I don't want a pickle ...

The motorcycle is a 1978 Yamaha SR500. I've had it for two years. In 1978, Yamaha was competing with the British bikes like the BSA, Norton and Triumph's and they came out with this 500cc road bike in the British style. I've always liked the classic Brit bikes and the Yamaha is a close cousin supposedly without the electrical problems. Ha! It's been an epic to get it running right; and the problems turned out to be mostly electrical. I gave up trying to do the work myself and hired Barry Messenger from Ft Collins as my mechanic. Barry specializes in restoring older BMW's but owned an SR500 himself back in the day. I had the stator rewound from an outfit in Quebec. First time it came back it had a pinched wire; sent it back and they redid it again. In the mean time winter came and I went off to Scotland on sabbatical for the Spring. When I came back, Barry was moving his shop and could not take the bike for six months or so. The bike still had problems and after some extensive carburetor tuning we decided it must be the CDI (electronic ignition) Parts for this bike are hard to find and I ended up ordering a new unit from New Zealand where they are very popular. Installed that and, among other problems, the bike would not turn off. Sent that unit back across the Pacific, and in the meantime the guy who owns the company went in the hospital and was out of commission for six weeks. He recovered and an new unit was sent. This one worked! There still is a minor hesitation problem on a long pull in top gear, but we think we can fix that by rejetting the carburetor.





Took it out for a real ride yesterday. From Woods Landing where I live down Fox Creek Rd. (dirt) to Hwy 11 and then 130 to Centennial WY. From Centennial I headed up and over the Snowy Range and down the west slope into the Platte River Valley. South on WY 230 to Encampment/Riverside and then dipping down into Colorado to come back north to Woods Landing from the three-way.


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