Yamaha SRX400 Opinions Wanted

[ms51ves3]

Clicky

I've been offered this bike for £400.

Reliability wise what are they like as I'm considering it as a commuter?

Also, is there a brake disc missing on the front wheel? Looking at pictures of them on Google, the early ones with the RD LC style rims have twin discs and the later ones have TZR style wheels and discs. All the mounts are there for the second disc.

Opinions and experience will be rewarded with

[stinkwheel]

I've never owned one but looked into getting a 600 for myself in the past and spoke at length to some owners from the thumper club with a view to getting one for the girlfriend.

First off, if you're tall, forget it. They are tiny little motorcycles.

There didn't seem to be much in the way of problems with the engine itself although they are apparently somewhat prone to electrical faults with advancing age.

It was common back in the 80s to use the same wheels across a range of bikes and fit twin discs to the top-end models but single discs to the lower-end ones. It was also generally pretty easy to retro-fit the other disc using parts from the breakers.

If you don't want it, PM me the guys email address. I'll have it for £400.
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I did the 2010 Round Britain Rally on my 350 Bullet. 89 landmarks, 3 months, 9,500 miles.

[ms51ves3]

I had a feeling you were going to post. Cheers

Height issues would not be a problem, after all, I ride a TZR250

I don't have the guys email address, he just offered me a second chance at my highest bid which was £400.01.

I may contact him and go and have a look tomorrow as it's only up the road.

[stinkwheel]

[ms51ves3]

The garden is usually a good indication of what sort of person has owned a bike, it looks well kept and it reflects on the bike.

[billyboy]

hi mate i had 1 for 3 years good bike never let me down i rode it to Brighton every weekend and rode it to bude in Cornwall twice. change the oil every 800-1000 miles you wont go wrong i had no top end problems at all and its a good back lane bomber. loads of bits are a mismatch of yammi bits and the only problem i had with parts was c/s if i remember it was same as an xt 350 or something. rear caliper was a rd 350 n ypvs and yes single disc front end . this was about 5 years ago so parts should be easy to get now. i did have a list will try and dig it out and post it. she died when an old fart in a polo pulled out did fancy trying to put tzr 125 faring on it but it ever happened sold what was left to some nutter who wanted to graft the lump in to a nsr 250 frame for a fighter project

[ms51ves3]

This is looking promising.

I quick online quote for insurance came back at £250 earlier today which is reasonable.

[Gawain]

Great bikes but Im just a little bit biased. And thats the best looking version imo. That model (1jl) had a single front brake, there was also the 1jv model, mine, which had twin discs like the srx600. Iv collected a fair bit of info on the srx so let me know if you need any.
Edit: yes these are perfect bikes for the shorter folk but im 186cm and it doesnt feel small, even on long trips. You end up looking huge on it but who cares?

[Blau Zedong]

They are pretty little bikes and for that money it doesn't really matter if you end up not liking it. I say that because singles are an aqquired taste and I don't think anyone would ever accuse even the 600 of being fast. You'll either "get it" or you'll think it's a slow uncivillised piece of shit and put it straight back on Egay!!!!
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[MarJay]

Its ideal for the 33bhp strangled ones among us. Looks actually like it would be a hoot. Soft thumper power with a reasonable but not amazing tiny narrow chassis and clip ons... It really appeals to me for some reason. And apart from the box section frame, it looks gorgeous.

Me likey.

{edit} quick question though, does it have electric start? {edit}
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British beauty: Triumph Street Triple R; Loony stroker: KR1S; Track fun: GSXR750 L1; Commuter Missile: GSX-S1000F; Cheap project: CBR900RR FireBlade
Remember kids, bikes aren't like lego. You can't easily take a part from one bike and then fit it to another.

[stinkwheel]

[ms51ves3]

Kick starting it is my only worry but videos on YouTube make it look easy.

Just tried phoning but got no answer so will try again in 30 minutes.

[c_dug]

Has it not got a few to many strokes for you?



c_dug
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[ms51ves3]

[ms51ves3]

Viewing it at 14:30

[Blau Zedong]

[ms51ves3]

[Gawain]

No you cant fit an electric start easily, wont fit because the oil tank is there. You CAN fit an electric start srx engine or xt but there are a number of issues. Briefly countershaft spocket alignment and frame clearance, TCI vs CDI depending on the engine choosen, new oil tank, new airbox/filter etc etc. If you really want to go that route its possible but pm me 1st, as Iv done it and it isnt easy. As for the kickstart, I miss that! Very easy to start if the carbs are in decent condition. Decompression system makes it easy to turn over. My method is to turn the engine over a few times till its smooth feeling then hard kick closed throttle full choke. You can give a slight twist to the throttle at about half kick. To put it in perspective, I learnt to ride solely on my 400 so its not a hard bike to get along with.

[Frost]

I've got the 600 with twin discs etc.

Mines had no electrical faults etc. Starting is easy once you know how. (i'll hapily give you a full guide if you buy it)

The 400 and 600 are the same frame etc just different engine. I'm 5' 11 and 13 stone and it fits me just fine. If it's kick start only having a bit of excess weight probably helps starting it.

They handle well, with twin discs the brakes are as good as on any other bike i've owned.

They are excelent bikes for around town and low speed riding. A single cylinder and no fairing means there not good for motorway riding.

I did a 170 mile round trip on mine about a dozen times with no problems or discomfort, but it does have raised bars.

£400 for a 33bhp legal bike sounds like an awesome deal to me.

[ms51ves3]

I'm not going to be buying it.

I got there and his son was warming the engine up, I was instantly put off and a little pissed off. I told him I would have rather heard it start from cold, so he said I could come back tomorrow if I wanted to (talk about messing someone around ).
One of the rear indicators was snapped, not a big issue but it's bloody annoying when it's not mentioned in the advert. Now after looking at the pictures, I have a feeling that they were taking a while ago.
I saw it had oil all over the front tyre, the forks seals were leaking. I had made my decision. I was there for about 1 minute, shook the guys hand and told him it wasn't for me then took a nice stroll through the countryside home.

People on eBay are so dishonest. This is the reason I only ever search for a bike that's close by.

[RS2MATRIX]

[ms51ves3]

[Blau Zedong]

[neil.]

Guy at work rides one of those in, he got it as it's just under the 33bhp limit, says parts are not too hard to come by and it's a very similar size to my YBR 125, nice simple no-frills bike. I really like the look of it for some reason.
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CBT February 2008 | A2 June 2008 | Yamaha YBR125 (written off) | Honda CBF125 (current)

[nowhere.elysium]