Clean '79 Yamaha XT500 on eBay...
 

Yamaha XT | eBay
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Ends this Thurs @ 5:42 PM
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http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1432170948.jpg

Mine too...by the time I discovered them, they were pretty trashed.
I ended up with two SR500s...one at a time, and a new SRX600 that I regret selling.
I sought out the Jap. OEM oil cooler for the SRX...a rare bike in the US.
Only brought them in for one year.

I had an '82 XT550......I think I paid $450 for it back in about the early '90's.....

I used to ride mine in early 2000 as a daily rider until it stalled on me in rush hour traffic and I could not kick it over. pretty heavy bike to be playing frogger with. I bought a DRZ400 to replace it and relegated it to dirt bike duty, eventually gave it to my ex-brother in-law.

Ahh, the fine art of kick-starting a bike...especially that 500.
Even w/that compression release it could be a _ _ _ _ _ .
My trick was to have the jetting tits-on...and know what to do to get it started...hot or cold.
Never had too much difficulty after that. But you had to break the code for each individual 500.

My brother owned one but I remember it with a brown tank. Damn thing threw me over the bars when it kicked back on me.
Heavy old thumper...

I thought I had a foolproof method. But if you get the cylinder wet it was game over. I gve a little to much twist while under pressure.

Nice bike, but those things made like 25 HP. CR500. Now you're talking.

My next door neighbor had one of these when we were in high school! Way to much bike for a 16 year old! If he dropped it on the trail it pretty much took both of us to get it back upright again. Yeah, you'd better know how to work the compression release lever when kick starting that one or you might get hurt!

We're doing nostalgia now. Leave us alone. ;)
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BTW, I rode a friend's CR500 a while back...frightening!

Let's talk thumpers for a while.
To me, this is the ultimate sensual, simple motorcycle with smooth, elegant, and pleasing lines.
A supermotard way back then.
Umberto Borile's B500CR:
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http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1432179787.jpg
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Here in production form:
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A nice SR500 cafe:
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Then the grey market Yamaha SDR200.
A 38 hp/220 lb. tasty, trellis-framed, rip-snortin' power-valved stroker.
Loved that bike...but man did she shake!
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My Yamaha SRX600. Kick myself in the ass on a daily basis for selling it.
Around 40 hp, but acres of torque...a narrow little pit bull, she was.
Brought in only one year...'86...didn't sell well - kick start.
Now a cult bike.
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http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1432180207.jpg

Into the US?
383 lbs. wet, 23 hp, FI...boy, I don't know...

the original sort-of-modern adventure bike.
i have owned the 550's and 600's. they are total tanks.
that particular beast is a handsome example.

Had to be at least 30, the original 1976 had 30.

I had one in high school and beyond with a Supertrapp on it. They did better keeping the oil cool than the Honda XL of the day. No one in our group had a CR as we all road on the road as well. They have a lot of bottom end grunt for some of the trails but not good for MX. Hare and Hound they were OK. You could traverse some deep water with them. I finally tried giving mine away but no one would take it so I sold it fro $100. It had bad valve guides and a broken throttle cable by then. Looking at a local XT 600 that I can probably get for $500. Good shape but hasn't been ridden in a couple years and i think I was the last one to ride it. I took my MC license test on it when the previous previous owner had it. Got chewed out for not slowing down enough for the speed bump. I said I slowed down plenty and have a foot and a half of travel, I wasn't going to lose control.

Oh he11 yeah!

I had a XL500... don't know about the HP but it had torque all day long...

Thumper...
 

I had 1 of these. Loved it.... bad ass for its time 1981:)

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