Author Topic: Two fugly V twins for 400 bucks.  (Read 2946 times)

Offline Shorty

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Two fugly V twins for 400 bucks.
« on: November 02, 2018, 02:28:59 PM »
2  Yamaha Virago projects for 400 bux. These look like the "Euro" models, with the front end not so kicked out and chopperish. One to crap on, the other to cover it up with.  :grin:

https://tulsa.craigslist.org/mcy/d/yamaha-1982/6735499086.html

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oldbike54

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Re: Two fugly V twins for 400 bucks.
« Reply #1 on: November 02, 2018, 02:36:51 PM »
 The seller doesn't indicate if the milk crate is part of the deal , I know a couple of KLR riders who will pay extra for the milk crate  :grin:

 Dusty

Offline Don G

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Re: Two fugly V twins for 400 bucks.
« Reply #2 on: November 02, 2018, 02:37:33 PM »
I seem to remember that 90% of the crashed Virago's that I have seen usually ran into the back of a vehicle, maybe that is why these don't look kicked out? LOFL  DonG

Offline craigclu

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Re: Two fugly V twins for 400 bucks.
« Reply #3 on: November 02, 2018, 03:05:54 PM »
There was never a mainstream bike more offensive to my eyes than the choppy version of the Virago.  I always thought the mechanicals were solid and know of some dedicated fans that put unreal miles on theirs.  There are some great applications of the solid engine being used in conversions that are visually appealing to me, though:



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Re: Two fugly V twins for 400 bucks.
« Reply #3 on: November 02, 2018, 03:05:54 PM »

Offline Antietam Classic Cycle

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Re: Two fugly V twins for 400 bucks.
« Reply #4 on: November 02, 2018, 04:14:14 PM »
Those both look like regular old 920 Viragos, judging from the rectangular headlights and gauge clusters. Definitely not the "Euro" XV920 RH/RJ which had enclosed chain drive.
Charlie

Offline Shorty

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Re: Two fugly V twins for 400 bucks.
« Reply #5 on: November 02, 2018, 11:44:06 PM »
Those both look like regular old 920 Viragos, judging from the rectangular headlights and gauge clusters. Definitely not the "Euro" XV920 RH/RJ which had enclosed chain drive.

Yes, you are correct. These are shaft drive with the petcock on the left. I saw the non raked (as compared to later models) front end and jumped to conclusion. 
http://viragotech.com/920virago.html

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Offline Tusayan

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Re: Two fugly V twins for 400 bucks.
« Reply #6 on: November 03, 2018, 12:36:02 AM »
Interesting article.  Not sure I’d want a Virago in the here and now although the sport version might be worth a try.  The quality and detail of that era’s moto-journalism was in another (better) world.

Offline Fontain25

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Re: Two fugly V twins for 400 bucks.
« Reply #7 on: November 03, 2018, 09:07:20 AM »
Those both look like regular old 920 Viragos, judging from the rectangular headlights and gauge clusters. Definitely not the "Euro" XV920 RH/RJ which had enclosed chain drive.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   Yes , not Euro model. This model also had a terrible starter issue that was difficult to repair properly.

Offline ohiorider

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Re: Two fugly V twins for 400 bucks.
« Reply #8 on: November 03, 2018, 12:45:50 PM »
To post or not to post?

OK ................... I'll own up to it .............. i bought a 1983 Virago 750 in August of 1984.  Kind of a financial thing.  My employer at the time, 3M, had an internal barter group that, as the story went, swapped a load of older microfilm/fiche readers for a couple of warehouses of 1981 thru 1983 unsold Yamahas.  I bought the bike for the princely sum of $1864.00,  which in 2018 dollars is $4528.00.  Not too bad for a NOS bike with warranty.

I didn't have a lot of choices available to me.
- Venture.  Too big for me.
- XS650.  Which is probably what I should have done, vibration be damned.
- Virago. Either 750 or 920. 
- A bunch of smaller bikes

There were a lot of things not to like about Japanese chopper styled bikes of the era.
- crazy turbine looking mag wheels.
- the Japanese version of the FWP tank.
- the fugly king and queen style saddle.

I put slightly over 17,000 miles on it over 2 years, when I sold it and bought my first K bike, a Madison Silver K100RS.

The Virago's appearance belied what was a very smooth-running V twin, that certainly deserved a better looking bike around it.  I thought the appearance of the engine was rather nice.

