Topic: What did you do to your non-SOHC4 motorcycle today?

[Terry in Australia]

Today I replaced the faulty speedo on my Yamaha XT660X and continued to "Un-Fcuk" the previous owners sketchy "repairs". Seriously, if it wasn't for zip ties, this bike would have come to me in boxes. Anyway, it's getting better. I did a 100 mile ride afterwards and it was fantastic, I'm really happy that I bought it, the engine is a gem, and it handles like it's on rails. It's a keeper.

XT660X Saturday 21 March 2026 2 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

[PeWe]

On the Yamaha you can ride where street bikes should not be ridden

[grcamna2]

On the Yamaha you can ride where street bikes should not be ridden

I like to fit between places to take another path,when needed. 
I also have a small 'go anywhere' 200cc mini-thumper that works well as a street bike.

I'm looking to find quality 17" street tires(not enduro)for it here in the USA;a 100/90x17 rear that's manufactured more narrow is my goal.
The little street bike came with a 3.00x17 rear and the plastic inner/front(under the seat)fender will accept up to a 3.50x18 rear street tire,as it has an 18" wheel on it now.
Small vintage-bike size rear street tires are not common here;they are in other countries,but not here.

[MauiK3]

There is something to be said for having a small bike, I often miss my Ruckus.

[PeWe]

As long as you can ride +10% faster than the other traffic, your are fine!!

[grcamna2]

As long as you can ride +10% faster than the other traffic, your are fine!!

I am just able to accomplish this on these CA. Interstates when running a 3.50x18' rear tire which gives me 130+ km/h to pass slower moving vehicles at 7800-8200rpm(redline is 9000 rpm)while tucked down out of the wind blast.
I prefer to ride in the far(slow)right lane and travel at 100-110km/h(6800-7000rpm)for better fuel mileage(70+mpg),and even though I get stuck behind slow(text messaging while driving a large truck on the Interstates is Dangerous and illegal)moving vehicles,I am able to wait for an opportunity,then slowly pass and return to that lane. 
The price of gasoline has been rising at a steady rate,and therefore I prefer to save a bit of $ by running the small bike.

[PeWe]

As long as you can ride +10% faster than the other traffic, your are fine!!

I prefer to ride in the far(slow)right lane and travel at 100-110km/h(6800-7000rpm)for better fuel mileage(70+mpg)

Smaller roads?

I do not like highways when riding around for fun.
I have lots of good country roads with 50-55 mph signs (80-90kmh), some areas even a little bit less.
A few almost highway style, 100-120kmh for a short while or when in a hurry.

Cruising around in 80-100kmh (50-60+ mph) is nice and what I mostly do. Enjoy the views.

It happens I need to check the acceleration well beyond the signs for a limited distance.  Keeping my eyes open for cars with blue flashlights means stress. Some of them have no visible flashlights until they are turned on.  
Some roads have cameras. I avoid them even if the camera does not take a photo of my reg plate.

It was different in the 80's when I rode on highways all the way to Austria, Italy, Spain etc.

Below:
80 kmh road with nice bends. One of them has a good straight part for needle check, 100-160kmh.
There are others where main jets can be verified too.
But a wildlife fence is needed for higher speeds as many highways have.

Old ride photos. Early April 2021 and late October 2024.

#
Needle check, cruising and slowly increase and decrease throttle.

[MauiK3]

Grcamma2, ever take the ride up to Berryessa from there? Nice riding but sometimes some crazy bikers and drivers.
Have to watch for fallen rocks.

[grcamna2]

Grcamma2, ever take the ride up to Berryessa from there? Nice riding but sometimes some crazy bikers and drivers.
Have to watch for fallen rocks.

128 all the way?

