80 XS850 Triple

[chuck hahn]

After the 750 is done and the GS650 I am picking up this Sunday is running and sold, this will be my next fixxer upper. Why???? Because I want to....thats why. $250.00 got it home. Doesnt need much really to run. Battery, carbs rebuilt, tank cleaned, an oil change, and brakes gone through. Just want to get it running again and then tinker with it. Side covers and tank are on the work bench at the shop....both in remarkable shape.

Seat pan has very very light rust in a few spots that will sand out for repainting. Cover is original and soft and no tears. Pipes will need a little chrome polish but are 99% rust free and very very nice already just going through the car wash. OK its open season for the haters and the "Chucks a lunatic" crowd to start piling on.

[RichDesmond]

...OK its open season for the haters and the "Chucks a lunatic" crowd to start piling on....

Chuck, you're a complete moron, with no grasp of the value of either time or money. If you had another brain cell...it would be lonely.

There, happy now?

Good luck with it, looking forward to the build thread.

[chuck hahn]

Feels like home around here. Thanks Rich.

[rphillips]

Lunatic nthin, He's smart enough to see that working on a three cyl, there are 25% less parts to deal with than working on a four cyl. Keep it up Chuck, I love seein' em' all.

[Guest]

Chuck's a lunatic!

[nvr2old]

I'm hoping that you're going to bin the fairing, sissy bar and cruiser pegs.... If no, then I'll start calling you names..

[chuck hahn]

Oh ehllll YES Larry. I actually have a stock seat rail on hand. I just wire wheeled the surface rust off the seat pan this AM and repainted it. Absolutely solid pan with just a few paint spots worn off but that let moisture creep in so I just refreshed the entire thing. Wiped the cover down with some Back To black and I will post pics up later.

[Guest]

Damn clean for $250. I don't know you well enough to rail on you.

[red1100]

I flipped one of these recently.Bought for$500 sold couple days later for $950. Lots of them around the NW Washington/Oregon area right now under a grand.9B2D626B-2F58-484A-9033-C8A0A63C97DD.jpg

[chuck hahn]

Steel wool to clean the surface rust off the seat pan and repainted it. Good rub down of the seat cover with Back To Black and a little cleaning of the side covers.

[rphillips]

Looking good, keep it up. I've never owned a Yammer street bike, & never realized the Yammers had a pit cock on both sides, I thought that was a HD patent. Did a lot, or all have them, or just a chosen few?

[chuck hahn]

Got the bike to the shop and up on my lift this past weekend. Sawzall made quick work of the fairing and mount bracket. Put the carbs on that i had rebuilt last weekend and hooked up the IV bottle. Cranked it over and she started but sounded a bit restricted so I kept twisting the RPMS up and watched sunflower seeds and husks shoot 8 feet out the pipes. She cleared the exhaust and sat at 1200 idle like it was still new. Tanks been cleaned and soon the POR15 will be added. Petcocks to be rebuilt and brarkes gone through next.

Im quite content to waste money on a bike thats absolutely of no reasonable resale value Tornado so save your tmme even responding.

[chuck hahn]

I was given a right side switch box that had a working kill switch and stock starter button in it so I transplanted those into the housing from the bike. This solved the rigged up starter button issue and I now have the operational kill switch as well. Got to get a full headlight assembly and front signals at some point.

[Sandy]

Good luck on this one too Chuck. Better bike than the 750 ( I had one). They put electronic ignition on this one as well as a wider primary chain as they were prone to stretching. Probably a few other changes too.

[Grimly]

The XS850(G) and the last model XS750(F) had all the bugs ironed out - the bugs that gave the earlier 750s such a bad rep, like dropping 2nd gear and that kind of thing.
How do I know?
I had the last model 750 and was quite pleased to find I'd not bought a pile of crap.
One thing I did find was that when the stock exhausts were on their way out, it became a pig to start. Most Japanese bikes of that era were horribly lean to pass emissions regs, and an exhaust system didn't last long in the European climate, especially in the UK.
It was the first heavyweight bike I had, and felt like it at the time, too. Of course, later on when I started using GS850s, there was a remarkable similarity in the way they behaved to that 750. I'd say they both handled about the same - you're only really conscious of the weight when you're not moving.
I liked mine and I'd have another, but I'd hold out for an 850 next time around.