I made it slightly more rideable by installing lower bars and rear set foot pegs

The Virago was my re-entry vehicle into motorcycling.  Nothing broke during the 2 years I owned it.

Searched for 'virago' on my computer, and came up with this long-forgotten pix.




Pix taken in Pgh PA (Greentree) 1984

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Offline Shorty

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Re: Two fugly V twins for 400 bucks.
« Reply #9 on: November 03, 2018, 02:40:10 PM »
To post or not to post?



So, yours was an older one like the ones for sale in the ad....how did it handle? brakes?
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Offline ohiorider

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Re: Two fugly V twins for 400 bucks.
« Reply #10 on: November 03, 2018, 05:11:54 PM »
Shorty, re handling .... don't recall.  I was just getting back into motorcycling after a 17 year hiatus, and was concentrating more on simply getting back into it.  I don't recall it being horrible, but my only previous motorcycle was my BSA 650 Spitfire Scrambler, and the front brake cable would periodically snap on that bike, so I guess the Yammy's brake was an improvement.

Plus, I shipped the single front disk off to an outfit in California that drilled the rotor, and that was an improvement.  And removed the stock fork springs and replaced with progressives.  Also replaced the very soft rear monoshock spring with a heavier weight one.

Bob
« Last Edit: November 03, 2018, 05:16:57 PM by ohiorider »
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Offline et18

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Re: Two fugly V twins for 400 bucks.
« Reply #11 on: November 03, 2018, 09:13:47 PM »
I bought one of these for my first road bike when I was 18 and absolutely loved it.  I received constant compliments on it back then.  It's hard to judge aesthetics from a machine that was designed and launched at the same time parachute pants were in style, but for the time it was a nice looking bike with reasonable power and handling for a cruiser.  It was also very reliable:  I had no idea about maintenance back then, so if it didn't get done at the annual tune up in the shop then it didn't get done. Still, I rode it for 7 years and around 35K with no problems at all.  The only negatives were the sewing machine sound coming out of the pipes and the rear drum that had a tendency to lock up.  I wouldn't buy it again but I have only good memories of it.

And if you think this bike was ugly, I also owned a Suzuki 1200 Madura and a BMW R1200CLC.  Now those bikes were aesthetically challenged.
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Offline janguzzi

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Re: Two fugly V twins for 400 bucks.
« Reply #12 on: November 04, 2018, 01:31:14 AM »
I bought my XV750 Virago (Canadian version importet to Europe) in 1988 when I was twenty-one.
A great reliable bike with no problems at all.
Later I  did not like the "Soft Chooper" look at all and over the years it became a real chopper:





It looked cool but driving it sucked  :wink:

There were only three issues.
- The horrible noise the starter made
- You could mount the oil filter element in the wrong direction which immediately caused destroyed cam shafts ( I made this maistake once ).
- The weak carburetor linkage caused the bike to be out of sync very often (Was fixed with machined parts and a ball bearing)

It was replaced by my first Guzzi (1000S) in 1992.
You can find really nice Cafe Racer conversions nowadays:
http://www.hagemanmc.com/


« Last Edit: November 04, 2018, 01:39:43 AM by janguzzi »
Kind Regards
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Offline fossil

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Re: Two fugly V twins for 400 bucks.
« Reply #13 on: November 04, 2018, 01:47:19 AM »
Ah Jan, another one from Northern Germany! Gruß aus Lüneburg!

An ex-colleague from me (I am in another company now) has several years ago bought a XV535 Virago. It is not the bike I would get but he loves it. He rides a lot, it causes no trouble at all, and he even slightly enhanced the soft-chopper look. The bike is always well maintained, it and it´s rider are a match. So, who am I to criticize his choice?
Greetings from Germany!
Thorsten

Offline larrys

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Re: Two fugly V twins for 400 bucks.
« Reply #14 on: November 04, 2018, 07:29:08 AM »
They make cool bobbers... The starters were the weak link in both sizes. Four? idler gears to get from the starter to the crank, lots o' backlash.
Larry
« Last Edit: November 04, 2018, 07:29:32 AM by larrys »
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Offline Tusayan

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Re: Two fugly V twins for 400 bucks.
« Reply #15 on: November 04, 2018, 09:19:59 AM »
I didn't have a lot of choices available to me.
- Venture.  Too big for me.
- XS650.  Which is probably what I should have done, vibration be damned.
- Virago. Either 750 or 920. 
- A bunch of smaller bikes

The 3M story is interesting and doesn't surprise me - this was the era of the great Yamaha blowout... A lot of overstock was available cheaply.  Some of us chose 650 Secas for $1600 or $1700 new. Something like that, I've forgotten the exact price but it was cheap.

