Posts

June 12, 2020

I purchased my 1965 Yamaha YG1-TK during the summer of 2018. It was my first experience with a motorcycle and has been one of my most beloved projects to date. I found it on Craiglist, listed as a barn find and rather worse for the wear. But when I saw it in person, it had compression and that was enough for me. Clocking in at 80 cc, this bike is essentially a moped. Regardless of its flaws, it holds a special place in my heart.

In hindsight, I was a little too focused on the aesthetic side of things. My friends would make jokes that I had a cool looking motorcycle that I couldn't do anything with. My personal theory is that this motorcycle was taken out into the dirt and muck and returned to the barn where it would sit for decades because the kick starter was busted. Needless to say, I had my work cut out for me with all the rust and grime. I spent hours with wire wheels and paint stripper, slowly revealing the gleaming motorcycle underneath it all.

May 27, 2020

It may not seem like much has happened since the last time I made a post, but I have been doing a lot of work under the hood for this website. While messing around with CSS I have repeatedly broken and then fixed more elements than I would like to admit. I have been using a clone of this website to test changes before deploying to the real thing, it has been affectionately named Yuma.

Over the past month, I have implemented pagination, syntax highlighting, internet explorer specific CSS, and leveraged some of the features of Sass. I don’t think that’s too bad considering that I'm taking 16 credit hours of classes right now.

May 03, 2020

As is frequently pointed out on various XZ550 forums, the stock starter seal is inadequate. I opted to purchase a 20mm x 35mm x 6mm double lip spring seal on Amazon. I also picked up a starter rebuild kit from ebay that came with new o-rings, a brush holder assembly, and a bearing. I've been using the wayback machine to view xz550.com before it was taken over by some Chinese company, giving me access to a wealth of knowledge.

According to xz550.com, you should: "Remove the spring clip and working from the "sealed" side of the bearing, gently tap the bearing out of the casing with a long thin drift or punch and a hammer. Be sure to tap on the OUTSIDE of the bearing." This was an incredibly helpful start, but I was unable to find any pictures or diagrams showing a breakdown of the process. Hopefully the following pictures will be useful to other inexperienced XZ-550 owners.

March 02, 2020

The rubber pieces on my YG1-TK have held up especially well considering that it's from 1965. However, I decided that it was time to let the pieces go. Several blemishes make it clear that the previous owner may not have been as delicate with the motorcycle as I would've liked.

I had previously experimented with SainSmart's black TPU to 3D print a replacement part for one of the crankcase covers of the YG1-TK. It's held up incredibly well and provides me with the ability to easily reproduce the part should it get broken.