The latest on the Yamaha 500 XT

It has been ages since I have written about the XT. Mainly because the job of making time to attend to it has been so poorly accomplished, practically if not actually, ignored, you'd think that it was an art project from the way I have devoted so little time to it.

Well, on Memorial Day I left the cool, hypnotic glow of the computer (for a whole day!) and hunkered down in the garage with one job in mind - to remove the cylinder from the dust collecting, bench sittin' motor. It was a slow, gunky, small rusted bit chore, but after many hours of attrition I had the stack removed and the piston a resting in a cradle of old t-shirts.

A few weeks later, like today, I took the top end and cylinder up to the Cycle Depot, the local spot and mechanix that come highly recommended by Stizzle and Ota who is our favorite sushi chef as well as an owner of an '81 CB900F. The head dude took one look at the piston, with its scuff marks and said "Need a new one."

This means, roughly, that the cylinder will have to be bored or sleeved and a new piston and rings bought for it. He also performed a quick check to get a rough idea how the valves were sitting; spraying brake cleaner into the in and outlets and waiting to see if/how long it took for the cleaner to get past the valve. The test lasted about 1/3 of a second. Not so good for the compression.

So a valve job is needed.

Next task is to source the parts needed for these upgrades and then source an engineer or machinist who can cook the parts together for me.

Since I now had a new paperweight, the piston, I decided to fire up the Ultrasonic Cleaner and use it as one of today's test items. I am very pleased with the result.

Recently L. came back from his honeymoon trip to Europe and was kind enough to take some pics of a beautiful XT he saw on the sidewalk in Berlin. This thing looks fantastic. Please note the sporty front fender (motard style). The gastank I have has a slightly different look, but if I can get my bike anywhere NEAR this baddy-daddy...well, I can dream.

Y'know, it was on my trip to Berlin that I saw an XT that looked like this one and mine. I hadn't thought of the old bike in years, it was just in a coma in my mom's tool shed. But I remember coming across it on the German streets and not believing my eyes.

A very cool bike related encounter: as I was leaving Cycle Depot, a dude that lives in the neighborhood showed up. I had seen him on his Moto Guzzi from time to time and had stopped once as he pulled up to his garage to introduce myself. Turns out we know some folks in common.
Anyway, he shows up and I tell him about all this pro work I need and he busts off a name of a dude he recommends for machinist work. Not only that, but he hipped me to the Four-Stroke Singles National Owners Club, as a potential source of parts, knowledge and enthusiasm. Thanks!

Is that

...your mother in the hot tub with you?

Return

"What, if some day or night a demon were to steal after you into your loneliest loneliness and say to you: 'This life as you now live it and have lived it, you will have to live once more and innumerable times more; and there will be nothing new in it, but every pain and every joy and every thought and sigh and everything unutterably small or great in your live will have to return to you, all in the same succession and sequence--even this spider and this moonlight between the trees, and even this moment and I myself. The eternal hourglass of existence is turned upside down again and again, and you with it, speck of dust!' Would you not throw yourself down and gnash your teeth and curse the demon who spoke thus? Or have you once experienced a tremendous moment when you would have answered him: 'You are a god and never have I heard anything more divine.' If this thought gained possession of you, it would change, you as you are or perhaps crush you."

Prius

The Prius continues to be the top seller and one of the most technologically advanced and complex passenger vehicles in the market today. It's also one of the most reliable.

"We get an average of about 100 cars a day through the service department," Heredia said. "Maybe three or four are Priuses, and they're usually just in for an oil change. I'd go broke if the Prius was all I worked on." (Via Obscurestore)