Saturday 23 January 2021

Yamaha XJ550

After five years of despatch riding for other companies I decided that it was time to go it on my own and began setting up my own company in the frozen north of Aberdeen. I was using a Honda Benly for despatching in Glasgow and had my trusty TR1 as my stand by and weekend pleasure machine, which I might add is a very underrated bike and nowhere nearly as bad as we are led to believe by motorcycle journalists. The Benly had seen better days and wouldn't project a very good image for a new courier company. The TR1 was a bit heavy on fuel and tyres to be despatched daily so a nice middleweight would have to be found.

Sadly, the big Yam was sold and a nice second hand XJ550 was found through a fellow courier. The bike in question was clean and sounded fairly healthy with the exception of some nasty cheap after market exhaust system which did nothing for the bike's performance or social acceptance, in other words it was a noisy bastard. Noisy bikes may be fine for razzing (is this Scottish? - Ed) about the trading estates or howling about and impressing your chums with your sporty race replica sound, but for riding constantly all day they just become a pain. A Motad was bolted in place and the bike was instantly transformed into a much more rideable machine.


With just over 30000 miles on the clock it felt fairly fresh and lively and used virtually no oil. The bike has now covered over 57000 miles and, amazingly, has never let me down, with the exception of the odd puncture, and has hardly ever been touched with a spanner, with the exception of basic maintenance. The camchain is still original (I knew the original owner, remember) and it still just gives off a pleasant rustle and nothing has been replaced or renewed inside the engine.

All I seem to do is wash it and put petrol in it and give it the odd kiss now and again. Chains last between eight and ten grand, depending on the chain and whether I can be bothered squirting chain lube at it. Rear tyre life is about 8000 miles, but the front lasts much longer. Fuel consumption is fairly good, between 55 and 60mpg, with a range of about 130 miles before reserve, which I've made last 38 miles before finding a petrol station. Constant city use drops fuel to 48/50mpg.

The most unpleasant trait is the gearbox which has now become heavier, notchier and doesn't give a smooth change. The top of my motocross boot has begun to wear away. Handling is also showing signs of wear, especially at high speeds when taking long sweeping bends at anything over 80mph. The best remedy for this, apart from not going too fast, is to clench the buttocks, sweat, cry, confess to any sins and try to fight the madly wobbling beast down to the lower speed bracket. Granted the top box and panniers can't help things. All the same, low speed cornering is fine, with plenty of ground clearance and nothing to set the bowels off.

Overall finish on the bike is good and none of the paint has rubbed off by knees, which is a common sight on well used despatch hacks. The bike's ability to keep going day after day with next to no maintenance has suitably impressed me and makes me wonder when something is going to give (furious wood tapping) but as I'm presently on the lookout for a new bike so that my cute little Yammy can be put out to stud and saved from the abuse of despatch riding for the simple reason that the bike has wormed its way into my heart and I'd hate to see anything happen to it after all we've been through.


Clive Murray


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This story takes place over three years and 32000 miles. Its subject is a 1982 Yamaha XJ550 which now has 64005 miles on the clock. I can be exact about that amount because the engine is in pieces in my garage, and in the near future the bike is unlikely to gain any more miles.


I've used the. bike as a cheap commuter for riding to work and for weekend pleasure trips. I changed the oil every 3000 miles and kept the bike reasonably clean, but didn't do any other maintenance unless I thought it was absolutely necessary. For the first twelve thousand miles this didn't seem to matter very much. Then things began to go wrong. Little things at first, the valve gear became noisy and starting difficult.


The silencer fell off, which didn't turn the police on, and caused lots of misfiring. A four into one replacement wasn't much quieter and caused almost as much misfiring. I had to strip all four carbs because rust from inside the tank had got past the filter. When I tried to fit them back on the rubber manifolds split and it's still too painful to write out just how much they cost (but I wasn't surprised by the car my friendly local Yamaha dealer drives). Then the bike developed clutch slip above 6500rpm. It took two days to remove the cheap 'n' nasty screws holding the clutch cover on. It took two weeks for a new set of plates to arrive.


With just under fifty thousand miles under its belt, the engine started drinking a litre of oil every 200 miles. Working on the basis that none of the original oil would be left after 3000 miles, in retribution I gave up changing the oil on a regular basis. The bike replied by refusing to do more than a ton; in its early days it could manage an indicated 115mph.

The oil loss was due to both a leaking engine (head gasket, gearbox shaft and clutch cover) and piston wear. The engine sounded like there were a few loose nuts and bolts circulating with the oil, but it was probably just knackered primary and camshaft chains. Anyway, I didn't really give a damn - I'd bought the bike cheap and had a lot of fun out of it. I didn't feel any kind of affection for it, just another anonymous Jap multi that had nowhere to go but the scrap yard.

55000 miles coincided with the disappearance of first gear. The combination of a worn chain, jerky clutch and crunchy transmission made gear changes an act of great courage and precision. It made BMW look smooth. Top speed. was down. to 90mph, which was just as well as the forks were as loose as a politician's promise.
Above 70mph everything became a little frightening, with a weave that threatened to become a speed wobble and a front wheel that needed to be constantly corrected. Leaning over to go around fast corners was only for fools or eternal optimists.

At 61000 miles the four became a three with a two stroke style smoke screen. I should have stopped riding it then, but the tyres still had some tread and the road tax had a couple of months to go. It still went alright up to 50mph, but it took half an hour to make seventy. Still, it says a lot for the toughness of the engine that I was able to keep the thing running for another 3000 miles.

It stopped at some traffic lights. Just went dead on me when I dropped the clutch. The engine wouldn't turn over and it was stuck in second gear. I was only able to push it home by tearing the chain apart. I was tempted to dump it but the parts could be useful.


John Carne