Happy 40th Birthday to my 1979 Yamaha XT500!

[MedicAndy]

Everybody knows that I have more 1996 & 1997 1100 Sports sitting in the barn than anybody really needs, so here is a different bike which I have sitting in the barn, this is the one that started my bike collection.....

Happy 40th Birthday to my 1979 Yamaha XT500!

She looks better today than she did the day she was assembled!

The XT500 was the first true adventure bike before bikes were called "Adventure Bikes"

I bought this 1979 XT500 about six years ago. This bike looked ok when I bought her, but she had some cosmetic issues
and the engine would not start when hot. The not wanting to start when hot issue was fixed with the installation of the Mikuni
TM36 Flat Slide carburetor, which was the best money I had spend so far on this bike. This bike now starts like a bike should,
and the TM36 added some much need power.

Other things I had done to address some of her cosmetic and other mechanical issues were:

New rear shocks, rebuild the front forks, powder coated the entire exhaust, skid plate, chain guard, turn signal and brake
light brackets. Painted and clear coated the fuel tank and rear fender. New front and rear brakes and tires. New seat foam
and leather, added the rear luggage rack, new rear and side light reflectors. I also installed a new battery, handle bar grips,
all new model decals, all new fluids, filters, and electrical relays. She also got new front and rear sprockets and a new chain.

My next upgrade to this bike will be the installation of an electronic ignition system and the installation of a special cam oiler line,
which will then complete this bikes restoration.

So yes, it's not a Guzzi, but it's still a great bike! Actually, this bike was the first true adventure bike long before the term Adventure Bike was used!













You know that you have something special sitting in the barn when your ride made it into a 007 movie!  :)

[Lannis]

Amazing how time flies and technology moves forward faster and slower ....

When that bike was new, a "40 year old bike" was a 1939 model, maybe a knucklehead or a flathead Harley or a flathead Indian, or a Triumph Speed Twin rigid frame, or something that even to us in 1979 was a stone-age antique, with almost nothing common with a modern Yamaha except the fact that it had wheels and a crankshaft.   In 1979, everyone would turn and gape if a 1939 Indian chuffed by ... today, no one except an aficionado would even notice if a '79 bike came by ...

Now, 40 years on, a 1979 Yamaha is still a fairly modern-looking bike, fully highway and trail capable, with very many things in common with a 2019 bike.

There's some message there about technology, not fully sure what it is ....

Lannis

[Sheepdog]

I had an '87 Honda XL600, but the XT was the bike I really wanted. Handsome look and a great engine...

[Shorty]

   I love it.  I'm a serial XT owner, This is the bike Yamaha needs to sell again, with an electric leg. I had 'em in 225, 250, 350, and the 600. Also owned an SR500, your bike's cousin. Light weight, simple and reliable.

[Andy1]

I had my SR500 on and off for 35 years, finally sold it 2 years ago fully restored.  It was time to move on!
The oil line mod is essential to get oil to the exhaust rocker shaft.  The early models only had an oil line to the intake rocker shaft.  Without a good feed of oil the rocker shafts can wear in the head - but there is also a fix for that.
The other good simple mod to do is to add grease nipples to the swing arm pivot as these can seize.
Enjoy the bike
AndyB

[Tusayan]

Nice bike, I had one like that in the early 80s, I can’t remember selling it but it must’ve been sold by 1983...

The message about technology is that historically once things get to a certain level of functionality, they change less or not at all.  The twentieth century introduced and developed so much new transportation technology that I think children of the era lost track of that reality.  Now in the 21st century those technologies are mature and change isn’t introducing as much of great importance.  Hence my enthusiasm for bikes of the 90s.   

[Antietam Classic Cycle]

I owned a '77 XT500 from ~ '09 until '13, bought with 660 miles on it and sold with nearly 14k miles. Liked the "stump pulling" power available just off idle, fuel mileage (60 mpg average with stock jetting), being able to put both feet flat on the ground and that thick cushy seat. Things I didn't like: small fuel tank (swapped on a vintage MS 3.5 gallon), narrow front fender (swapped on a used Acerbis KTM fender), forks that hammered me to pieces (even though I tried different springs and fork oil weight/amounts) and most of all... the vibration. It was always there, more revs - more vibes, never really smoothed out. Long days in the saddle made me wish for a counter-balancer and WP forks. And I did quite a few long days: several over 300 miles, Memorial Day 2011 I rode it 311 miles in 95*F heat, all over MD, WV and PA. Mixed backroads, forest roads and even a little single track. A friend and I did a 750 miles dual-sport weekend in WV a few Memorial Days later - cold, wet, mud the consistency of peanut butter. It never missed a beat, but I was worn out at the end of every day.

