Yamaha XS850 Triple

[-Holiday]

ANyone know anything about this bike?
Im considering picking one up for like $200 bucks locally. Its got 56k on it but appears to be in decent cosemtic shape. It stopped running a year ago. Not sure why, the seller seems to have no mechanical knowledge whatosoever ("poo poo", i hope he's not on this site : ) ) . I'm going to go over and look at it in a few hours, its on the other side of town.

If it seems like it will run decently and wont take much to get going, I'll get it running and give it to my dad for his birthday next month. He used to ride, but hasnt in about 15 years.

Anyway, has anyone ever had one? Can point me to any online resources for them? Anything to say about them at all?

Thanks in advance. Ill post up again after i go look at it.

Is 56k high milage for that motor?

[bulldogg313]

The one i rode years ago was a good running bike.It seems that the 750 and 850 triples had charging system problems.I installed a car battery on the luggage rack to solve the problem.It usually took about a week for the battery to go dead.I couldn't afford parts for it at the time......$200 is still a good deal for it,and e-bay still has parts listings for these things.

[goodcruisin]

I had a 650 parallel. those older model xs's are prone to electrical rot.
I had to replace the cables to my battery, although it looked good.
shine up any ? grounds, theyll kill you.
great bikes though, go for it!

[-Holiday]

ended up passing on it.

Mainly because there was too many unknowns. 56k miles , drurotted tires, leaking fork seals, kicked over and had compressions, but no spark. It was still a deal at $200 but I dont feel like trying to sort out electrical problems, and I'd ratherr pay a little more for something closer to being on the road. the entire premise here is to get a decent running bike and I plan to give it to my father for his birthday. He used to ride, but hasnt really in years.

Anyway, thanks for the help.