I Bought a new 40 year old Yamaha, Will it make it home?

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Its a Yamaha....it could be 410 years old and make it home

This video was absolutely hysterical, the love-hate relationship with your woodworker friend is pure gold

The reason old brake fluid does that is because DOT 3 and DOT 4 is hydroscopic. This means it absorbs water, so as the brake fluid sat over the past 40 years it continued to absorb moisture. That moisture then caused rust and corrosion inside of your entire brake system, causing seals to fail and not allowing the brake fluid to flow through the passages inside the master brake cylinder like it should. There is a brake fluid called DOT 5 that is silicone based and actually repels water, but that was only used in some older Harleys. Its main use is in military vehicles that will be sitting for long periods of time, so the brake fluid was designed to last longer inside of those systems. DOT 5 has boiling issues that DOT 4 does not have, so this is why we continue to use DOT 4. Also there is a brake fluid called DOT 5.1, and annoyingly it is hydroscopic like DOT 3 and DOT 4, so it should really be called something like DOT 4.1 to set it apart from the silicone based DOT 5. They will most likely need to replace the seals in the brake caliper and possibly the piston depending on the corrosion in the piston. They will also need to replace all the seals inside the master brake cylinder and flush the entire system. You can prevent all these issues by getting your hydraulic brake system regularly flushed, and it is a good thing to look for when you go to buy older motorcycles. This is also the common cause of why brake systems will stick, and not relieve pressure. My apologies for the paragraph.

Thoroughly enjoyed both segments. I bought my 1981 SR in 1981 and have 140,000 miles on it, including a couple of trips to Inuvik (above the Arctic Circle) shortly after the dirt Dempster Highway opened. I rode it to a silver medal finish in the 11-day, 2001 Iron Butt Rally. On a border-to-border group ride in 2004, I rode it 1,610 miles in 24 hours. Can't begin to tell you all the adventures I had on this bike. Wish I could have offered a couple of suggestions before you left on your trip. Oh, I still have the bike. It runs well but I have retired it from long-distance adventure duties. Jim Winterer, St. Paul, Minnesota.

The reason for continuing of the 400cc probably has to do with Japanese motorcycle license categories. there are 3 categories of motorcycle licenses (4 if you include little 50cc scooters), which is "small bikes" that allows up to 125cc, "medium" thats up to 400cc, and "large" for anything above. and the "medium" license is the most popular/common one that people get (this also has to do with what age you can get the license...) thus Japanese market has lots of bikes that are 400cc to cater to that market.

For everyone wondering. At 20:02 that is the alleghany moutain tunnel. Its amazing to drive through. The workers who made it drilled and blasted over more than one mile of granite through a mountain to make it.

A tip for kickstarting these big single 500's ~ 1.Turn the engine over using the kick-start until you hit compression 2. Pull in the decompression lever and push the kick-start down half of it's travel 3. Bring the lever back to the top and give it one big smooth kick all the way down until it hits the foot peg. 4. Thank me later😂 (Alternatively you can just cycle the kick-start with the decompression lever pulled in until a silver tab appears in the sight glass on the cylinder head and then give it a full kick from the top of the kick-start lever travel until it hits the footpeg)

I love when you buy these brand new decade old motorcycles, Keep it up!👊

Sean, this is easily one of my favorites. I love the erly 80's Yamahas. My dad had an 81 Virago. I remember being at the dealership with him, looking at all the cool bikes of the era. I loved the twin specials and these SR's. I remember the simplicity and style these things oozed. No, they weren't perfect, but they didn't pretend to be. That era was a tough time between me and my dad. We argued over lots of things, but the motorcycles were a common ground, a place where the differences melted away and the wind brought us together. Your verse of the day also could not have been more timely. As the Spirit does so often, the right words come at the proper time. Thanks, thank you for the smiles, the good memories and the uplifting video. Ride on

John Malecki must be a very good friend putting up with your shenanigans. Then again, shenanigans are what friends do.

That intro was worth a “like” on its own.

5:55 I live in Japan. I see SR400's everywhere. 400cc is the cutoff point before you need a special "big bike" license, so that's the size that's most popular.

The SR500 was discontinued in the 80’s but the SR400 continued to be produced in Japan under their 400cc tax rules. That’s why the 400 came back to the US and not the 500.

That was a great road trip. I once had a 1981 Kawasaki 440LTD which was also buzzy at highway speeds. Must be small Japanese bike thing!

My first and current motorcycle is a 2018 Yamaha SR400. I love it. Perfect for throwing around traffic. Gets over 60 mpg and will do highway speeds.

Was out at B&B Cycles on Saturday and had to stop out at the old showroom. In the market again.

Okay... 1. The only thing listened to on a bike in the 80's earth WIND & fire 2. I believe the vibration was a built in safety factor to prevent fatigue 3. What rider doesn't love a tunnel! 3.5 Bikes and Beards is awesome sauce!

Loved how Yamaha made the sr400, nice to see them embracing the beauty of their old bikes

Rode my first bike, a 1971 Honda CL450 Scrambler with a 2.4 gallon tank from Sioux Falls, SD to CA to Texas to SD shortly after riding the bike from SC to SD all in 1975. No windshield, $6.00 rain suit, $150 in my pocket and camping all the way. I changed sprockets so vibration was minimized—cruised at 70mph.