[TeeDubs]

I talked to this guy from Minnesota who's got an 87 TW unknown miles black and red paint job (sweet!) and said that the previous owner fixed the base gasket because of an oil leak, otherwise clean paint, no rust and was and currently is being stored indoors. Only issue is it doesn't run, no spark... He's asking $400 and sounds like he'd be willing to negotiate, clean title too by the way. Said everything looks real clean but doesn't have time to mess with the spark issue...



Soooo what do you guys think? Should I pop on it? What could be the spark issue? Is it worth it just for parts if I can't figure it out?



He's sending me pics tomorrow and I'll follow up with posting those

 

[ezman671]

I saw that ad also but since I am in Florida the distance eliminated it.



If it is the CDI that would cause problems both $$$ and replacement. 87 CDI's might be difficult to find.



I believe 87's had a electrical system unique to that year.

 

[Rainman]

I'd talk him down in price some. You could buy it and fix it to ride, or have it as a parts bike.



The 87 electrical is unique and like ezman671, a CDI may be hard and expensive to find. But if you get the bike for 300 bucks, put 250 into it, you'll have a nice bike for not much money.



Who knows though, it may be as simple as a broken wire or a bad spark plug.

 

[Jon H]

I jumped on a red and white 1987 unseen last July for $300. That almost never happens here and luckily the prince of a guy agreed to hold it for me until I could get to it. He had to eventually quit answering his phone for a day or two. Buys like that last minutes here. The bike showed 900 miles, but barely ran, mostly just blubbered. I changed the oil, replaced the plug and did the usual "chase carb issue" for a while. Then paid a mechanic $200 to chase the issue. He got it running, but it still bucked and ran poorly at times. He finally concluded the CDI was the likely problem. It runs well enough that I have been able to put a couple hundred miles on it alternating with my other bikes. I quite like the little bike and will put a new cdi in soon. My mechanic had confidence he could get a cdi and I see you can order from several places online. Probably good advice to actually call to see if the vendor has it in stock before placing an order so you don't get caught up in a forever backorder situation. I will be very pleased with the deal if the cdi solves the problem. This one feels a little stronger than my last 2004 TW and doesn't seem to need anything else.

 

[TeeDubs]

Yeah i've heard that the 87's have different electrical systems but couldn't i just swap out the wiring harness from a newer model?



He said the odometer reads about 10,000 he also sent me some pics

 

[TeeDubs]

I saw that ad also but since I am in Florida the distance eliminated it.



If it is the CDI that would cause problems both $$$ and replacement. 87 CDI's might be difficult to find.



I believe 87's had a electrical system unique to that year.

Where did you see the ad?

 

[TeeDubs]

Little bit of new info, I just found out he doesn't have a key for the ignition.... So it might all be just fine and id have to replace the ignition or.....Does anyone know if there's a way to "hot wire" one of these?

 

[srs713]

Little bit of new info, I just found out he doesn't have a key for the ignition.... So it might all be just fine and id have to replace the ignition or.....Does anyone know if there's a way to "hot wire" one of these?

With good title in hand so you're sure it's not stolen, get the number off the ignition and have a Yamaha dealer cut a new key.



Yes you can hot-wire it. But we're not gonna teach that here, are we?

 

[TeeDubs]

With good title in hand so you're sure it's not stolen, get the number off the ignition and have a Yamaha dealer cut a new key.



Yes you can hot-wire it. But we're not gonna teach that here, are we?

He says it's clean (and not stolen - said he received it as a trade for a snow plow), is there anyway I can check this before I go to see it because I have to drive two hours away



and yeah, you're going to teach me how to hot wire it!

 

[FortPayne]

Have the guy email you the vin# before you go. Then go to the website here and it will tell you if it is stolen or junked. Free just enter the vin and the captcha thing. When I was looking for a bike I had 2 different sellers go from "i'll meet you tomorrow" to... "i no speaka english" when I asked for the vin.

 

[joeband]

sweet custom touches on the color scheme, it looks like it came from the 60's batman series. is it missing a front fender?

 

[TeeDubs]

sweet custom touches on the color scheme, it looks like it came from the 60's batman series. is it missing a front fender?

Paint job does look good, or a lot better than a lot of the old TW's and it does apear that the front fender is missing but not a big deal because if I get it I want to turn it into a japanese style street bike... here's a pic from the front

Looks like the original owner did a complete engine overhaul, thing is actually pretty clean....Aside from the crappy welds on the exhaust, but I have a TTR header that I got off ebay sitting in my garage waiting to be put to use

I also really like the tandem grab bar that is on the back





Sounds like I can't go wrong if I can get it for under $300

 

[TeeDubs]

Have the guy email you the vin# before you go. Then go to the website here and it will tell you if it is stolen or junked. Free just enter the vin and the captcha thing. When I was looking for a bike I had 2 different sellers go from "i'll meet you tomorrow" to... "i no speaka english" when I asked for the vin.

Will do, thanks for the link Payne

 

[TeeDubs]

The guy sent me the VIN and it checks out, not reported stolen or salvaged. After looking at the pictures in more detail it looks like the kick starter is missing too... or don't the 87's have them?

 

[lizrdbrth]

Looks like only the lever itself is missing. The shaft appears to be there.



'87-'00 all had kickers.

 

[PalmStateCrawler]

I would ask him about that kick starter! Looks like he was trying to hide a broken kicker and that would be a couple hours of case splitting work to fix. I have been considering putting a kickstart on my 10' but dont want to dive into the bottom end.

 

[TeeDubs]

seems kind of like a gamble but I wouldn't expect a 25 year old bike for $300 to be turn-key...

 

[Kev250R]

I say buy it. Even at $400 I'm not seeing anything which would be a deal-breaker.



Kevin

 

[TeeDubs]

I'm going to get it tomorrow! I'll let you guys know how it checks out...





Can anybody tell me where I'd find the key code on the ignition? and/or any letters or anything that would be associated with it..... I looked around my 95 and saw some GWAR??? number behind the tripple trees but i wasn't sure if thats what I should be looking for



Thanks!

 

[FortPayne]

Did a quick search. Its on the lock mechanism itself. On the side or under the bottom of it.