SR 500 Rebuild

[Bike mad]

Hi

My brother and I are starting to rebuild ( get going at least) a 1978 SR 500 Yamaha.

While we start on the carb ( in bits) , the electrics (yet to see this working) and the motor ( hope we can get the "kick style" right, I wish to look towards getting a new or replacement seat.

The current seat has been modified to be thicker and raised for the passenger ( forums say that at about 150 km or miles the bum is sore !) . Unfortunately while the upholstery is okay the frame is rusted to the point of no return.

I was wondering if there are some other seats that may fit ( SR 400 or others). I am prepared to make some attempts at repairing the base, so even ideas of how to do that would be good. Will post photos of the offending seat later.

Bike mad

[Bender]

My limited knowledge of these bikes indicates that the 400 and 500 are pretty much identical. The 400 has a smaller capacity engine to fit within some laws in Japan that penalise bikes above that size. I've not seen two side by side so there may be minor changes in the seat, etc that are not obvious from studying the photos.

It would certainly be worth having a close look - talking to someone in Yamaha spares etc to get an idea of any differences, apart from the engine. Because, 400s go for a lot less than 500s, even though they are the same bike. You might be able to score a 400 as a parts bike.

Good luck with the 500. My brother owned one when they were new and I was able to ride the thing all over, including a summer tour of northland. I loved the bike, it just has a real nice feel and balance to it. I was all set to buy another recently (quite a few sold on trademe in Oct/Nov last year) until a good mate reminded me that a serious injury to my right leg might get in the way of starting it. If Yamaha had put an electric starter on the SR500, they'd have sold a gazillion of them.

[Bike mad]

THanks

I will give that a try

[Pedrostt500]

The SR 500 shears some motor parts with the TT and XT 500, Google Live Wire VMX, as some of the VMX guys may have brought SR 500s for engine parts, you may luck into some parts.
If your seat pan is in not to bad a condition you could make a fiberglass mould, and then make a few fibre glass seat pans, obviously taking care to set in mounting points, keep one for your bike and sell the rest to recover costs, if you do not wish to do this your self then ask on here, there are a few who do fibre glass as a living.