Topic: Well, I bought a new bike...

[DammitDan]

1981 Yamaha XS850 midnight special.  It's ugly, and it leaks a little on the base gasket (not too bad though), but with a little elbow grease I think I can make it worth the $350 I paid for it!   

I'm just proud of myself for talking the guy down from his $650 asking price.  Fortunately I saw the oil leak that he "didn't notice" (yeah, right) and gained all the leverage in the negotiation.

[DammitDan]

I forgot to mention that I got a set of the older straight spoke mag rims and new rotors in the deal, too.

Here's the laundry list of parts I just bought for it, totaling $317.56...

Bridgestone Spitfires front (100/90-19) and rear (130/90-16), new Pro Grip 699 open ended gel grips, 2 new Emgo bar-end mirrors, new handlebars (I'm gonna try clubmans on it!), a new Motion Pro speedo cable, 3 new carb intake rubbers (only $25 on partsnmore.com), 3 new float bowl gaskets and float needles, a new gas tank cap with keys, and an oil filter.  I figure with another $10 invested in some 20w50 and 6 or 7 hours, I will have her road ready 2 weekends from now.

Soooo, grand total on the bike is $677.56!  Only $25 more than he was asking initially, and I got all the parts thrown in.

[upperlake04]

Thief

[bill440cars]

         Dan, If I had of tried to buy that bike, they probably would've wanted more for it and I'd probably have needed lots more in parts.   Good deal there guy. LOL with your "new" bike. Keep us posted, okay?

                                                               Later on, Bill

[nickjtc]

Another one of those under rated bikes... Good job getting it at a decent price. Keep us posted on how the mods work out.

[DammitDan]

Did I mention it has a Jardine 3-1 exhaust 

That thing sounds badass!

[Tim.]

Neat optical illusion with the chrome sections on the sidecovers.

[KB02]

My Dad's got one just like it. Great bikes. He bought the regular version new in 81 (or was it 80?) and put almost 40,000 miles on it before trading up to a Venture. Then a couple of years ago my cousin needed help with fixing up a lawn tractor (Which my dad is very handy with) and he offered thee Midnight XS as a trade for services.   

That three cylinder is a B*tch to tune right, but once you get it, those things run great.