Just getting started with a full restoration on my TR-1 (well, XV1000 with chain drive here in Australia ).

I bought the bike cheaply, and I guess it has a few issues. It's been sitting for about 4 years now and the electrics in it are completely ruined - there was alot of corrosion. As well as stripping most of the electrical parts, I've taken the tank and rear subframe off. So far i've replaced the left hand side crank case gasket and put a new starter motor in (seller told me it engaged while he was driving it down a highway). It occured to me i should check to see if the motor is in okay condition before i invest in a new electrical system - but what's the best way to do this? I don't think the gears are engaging properly - i thought about pushing it in first gear to see if i could get the engine to turn over.

Before I get too deep here - I wanted to ask you knowledgable folks - where's the best place to begin???

Cheers,

Patrick

Hi all,

dear Patrick, first of all, welcome here.

I am a little bit confused about the failure description that the seller/former owner of the bike gave you. If the electric starter motor tried to engage during a highway ride, this would cause some horrible noises and a lot of broken parts. But this is nearly impossible: Even if the starter mechanism is faulty (which is quite common unfortunately in TR1 bikes), an engaging of the starter should not take place as soon as the combustion engine is running.

During the starting process, the electric starter motor turns over the combustion engine. But as soon as the combustion engine starts running, its rotation speed becomes higher than the speed given by the electric starter system. Therefore, the rotating combustion engine will "overtake" the start mechanism. Three components are responsible for a correct "overtaking process":

• the starter freewheel, shown as figure (2) in Anja's coloured picture
  
• the mechanical lever, fig. (9)
  
• the starter solenoid, fig. (10).
  

The regular function of the freewheel is that it runs free (smooth and easy) in one turning direction, but blocks the rotation immediately in the opposite turning direction. You can test it by rotating it by hand: If there are any doubts (not turning easily in one direction or not blocking correctly), it will be better to install a new freewheel. (They are available as after market parts in online auctions.)

A typical failure of the lever mechanism is that the grease all around the pivot axis has become old. Therefore the lever is not moving easily any more, but gets "stuck". Cleaning and some new grease will help you out.

And a common failure of the starter solenoid can be that, due to wear and tear, it doesn't switch quickly, strongly and easily, but moves slowly, producing not enough pulling power any more. Installing a new solenoid will help. (Yamaha XV 1100 parts fill fit, too. And after market parts as well.)

Shortly ago, I have reactivated an old TR1 wreck which had been sitting for 17 years before. When pushing the start button for the first time, I heard some loud clicking only. (Which meant that the starter solenoid tried to pull the lever, but wasn't successful at first.) Therefore I gave the mechanism some push moves (back and forth with a wooden stick, e. g. the grip of a screwdriver). After some of those moves, the mechanism "woke up" and became strong and easy enough to pull the lever completely (and therefore turn the engine over correctly).

Good luck with your project - sooner or later, you will get it running...!

Cheers,

Roland

Hi everyone, thanks for the welcome!!

I have to admit, the description the seller gave me confused me too. Some of the workmanship on the bike is not great - I am a rookie myself, but it doesn't look good to me. Anyway, nothing like a challenge. I've got some photos i took a while ago here

https://imgur.com/a/7IRLPWm

I'm going to the workshop to work on it during the week - will follow your advice here about what to look for. I'll take plenty of photos for you all - would be great to get your thoughts. A while ago I was able to test out an upside down fork swap (i found all the parts on a local facebook group for a great price) to see if I like it, and maybe continue down the cafe racer path. Ended up taking off some of the controls then - the electrics were mostly disconnected anyway. This was about the time i realised i'd have to rewire the bike. I was recommended to go down the motogadget path - happy to do this but before i start that I wanted to make sure the engine was all good.

I feel like i did things out of order - thats why i found this forum!