washington and there are a lot of bikes, not too many here.

I've seen a few 500s come up for sale and the styling really appealed. I'd be OK with the maintenance if I knew the bike didn't already have any of the signature problems.
 
I wouldnt pass up a nice kawasaki kz750 twin either for the right price. Not super popular in the aftermarket like the 4 cyls. But overall a solid bike from what i have been reading.
 
Don't forget to check the age of the tires. If they are original, or over 6 years old, then you have to add the cost of 2 new ones to get to your total purchase price.
That would take you over $1400 which seems a lot if what you want to do is simply start riding a basic bike in good shape.

If the local market is inflated because it's isolated on the Island, have you considered buying on the mainland and adding the cost of the ferry? Might be the same or cheaper total acquisition cost. And the better selection might allow you to start with an easy bike to maintain - assuming that you want to be a rider more than a wrencher.

http://www.kijiji.ca/v-street-cruis...00/1018812152?enableSearchNavigationFlag=true
 
I would run away from it,the xs400 is a faster bike and less issues,more reliable and parts are easier to find.If it was much much cheaper than $1200 and low miles then yeah I would possibly buy it depending on what it felt like after a test ride.There was guy on our local scam list selling one for $2000 just because it once belonged to a top GM ceo.I guess from what I remember reading in the ad the bike was very maintained and in imaculant condition.Still I wouldn't care if it once owned by one our former presidents of the USA I wouldn't spend $2000 on it.
 
CDNTX650 said:
The 400 is a far better design in everyway than the 500. I wouldnt buy it. Well, i guess in terms of successfull engineering....the 500 had good ideas...poorly executed...sort of like the tx750.
Click to expand...
The thing that sucks about the 750 is they fixed all the issues for the 2nd model year but had such a bad rap that nobody wanted them. They really aren't bad bikes.Dean got any pics of your 500?I've got a '74 750 myself
 
Yup. Same as the 500. Later ones were good. Even the TX 650 got rid of the name after two r years back to xs so sales wouldn't be dragged down.
 

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