THE ORIGINAL ARTICLE
You really do have to admire Yamaha for the way it refuses to follow trends although – historically – this has been both a blessing and a curse.
Moving from two-strokes to four-strokes (XS650/XS1) was a massive leap of faith, but it paid off, only for the follow-up TX750 to become one of the biggest turkeys of all time. Since then, it’s been a pendulum of quirky or class-leading bikes.
So with such a mercurial track record it makes you wonder how the Iwata factory was feeling in the run-up to the launch of the XT500. Arguably the company’s boldest venture to date, there must have been lots of anguish as the clock ticked down to launch day.
Of course as we all know that end result was better than anyone could have hoped for and Yamaha’s XT500 opened up a whole new genre of dirt bike riding that also encompassed an even larger slice of longer distance Tarmac capability. Decades before the term was actually coined, Yamaha had invented the adventure motorcycle. Arguably there had been machines before the XT’s arrival that had the attributes and potential to be a genuine, dual purpose, longer range bike, but Yamaha went bravely into an area which everyone else had written off as an anachronistic backwater.
Sitting pretty as a picture we have a one hundred point perfect Yamaha XT500G circa 1979/80. It’s been the subject of a full and total, no expense spared, get it exactly right, nut and bolt restoration by The Motorcycle Restoration Company. It looks good, in fact before it gets delivered back to him. All I have to do is start the bike and it’s ours for the entire morning. Yes of course, alert reader, you’ve already spotted the metaphorical fly in the ointment. Starting lusty 500 singles isn’t easy if they don’t have an electric foot. With the XT, Yamaha thoughtfully provided a little window over the end of the cam cover and, in theory at least, I can use this to find top dead centre (TDC) via the decompressor device that lives beneath the clutch lever mount. Pulling on this lever depresses the exhaust valve thereby making the process so much easier… in theory! I struggle, pant and wheeze, much to amusement of the TMC staff as they look on. Finally ace mechanic Mark takes pity on me and then he can’t get the beast to fire either. It’s my turn to smirk but eventually the bike fires up and then goes on to be a paragon of start-ability for the entire day regardless of being hot, cold or lukewarm.
