LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

See ya later generator

I have always had a passion for single cylinder motorcycles having been brought up in a biking family where given the chance my father would tell all about how good his BSA Empire Star was. So imagine my delight when Yamaha introduced the SR500 back in 1978. At the time I was commuting over 30km each way to work on a tired ex-police Kawasaki WR1. I yearned for a Velocette but they were and still are thin on the ground here in WA.

OBA 73 brought back a few memories starting with the monthly visit to my local newsagent to pick up my monthly copy of Two Wheels (August 1978). The front cover was a SR 500 and a Velocette Thruxton. It was meant to be. Unable to find a Velo I bought from Brian Cull’s dealership then in Osborne Park a SR500 Yamaha.

Well, having read your feature about the SR500 today I am firmly of the opinion that as we get older we forgive the sins of our bikes. I would commute the 30km rain or shine and after learning how to start the bike I found it a capable commuter then one day as I went to travel home it failed to start. The HT winding in the generator had failed and no spark was forthcoming, I was unable to afford a genuine replacement but was able to find a company that could rewind the coils. Their reason for failure was vibration, did I mention it did suffer in this area. Duly repaired the daily commute resumed until about 6 months later a repeat of the winding failure. I was not alone in this as having seen my SR500, my