[Terry in Australia]

Spotty and I started a new project last weekend, to get his old (now my old) Yamaha XVZ1300TF Royal Star Venture going, and back on the road. Spotty bought it 5 years ago from a bike wreckers yard, but hasn't attempted to get it running, so last weekend we played around with the electrics (like a lot of older bikes, previous owners have confused the issue, with several sketchy wiring connections) and had no luck even getting the engine to turn, unless we bridged the two bolts on the starter solenoid. When we did that, the engine would only just turn over, so Spotty put the car battery we were using on the charger, and we left it until this weekend.

Yesterday we filled it with oil and topped up the coolant, and were farting around checking poor wiring connectors etc, when we found another cable that looked like an earth of some sort, so we attached it to the negative pole on the battery, and lo and behold (I wonder what "Lo" means?) the dash lit up, and we could hear the fuel pump doing it's thing. We removed a spark plug (that looked surprisingly clean) and got spark. We replaced the plug, and sprayed a little carb cleaner into the carbs, and it fired a couple of times. We then filled up his little gravity fuel bottle thingy, pulled the choke, hit the starter button and away it went, on 4 cylinders, just like it had been ridden yesterday. Amazing! 

Spotty's kept all the bodywork in his spare room since he bought it, so next weekend we'll work from the bottom up. We'll do some repairs to the wiring, remove both wheels and have new tyres installed, refit and service the brakes, then sort out the hydraulic clutch before we refit all of the bodywork, and the rider's seat that I had recovered last year. With luck, we should be riding it in the next few weeks.

[grcamna2]

Spotty and I started a new project last weekend, to get his old (now my old) Yamaha XVZ1300TF Royal Star Venture going, and back on the road. Spotty bought it 5 years ago from a bike wreckers yard, but hasn't attempted to get it running, so last weekend we played around with the electrics (like a lot of older bikes, previous owners have confused the issue, with several sketchy wiring connections) and had no luck even getting the engine to turn, unless we bridged the two bolts on the starter solenoid. When we did that, the engine would only just turn over, so Spotty put the car battery we were using on the charger, and we left it until this weekend.

Yesterday we filled it with oil and topped up the coolant, and were farting around checking poor wiring connectors etc, when we found another cable that looked like an earth of some sort, so we attached it to the negative pole on the battery, and lo and behold (I wonder what "Lo" means?) the dash lit up, and we could hear the fuel pump doing it's thing. We removed a spark plug (that looked surprisingly clean) and got spark. We replaced the plug, and sprayed a little carb cleaner into the carbs, and it fired a couple of times. We then filled up his little gravity fuel bottle thingy, pulled the choke, hit the starter button and away it went, on 4 cylinders, just like it had been ridden yesterday. Amazing! 

Spotty's kept all the bodywork in his spare room since he bought it, so next weekend we'll work from the bottom up. We'll do some repairs to the wiring, remove both wheels and have new tyres installed, refit and service the brakes, then sort out the hydraulic clutch before we refit all of the bodywork, and the rider's seat that I had recovered last year. With luck, we should be riding it in the next few weeks.

Good 'on both of you for sorting that Yamaha Venture's issues;they're a good 'Runner' of a bike.

[PeWe]

You can open a shop.
Terry and Spotty's bike revival.

[Terry in Australia]

Thanks guys, it was a great day for both of us. Neither of us had ever seen it running, and expected that it would take a lot more work to get it running, so we were pleasantly surprised that it even started, with the absolute minimum of work required.

I don’t know if it’s an Australian market model as I’ve never even seen one in the flesh before, but it’s got all the bells and whistles including a stereo system and even cruise control. It should be a great winter cruiser, and I’m hoping that it’ll feature in the “26 rides” thread in the next few weeks. I need to take my new (to me) XT660X across to get its Roadworthy Certificate today as it’s supposed to rain for the next few days, then once it’s registered I can install the new Delkevic exhaust so it sounds more like a bike and less like a lawn mower.

[grcamna2]

Thanks guys, it was a great day for both of us. Neither of us had ever seen it running, and expected that it would take a lot more work to get it running, so we were pleasantly surprised that it even started, with the absolute minimum of work required.

