What do you know about the Yamaha 500TX?

[Spyked]

I had one when I was 16 (long time ago) and kept it for 3 years. Despite some of the comments here they were not a bad bike for their day.
Yes the ignition timing needed setting on a regular basis, but it could be done in about 5 minutes. The balancer shaft chains were always noisy but never caused a problem and the handling issues came down to needing a decent set of rear shocks, something that was true of pretty much every jap bike of that era and a set of phosphor bronze swing arm bushes instead of the undersized and soft synthetic factory items.

The 2 piece cylinder heads were prone to warping and needed careful assembley and set up with a decent torque wrench. Mine and quite a few others that I knew of were fitted with the later XS500 head. Worthwhile improvement.
I rode mine every day, rain or shine and it never let me down. While I had heaps of fun with the old TX, compared to any modern bike it would have its limitations.
Don't think I would ever call the TX a classic even if they are rare now.
The H1 Kwaka that I had afterwards handled much worse, drank gas like crazy and needed repairs far more often, but because they were mental gained a cult status that the TX500 would never equal.
Given the chance I would love to have a ride on a TX500, but would own another H1.

[moko]

I had one of the later "coffin tank" XS500s.While everything was spot on it was a lovely bike,smooth and very quick for a 500 of it's day.BUT the slightest little thing would turn it into a mis-firing bloody horrible heap and I spent as many weekends tracking down minor faults as I did enjoying it.I bought it at 18 months old from a Yamaha dealer,it blew a gasket literally down the road from me picking it up,I hated the thing,apart from a pig of an XS250 I had it was the most tempramental bike I've ever owned.When went to sell it the head gasket blew again on the way to deliver it,guy still had it though after a bit of haggling,if he'd seen the amount of oil on the waterproofs I'd binned on the way I doubt he'd have wanted it at all,just as well really as I'd never have got it home under its own power.When it went well it was lovely,sadly that was never for bery long,I had it for a few months and it felt like a lifetime.I later had an XS650,totally different and one of my all-time favourite bikes.
The early XS500 (we didn't get the TX here,our first XS was a TX with twin discs)was and is a stunning looking machine,that motor looked heaps more impressive than the 650 mill and it looked great in the same Black and Gold paint as the 650,like my ex-wife though,looked good,decent ride now and again but never worth the hassle in between.

[Spyked]

I like the analogy with the ex-wife.

I felt much the same about a 450 Desmo that I had on loan from my mate while he was working in Oz for a couple of months. I had planned on buying it off him until the bloody thing crapped out every time it rained, whenever I was late or it just wanted to piss me off.

[mitchilin]

I had a ride on one of my mates TX 750.Damn thing tried to kill me.Big sideways in second in the wet then shortly after siezed up.Big ends let go in a big way.Had a three kay push to get the thing back.Back in the mid to late eighties you could pick them up for f.a. but even back then it was ridiculously hard to get parts for.I did hear you could use peugeot plain bearings for the 750.I knew of four 750s that were left to rot cause that's all they were good for.The TX 500 only had a marginally better reputation.

[Paul in NZ]

The 'Classic Bike' magazine now in the shops has a paragraph or 2 about them in the XS650 article

[toycollector10]

I would own it, especially if it was stock. F5 Dave that just sounds like worn swing arm bushes, nothing serious. Aparently the 750 that came after the 500was very unreliable etc as posted earlier....The 500 was never memorable, really, was it? Especially with all the other interesting Jap stuff around at the time.......