It wasn’t something I originally planned on doing, but I ended up going the route of hardtailing my wasteland Yamaha Virago build. There were several reasons, mainly it allowed me to lower rear by quite a bit without having to worry about the seat hitting the wheel when the suspension compresses, and it allows me…Read More
Building a fender from license plates
I considered going without fenders for the barebone look, but I couldn’t pass up the opportunity for another surface to add old parts to. I remember seeing “scaled” fenders on some post apoc/steampunk builds (usually with a bronze riveted appearance) that I really liked. So with that in mind, I came up with the idea…Read More
Post Apocalyptic/Wasteland Yamaha Virago Build
So, it turns out I don’t have the budget to do a proper cafe racer build as I had originally intended. While there are plenty of bolt-on kits I could buy for the earlier versions of the Virago, parts are less available for the “2nd gen” (1894+) version of the Virago, and I also didn’t…Read More
1988 Yamaha Virago Vintage Style Cafe Racer
Having finished my 1982 Yamaha Virago 920 “touring” build, I’ve decided to convert my 1988 Virago 750 into a cafe racer. I’ve seen many Virago builds that use the same formula that Hageman made popular – flat cafe seat + Benelli fuel tank typically, and sometimes a frontend swap. There’s nothing wrong with these builds,…Read More
Developing the Yamaha Virago Service Manual app
While I love tinkering on my motorcycles, I’m a web developer first. I’ve been looking into somewhat new technologies that allow web apps to blur the line between a website and a native application, and I’ve been looking for ways I can experiment with that by developing my own app. I found inspiration to do…Read More
1982 Yamaha Virago XV920 Touring Purchase
I’ve been spending a few hours every weekend on my XV750 project, but I haven’t been making much progress. I keep running into an issue with the front cylinder acting very strangely, and unable to hold an idle. It doesn’t even fire up at all unless choke is all the way on. It points to…Read More
Review of the Morty (2nd Gen) Unit by Nuut.ca
Pros/cons are listed at the bottom, more pics coming soon Why I decided to re-wire One of the items on my todo list for my 1981 Yamaha Virago 750 classic restoration is re-wiring the bike from scratch. I’ll admit that re-wiring was not a necessity, the existing wiring harness was intact. The only non-working components…Read More
Neutral switch replacement
One of the issues I noticed early on with my 1981 Yamaha Virago 750 is that the neutral switch rarely triggered correctly when the transmission was in neutral. The neutral switch is used in the electrical system, mainly as a dash indicator which will tell you if the transmission is in gear or if it’s…Read More
Exhaust Leak
After draining the carbs and playing around with the choke a bit, I was able to get it to start. However, it runs for about a minute before bogging down and dying. While running, I could hear the sound of air escaping, and smoke was coming out around the rear cylinder header. Looking at the…Read More
1981 Yamaha Virago XV750 Project
Earlier in June, someone posted a 1981 Yamaha XV750 for sale on Craigslist for a whopping $200 – clean title and current registration, and he was even willing to drop it off. It wasn’t in a running condition, and it wasn’t entirely clear what issues it had. It barely started, and when it did it…Read More