What the heck is this bike???

[Trevor Vaughan]

So I just picked up my very first bike today for free from an older lady whose husband passed some time back. She said it had sat in the yard for a number of years since his passing. She had no idea where the key or title for it was, or even what model year it is. I found two identical 9 digit codes, and from what I've read it's the VIN. The code reads 16M-000662. I am having one hell of a time trying to figure out the info on it. some say one thing others say another kind of deal. It says yics on both sides and has a monoshock on the rear. I also believe it is a DOHC. ANY info or advice would be GREATLY appreciated. this will be my first bike rebuild, and really first time working on one. Most of my experience is from working on cars, and this seems like almost a foreign land to me haha. Thank you

 

[Petew]

Hmmm...1983 Xs250 maybe? YICS is an induction system

 

[Trevor Vaughan]

Hmmm...1983 Xs250 maybe? YICS is an induction system

Just out of curiosity how did you come up with your guess? Is there a procedure to figure everything out? Thank you for quick reply

 

[Petew]

There are sites that are vin decoders. I also ran the 1st three numbers of the vin here in a search and, lastely, I googled the results I found and found an image that was very similar. I am just guessing based on my findings. Others on this forum now MUCH MORE than I do. There is a quirk here though. You believe the motor to be DOHC and the pages with information and specs say that this model was a SOHC motor. Let's see what others think.
Good luck, I hope there is enough value in the finished bike to justify the cost of your rebuild!

 

[Trevor Vaughan]

There are sites that are vin decoders. I also ran the 1st three numbers of the vin here in a search and, lastely, I googled the results I found and found an image that was very similar. I am just guessing based on my findings. Others on this forum now MUCH MORE than I do. There is a quirk here though. You believe the motor to be DOHC and the pages with information and specs say that this model was a SOHC motor. Let's see what others think.
Good luck, I hope there is enough value in the finished bike to justify the cost of your rebuild!

I think you ran into the same problem I was running into with decoding the VIN... Many sites did not list 16M at all and the few ones that did say it's sohc but I'm counting two... Thank you for your help, hopefully someone will know.

 

[xschris]

The cc's should be stamped into the block. The xs250 was never sold in the u.s. my guess is a dohc xs400 seca.

 

[NewHavenMike]

I must say this.. This will be one major major rebuild. Honestly, its in pretty bad shape. Youll put at least 2k into it thats for sure. Then you might run into trouble when you try to register it.

About the only good thing I see about the bike is that the spark plugs are still screwed in. That means that the cylinders werent too exposed to the elements and the internals might be OK.

If you can get the engine turning over, Id say you have a decent engine, frame, and wheels to build something.

Im not trying to be negative and put you down. Im just being realistic here. You will spend a lot of cash getting this bike up and you will not make it back when you try to sell it.

I bought my bike that was complete, but it had a seized top end. I put over 2k into it just to hear it start.

Good luck on recovering this one. Itll make for a great turnaround..

 

[Trevor Vaughan]

The cc's should be stamped into the block. The xs250 was never sold in the u.s. my guess is a dohc xs400 seca.

Where would the cc's normally be stamped on the block? I'm not seeing anything too obvious

 

[Petew]

The cc's should be stamped into the block. The xs250 was never sold in the u.s. my guess is a dohc xs400 seca.

...and there's one of the folks I was speaking of...xschris, I saw a posting on one site that mentioned a similar vin and it stated that the bike may have been a Canadian destination unit. I have no idea other than that. The info came from here on a thread "Question about my VIN".

 

[Trevor Vaughan]

I must say this.. This will be one major major rebuild. Honestly, its in pretty bad shape. Youll put at least 2k into it thats for sure. Then you might run into trouble when you try to register it.

About the only good thing I see about the bike is that the spark plugs are still screwed in. That means that the cylinders werent too exposed to the elements and the internals might be OK.

If you can get the engine turning over, Id say you have a decent engine, frame, and wheels to build something.

Im not trying to be negative and put you down. Im just being realistic here. You will spend a lot of cash getting this bike up and you will not make it back when you try to sell it.

I bought my bike that was complete, but it had a seized top end. I put over 2k into it just to hear it start.

Good luck on recovering this one. Itll make for a great turnaround..

Thank you for your input I was hoping to see what people's opinions would be about the difficulty level and how time consuming it would be. I don't mind it being a big project for my first so much. My thinking is that It'll give me a chance to really teach myself about bikes and have a good base knowledge to go off of for future endeavors... Yes the bike definitely needs a LOT of work, however I couldn't turn down at the low cost of nothing! Haha

 

[kshansen]

The cc's should be stamped into the block. The xs250 was never sold in the u.s. my guess is a dohc xs400 seca.

I'm thinking xschris is right on the xs400
Here is a "forsale" link to one and other than being a bit cleaner and shinier it looks the same in many details:
http://freelancethink.blogspot.com/2013/05/for-sale-1983-yamaha-xs400-rk-seca-1900.html

 

[Trevor Vaughan]

I'm thinking xschris is right on the xs400
Here is a "forsale" link to one and other than being a bit cleaner and shinier it looks the same in many details:
http://freelancethink.blogspot.com/2013/05/for-sale-1983-yamaha-xs400-rk-seca-1900.html

I think so! That's the closest I've seen to a perfect match so far. I think the bike still has most of it's parts on it, however I am missing some things. A couple Cover pieces and apparently a front fender for sure. Other than that I think the only thing really missing is a few vacuum lines and it looks like some of the wiring has just rusted off but most of it is still in tact. Functioning or not is a different story though. How available are parts for this bike? I was told by a buddy of mine who works on bikes a lot I might have difficulty locating parts..

 

[xschris]

The cc's will be stamped between the cylinders at the front of the motor. The numbers are actually cast not stamped.

 

[NewHavenMike]

And these DOHC bikes have around 50% more HP than the SOHC?? thats pretty nice lol

 

[xschris]

And these DOHC bikes have around 50% more HP than the SOHC?? thats pretty nice lol

That would be cool!!! But no, sohc xs400 around 38 and dohc around 42. That's new and not modified/messed with.

 

[got20z]

The tank definitely looks Seca-ish... As stated above. Good luck, a ton of work for sure.

 

[NewHavenMike]

Oh man... I thought 50% more power was aiming very high. Cant trust anything you read on other forums!

 

[xschris]

The xs360 made around 27hp so that would be closer.

 

[Trevor Vaughan]

I'm assuming this 399cm cubed

means it is infact the 400 seca?

 

[spectra]

Its a DOHC Seca model those wheels tell me that one. The Maxims had different wheels @jeff0013 is the expert on them as he has a few.