When I first got it running after it's long slumber (hadn't run since '81), hot starts were an issue - it just wouldn't. Kick it until you were worn out, drift it down hill, nothing seemed to work. At about 2k miles it's like someone flipped a switch, started with 1 or 2 kicks, hot or cold (or in between) 90% of the time. If it sat a few weeks without being ridden it would sometimes take a dozen or so, then it was back to 1 or 2 again. Never saw the need to replace the original carb. Rode with a couple of other XT500s one time that all had different carbs and exhausts and none of them ran as well or got gas mileage anywhere close to mine.

I'd like to have another, but with better forks and shocks, and an electric start XT600E engine swapped in (if that's even possible). But, there are lots of other more capable right-out-of-the-box older dual-sports (DR350SE) that I'd buy first.









 

[guzzisteve]

I brought back an XT500 from the dead for a Guzzi customer, he sh&t when he got the bill. Bitched cause it smoked. I told him it needed rings and that I didn't take care of it it's whole life.
We had 2 SR500's in the sidecar training program. I would go around and 1 kick start them for these HD guys and off they'd go. When they stalled the bikes they'd be kicking & kicking them w/no results. I walk over put the strip in the window, start 1 kick. They would just look at me befuddled.

[canuck750]

Lovely XT500 you have Andy! They are great bikes, I have owned several, the first one I found for cheap was a 76 that was about 90% complete but worn out, I restored it to stock



A couple XT / TT's found their way to my garage, This was a TT that I mixed the look of a TT and the lighting of a XT' I swapped out the rear swing arm for a Suzuki PE400 aluminum swing arm, added Fox shocks and YZ400 front end and fitted a period oil cooler. I had to fab up a custom brake pedal to work with the PE swing arm.



This TT was a pure off road build with a Malcolm Stuart tank, Suzuki PE400 swing arm, fox shocks, and a YZ front end and another period TT oil cooler

[radguzzi]

And my '79 XS 650... a bit cosmetically challenged but it runs great and I love it.




I rode IT 490s and 465s back in the day so I do appreciate big singles.

[steven c]

 Great looking bikes. Yamaha really had the looks down with the DT's and XT TT's. I had it's brother the SR500 and a 81 XT250 and now a 88 XT350, all fun bikes.

[Shorty]

I bought this XT about 3 years ago. I am no longer able to kick start anything , even an easy bike like this. It had to go.  So , I bought a XT250. 

[Lannis]

Lovely XT500 you have Andy! They are great bikes, I have owned several, the first one I found for cheap was a 76 that was about 90% complete but worn out, I restored it to stock

Those are some really nice looking Yamahas.   True "labor of love" into those, it's clear ... !

Lannis

[canuck750]

Here is a nice restored one for sale,

https://portland.craigslist.org/wsc/mcy/d/goldendale-for-sale-1977-yamaha-tt500d/6784289551.html

[mobiker]

This brings back memories. I had a '76 XT500 in college from about 1980 to 1983. Perfect bike for me at that time and place - Michigan's Upper Peninsula. Lots of gravel roads and old mine tailings to play around in. It was a beater when I got it. No instruments, ignition taped to the handlebar, battery removed from the circuit. The only street gear it had left were the head and tail lights and brake light. Rode it hard. Great bike.
Near the end of my college life I swapped it even up for a '75 XS650. The 500 was making a knocking noise down deep, so I thought I got a good deal. Ha! Turned out the 650 had maybe had a hard life too. It was the most unreliable bike I ever owned. Still wonder which of us got the best deal.
Always wondered why Yamaha abandoned the big thumper in North America. Suzuki, Kawasaki and Honda seem to have done alright with theirs.

[Furbo]

Had an '81 XT500 when I lived in Colorado springs some 30yrs ago. Great trail bike. Put a large Acerbis tank on it and a massive rear sprocket and rode it all over the front range.

Still have a big thumper dirt bike (XR650L) and my daily commuter as well - a '99 Honda NX650.