Total Motorcycle Community Forums

Hi all,

I have a question about titling. I bought a 1978 Yamaha XS650 from a friend a few years ago. It had been blowing the fuse when the key was turned on so I took it to a shop to diagnose it and also find out why it had been leaking gas from the carbs. They diagnosed the short as a bad rotor and stator and said the carbs were just full of junk so they overflowed. They quoted me the price on parts (about $1500 total for the rotor and stator) and I didn't want them to do the work. Consequently, they didn't put the bike back together. So I got it back with the gas tank removed and found out later that some bolts are even missing. Given that it sort of took the wind out of my sails as far as working on it. I'm a decent mechanic on cars, but never messed with bikes. If I had taken it apart, I could have gotten it back together. Given I got it back in pieces, I didn't know how to do it.

Anyway, I still have not titled the bike in my name. I have the title that my friend signed when he sold it to me. I recently inquired about titling it so I could just sell it outright but there's a penalty plus taxes plus they want two years of excise taxes too. I think it's ridiculous. So I'm going to part the bike out down to the frame and cut the frame up and scrap it. My question is I know the engine and transmission on this bike to be good and my concern is that the title may come into play on the engine. I don't THINK it will because I believe it's the frame itself that is really titled but I wanted to make sure before I advertised it. I'm in Indiana, by the way. Thank you.

Welcome to the forums Tryton . Putting it back together is really not that hard . At the very least you can go to your public library and find a manual for it and photo copy what you need .
It is too bad that you already went to DMV .
Did they start any paper work on it ?
There are always work arounds .
How long had it been since it was last licensed ?
Kind regards, Wizzard

Thank you for the welcome. I'm not really concerned about putting it back together. The engine, while good, needs new gaskets because they're old and leak oil. It needs new pipes, the tank has a big dent in it, the forks probably need rebuilt, just a lot of things anyway. Plus the rotor and stator rebuilt are over $300 just to get the charging system fixed. It's not beyond a restore, but it's beyond what I would want to restore even if I had the money. That's just it. I've been out of work since April and I need money. I've thought about selling it, but to get it titled and all that in my name now would cost more than what I would get out of it.

I never took anything to the BMV. I was in there with a friend one day and I asked them what it would entail to get it taken care of so there's nothing started at all. My friend bought in 1997 and got the title. I don't know that it was ever registered (plated) but if he did do it, he never put the plate on. I know it developed this short not long after he bought it. I do know that it ran and ran well because we all rode it when he first got it. I bought it in 1999 and it's been in the garage ever since. If someone wanted to buy it and take the signed title and pay all the penalty for not titling it sooner and whatever else it took to get it up to date, I'd sell it to them. It's not a problem to get it titled, it's just a matter of paying for it. I have the signed title and I never filled out my name as the buyer so it would be like they bought it from him. But as it stands now, I'm not paying all the extra to title it just to sell it for parts. It's easier for me to part it out and then destroy the frame. I don't think it's a problem to sell the engine from it as I know they're replaced all the time and it wouldn't carry the title anyway. Just wanted to make sure of that.

thats a shame i love that bike.

Arrr-Ha!

Do we have a potential buyer here??

Sell the whole thing to someone in Canada...we don't need to deal with the title crap and stuff...just write a Canadian a bill of sale and he can bring it up and plate it...

No safety or crap required (here in Sask for sure and most other provinces anyhow)

Good luck in whatever you do with it..

You could also make some decent money selling the parts on ebay but that can be a painstaking process with all the shipping etc...