I don’t know if it’s an Australian market model as I’ve never even seen one in the flesh before, but it’s got all the bells and whistles including a stereo system and even cruise control. It should be a great winter cruiser, and I’m hoping that it’ll feature in the “26 rides” thread in the next few weeks. I need to take my new (to me) XT660X across to get its Roadworthy Certificate today as it’s supposed to rain for the next few days, then once it’s registered I can install the new Delkevic exhaust so it sounds more like a bike and less like a lawn mower.

Did you sneak the Yamaha Venture out for a little ride yet Terry ?

[Terry in Australia]

G’day Bill, no, not yet mate, the brakes aren’t connected and all the bodywork needs to go back on. I did ride the XT660X over to the shop to get the roadworthy inspection done today though, and it passed, so I now need to book it in at the DMV, and get it registered.

Usually that’s about a two week wait, but that’s ok, I need to do some more “un-fcuking” of the electrical system, which is currently held together with twitched wires and lots of electrical tape. At least by the time it’s road legal, all that “half-arsery” will be sorted…

[grcamna2]

G’day Bill, no, not yet mate, the brakes aren’t connected and all the bodywork needs to go back on. I did ride the XT660X over to the shop to get the roadworthy inspection done today though, and it passed, so I now need to book it in at the DMV, and get it registered.

Usually that’s about a two week wait, but that’s ok, I need to do some more “un-fcuking” of the electrical system, which is currently held together with twitched wires and lots of electrical tape. At least by the time it’s road legal, all that “half-arsery” will be sorted…

I hope the brakes on the Venture bleed air out w/o issue;I don't know if they're Fr & Rr 'linked' to the foot pedal?

[Terry in Australia]

G’day Bill, no, not yet mate, the brakes aren’t connected and all the bodywork needs to go back on. I did ride the XT660X over to the shop to get the roadworthy inspection done today though, and it passed, so I now need to book it in at the DMV, and get it registered.

Usually that’s about a two week wait, but that’s ok, I need to do some more “un-fcuking” of the electrical system, which is currently held together with twitched wires and lots of electrical tape. At least by the time it’s road legal, all that “half-arsery” will be sorted…

I hope the brakes on the Venture bleed air out w/o issue;I don't know if they're Fr & Rr 'linked' to the foot pedal?

Ah well, we’ll sort them out either way Bill. Got to get some new tires too, the Michelins on it look good but are probably 20 years old. I f the rain pisses off today I might have to sort the clutch on my Kawasaki Z1-B and take it for a ride.

[MauiK3]

Sooooo many bikes, so little time!!

[Terry in Australia]

Sooooo many bikes, so little time!!

Ha ha, that’s true Steve. I think I sold 10 bikes last year but still have around 12 left. Only about 6 of them are runners, and the rest are projects, but now that I’m retired, I’ll slowly get them finished, or sold.

[Mr. Mike]

Sold it.
Once spring sprang, the offers started rolling in. Not so much interested in a Buick trade, but cash.
Third offer on a beautiful sunshiny day.
2002 ElectraGlide. She’s outta here! Got an empty #3 stall now, but more room in the garage.

[Terry in Australia]

Well I’ve had a day. I needed to run some errands and then take the Yamaha XT660X over to the DMV (called “VicRoads” here) to pay the registration fees and get a new number plate. Due to my anxiety, I picked the bike up early and arrived for my 3pm appointment at 2.15, so had to wait half an hour or so before I could get served.

“Barbara” from VicRoads was lovely, but she pointed out that Jeff (who did the Roadworthy Inspection) had stuffed up the VIN number. Poop. I thought she’d send me away but instead she got me to call Jeff and ask him to fix it. I then had to go sit down for another 30 minutes until it came up in their system, and she took my money and issued me a new plate. Woohoo!

I’d thought about taking an extended ride home to clock up another ride in the “26 rides” thread, but the traffic was terrible, so I just rode it back to my storage unit and drove home. Hopefully tomorrow I’ll have time to install the loud pipes etc, so it sounds more like a big single and less like a lawn mower..