howardrayserra

Great input from everybody. Thanks. It's not like I don't ride, I average about 10K per season, not a lot, but respectable, for a working man. I ride to work whenever weather or travel schedule permits, but rarely for it's own purpose. The problem may be that I have too many bikes ('89 XVZ1300, '84KN1300, '05 VTX1800, not to mention dirt bikes and scooters kept on hand for the grand children and wife), and not enough time spent on any one of them. Of the 3 big boy bikes the Yamaha gets the least love. I'll probably spray the cylinder down with fogging oil and turn the crank around a few times by hand before starting it up again to run a tank of sea foam through it. See if that loosens up the intake valve or de-gunks the seat. It seems unlikely to me that there are any issues with the valve seats, it was running beautifully before parking, and it's a low miles bike at just over 18K. I will definitely check them once up and running. Still needs all the fluids changed, clutch master and slaves rebuilt, brake master and calipers rebuilt, fork oil and seals replaced, and main fuse block replaced to be a safe and dependable ride. Maybe I'll take care of this issue to get it running and continue looking for a young mechanic looking for experience and a few extra dollars to take of the rest. I enjoy doing the work myself, and with all the bikes over the years have never paid a mechanic to work on any one. It's just that this one particular bike, at this time in my life, is a bit more than I am able to keep up with. What I really want is to sell them all for a new Goldwing, then all my dreams would come true.

I'm looking for some advice, and maybe a reference to an honest mechanic who charges by the hour. Several years ago I picked up an '89 XVZ1300 with 18K miles that was running good but obviously had been neglected for some time. At that time I figured it needed fluids changed, carburetor cleaned, brakes checked...basic maintenance. Long story short, I never got to it. I purchased rebuild kits for the carbs and a new fuse block but never installed them, but I change the oil as soon as I got it home. I was very good for the first few years about starting and running it around the block 2 or 3 times every summer, but at the end of summer 2014 I needed space in my garage so into storage it went. There is a reason they say "out of sight, out of mind". Now the carbs are so gummed up it won't idle off choke. I was talking to a couple of local bike mechanics about bringing it back to life so I ran a compression test to see where I'm starting from. To my surprise the right front cylinder was way down around 110 psi. Others were between 165 an 170 psi. Then I did a leak down test and can hear air going by the intake valve, coming out the carburetor. I say I was surprised because it was running strong the last time I had it around the block. I'm thinking that having left it sitting full of gas may have gummed up the valve seat enough to keep it from closing properly. Wishful thinking maybe. With this new information I went to mechanic number one, an experienced man with his own full time shop. He said he wouldn't touch it without pulling the motor out an taking the heads off, and I should plan on a full top end rebuild. So off to mechanic number two I went, a young guy just out of tech school working part time at a dealer and doing side work in his dad's barn. We had it set up that as soon as he cleared some space I would bring it over. Unfortunately for me, he was put on full time an no longer has time for side work. With the back story in place, now is the time I ask for advice and/or a reference to someone willing to take on my project. With the house, work, family (blah, blah, blah), I don't have time to do it myself. I can barely find time to ride. My options as I see them are, find someone to finish what I hoped to do myself and then decide if I want to keep or sell it as a running bike, sell the bike as is, and part it out (blasphemy, right?). Thoughts?