Last time out, I’d just bought a stunning looking, Sonauto-liveried 1990 Yamaha XTZ750 from eBay, at about half the expected price – £1500.
Why so cheap? Well, the bike had a coolant leak which the seller had diagnosed as a head gasket problem and also the small matter of a blowing exhaust header pipe, where a piece of casting in the exhaust port had chipped off and prevented the gasket from sealing.
I’d normally be put off by stuff like that, but winking at me from my lock-up was a laid-up Mk.1 TDM 850 with a decent lowish-mileage full service history motor. It just so happens the TDM engine will drop straight into this XTZ chassis and offers 10 per cent more power, similarly more torque AND better gearing for road use. Game on!
With the XTZ in the van after collecting it, I didn’t even go home, I headed straight for the HQ of Motoedit, a motorcycle workshop run by lovely people in