Offline et18

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Re: Two fugly V twins for 400 bucks.
« Reply #16 on: November 04, 2018, 09:28:48 AM »

There were only three issues.
- The horrible noise the starter made
- You could mount the oil filter element in the wrong direction which immediately caused destroyed cam shafts ( I made this maistake once ).
- The weak carburetor linkage caused the bike to be out of sync very often (Was fixed with machined parts and a ball bearing)



Yeah, I forgot about the oil filter.  I read somewhere about this back then so I always checked for oil in the sight glass when I started it after a service.  If the oil didn't disappear when started then you knew something was wrong.  One time the oil didn't even move on start up so I took it back to the dealer.  They said there was no problem but they would check it out for free.  The next day when I picked it up they said the filter was fitted correctly and you couldn't fit it backwards anyway.  I started the engine and showed them the difference and they said "that's just how it works sometimes."  That's when I started thinking that maybe I should learn to do my own work.  As someone here said on a tire thread:  "I don't need to pay someone else to scratch my wheels, I can do that myself."
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Offline BrotherJim

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Re: Two fugly V twins for 400 bucks.
« Reply #17 on: November 04, 2018, 11:23:14 AM »
In my opinion the XV920R was a better looking machine, but for some reason the people buying Viragos wanted the kooky-looking cruiser instead.



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Offline ohiorider

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Re: Two fugly V twins for 400 bucks.
« Reply #18 on: November 04, 2018, 12:11:22 PM »
In my opinion the XV920R was a better looking machine, but for some reason the people buying Viragos wanted the kooky-looking cruiser instead.




I don't think that model made it to the USA, sadly.  Regardless, it wasn't available to me thru the company barter program.
« Last Edit: November 04, 2018, 09:23:22 PM by ohiorider »
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Offline janguzzi

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Re: Two fugly V twins for 400 bucks.
« Reply #19 on: November 04, 2018, 12:23:17 PM »
In Europe the 920R was called TR1 (chain drive).
Kind Regards
Jan, Schuby (near the Danish Border), Germany
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Offline steven c

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Re: Two fugly V twins for 400 bucks.
« Reply #20 on: November 04, 2018, 03:38:10 PM »
 It was sold here for a year or two,not many where sold. Kind of a cool bike.
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Re: Two fugly V twins for 400 bucks.
« Reply #21 on: November 04, 2018, 04:08:40 PM »
...- You could mount the oil filter element in the wrong direction which immediately caused destroyed cam shafts ( I made this maistake once ). ...

Ah, Yamaha! I still remember plugging a connector into the ignition module (ECU?) of my '83 Vision while thinking that the engineers would not have made it possible to plug it into the wrong socket. A several hundred dollar mistake.

I hope designs are better now, but it is hard to say.

Moto





Offline ohiorider

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Re: Two fugly V twins for 400 bucks.
« Reply #22 on: November 04, 2018, 09:24:30 PM »
It was sold here for a year or two,not many where sold. Kind of a cool bike.
Maybe I'm thinking that the chain drive model wasn't available in the USA (?)
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Offline Antietam Classic Cycle

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Re: Two fugly V twins for 400 bucks.
« Reply #23 on: November 04, 2018, 09:48:07 PM »
Maybe I'm thinking that the chain drive model wasn't available in the USA (?)

As Steven C says, it was sold here in the US, for two years. I test rode one in '83.
Charlie

Offline steveford

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Re: Two fugly V twins for 400 bucks.
« Reply #24 on: November 04, 2018, 10:24:59 PM »
I have a friend that still has one, as part of his stable. He has shown it off at Guzzi Breakfast a few times. :)
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Offline ohiorider

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Re: Two fugly V twins for 400 bucks.
« Reply #25 on: November 05, 2018, 07:14:09 PM »
As Steven C says, it was sold here in the US, for two years. I test rode one in '83.
I wish I'd known about (or that 3M had bartered for) some of the chain drive 920s.  I think, for the time, that would have been a really nice, do it all motorcycle.  I would certainly have preferred it over the chopper style of the Virago.  But the Virago did it all very well, and encouraged me to continue riding.  A lesser bike may not have done so.

Bob
« Last Edit: November 06, 2018, 06:03:10 AM by ohiorider »
Main ride:  2008 Guzzi 1200 Sport (sold July 2020)
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