Yamaha Winter Project

Well I am at the VERY early stages of my winter project. I picked up a 1982 Yamaha Virago 920 for $80. It is completely disassembled. The idea is to build some sort of street tracker kind of play bike.







I also started work on a bench to make it a little easier on the back while working



My miter saw is acting up. I got advised the miter saws that have the slide function need the blades aligned or they do more wood burning than wood cutting. I guess I have to do some reading on the subject.

This is the inspiration for this build.

It can be done.

Looking forward to see something tasty

Not much work done on the bike. I finished my bench and got the saw fixed. Apparently I was lead astray when I bought my last saw blade. Bought a new one with the correct tooth count and tooth rake and it cuts 4x4s like butter.

Sort of coming up with a plan here. I don't have a ton to spend so I am looking at trying to reuse what I can and work with what I got.

If anyone is looking for any Virago Pieces I'm Sure there is a lot of things I am not going to be needing in the future. Going to a swap meet tomorrow to hopefully get some pieces to work with.

Find a way to use a front wheel 18,19 on rear ,ditch choppa fender and king queeny seat , and bars .

Add plastic dirt bike fenders front and rear , maybe keep fuel tank (repaint)

build emt subframe for dirt bike seat .Plastic number plates for sides and small

rectangle (4651 ?) auto headlight in bottom of front number plate . Bobs your uncle !
My thoughts ,Ed

A wheel from a Seca 750 is 19" and a direct fit.

Good call. Just ordered one. it's an 18" though... close enough. Budget build after all

You're right. I didn't catch my typo.

I'm in. Have an 82 750 in the shop right now.

Fantastic engine with a dumpster fire of a starter attached to it.

That little problem can be fixed. It just takes parts from the 1000 or 1100 to give the 920 the same starter clutch as the world market got from the beginning.

I'm aware. What I'm also finding is there are some 2nd gen 1000 and 1100 bikes out there for not much more than the parts to fix the starter. Sort of having an argument with myself if I should fix the starter or just go for a bigger, newer engine with the starter fix in place and a bunch of spare parts that could be used, sold, whatever. The first gen chassis is staying for sure.

Nothing else going on here yet. The wife said I need to slow down because a "winter project" needs to be done in winter and winter is a long season. She's not wrong. I guess. I am mostly gathering some ideas and sorting out parts.

I am looking at possibly getting a XS650 tank and a flat track tail. I may try to fabricate something so it can still be a two up bike. Any thoughts on a minimum seat length to fit 2 people on a short trip? I may start working on that.

The factory seat length is just about as small as you'll want to go. Even that length is a bit cozy after an hour or two.

In case anyone is wondering what's going on I found a second winter project, a 1978 Moto Guzzi 1000SP.

http://advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1012809

I will definitely work on both. Winters are long up here so maybe two is the better way to go.

Well I finally got my 18" rear wheel. The plan from here is to build the chassis and work on the aesthetic pieces tank, seat, fenders. I am still deciding what to do with the engine. I may just clean, paint and throw it in and hope for the best and if it doesn't run or needs work I will have plenty of winter left to do some work on the engine.

At least adjust the valves. The last Virago I worked on had 0.000 clearance on both exhaust valves :huh 25,000 miles on the bike and the valve adjusters had never been touched.

Excellent idea. When I was thinking engine work I was thinking a re ring just cause. But I think you're right. Adjust valves, New oil, carb overhaul run it

I have the forks disassembled and I am working on them. The plan is to get the roller together so I can start working on aesthetics.

I would like to gather some opinions on tire size. I don't plan on using this as a racer, canyon carver or even a touring bike. I just want something cool looking, and fun to ride to work or maybe a 100 mile loop.

This is a budget build so I would like to stick with the rims I have I have a 19x1.85 and an 18x2.15. The goal is completely for looks and I want a flat track/ street track look with wide tires that look the same front and rear.

So I am taking opinions on the widest able to run on the 1.85 front. Stock wa 100/90 it seems like 110/90 is possible... is 120 a reasonable thing to do?

Thanks

I'm doing something simliar, bobbing my 85 virago 700 i just picked up in a trade. mine wasnt nearly as torn apart as yours, looking forward to seeing where you're going with it

Moving along slowly. Lots of winter left to work and not a lot of money for parts. I stripped the front forks for an overhaul. It was a good call too as there was zero fluid in them. I re-painted the lower fork tubes black. I then decided I was going to run gaitors so that would be too much black in one spot so I stripped the paint and will go with an aluminum look. Here they are for final clean up... the wife is out of town don't tell.

I keep thinking about the future tire options. Tires are probably the least important right now but the idea of making the bike a roller makes for more options moving around the garage etc. so they might get purchased soon. I was going to run the non-DOT Maxxis flattrack tire



But I snapped back to reality that it is a 40 mile drive to get away from Anchorage and I should really have proper street tire.

The default option is the TKC 80 but it seems a bit over done these days. I was also contemplating the vintage series K70 Dunlop