My Virago Adventure

[PaulG]

Well it's not my Virago, it's my buddy Chris's .  Actually it's not even his either.  It's a loaner from a mechanic bud who is fixing his 750 Midnight Maxim.  He's been riding it for about a week now.  It's an '87 with about 40,000 km on it, and in near pristine condition.  As of yesterday he wanted to sell his two (the 750 Maxim, and a 550 Maxim) and buy this one.  Today..... maybe not so much.   







I get a call at home about 330pm from him at work.  He went in to cover someone for 4hrs.  On his way there the bike up and died about 2km from work.  He managed to park it in some guys front lawn, and another guy from work picked him up.  So I pack up some tools and drove to work (I'm on a weeks holiday), to take him to the bike to see if we can get it going.   

So we get to the bike and he realizes "WTF I left all my gear and keys at work!" So we return to work and he says, "Hey! What's in your back seat?" I strain my neck and see a helmet and jacket. WTF?! (Again... there will be a lot of these ahead). He didn't even remember bringing them out and I hadn't even noticed either way. So we turn around and head back to the bike.  Then I realize I forgot to bring the jerry can in case we needed to drain the tank. So we turn around again and head back to work so he can get the nearest substitute.  While waiting in the parking lot I realize something.  WTF!? My T-shirt is on backwards.  Oh yes, it's going to one of those days...   

We are finally at the bike.  I have no experience with Viragos but I surmised the most likely culprit was fuel delivery.  The owner had just done a service and replaced the fork seals.  Now the Virago is a queer beast.  The main gas tank drains to a reserve tank on the left side of the seat, then is delivered via fuel pump (on the right side) to the carbs. The fuel filter lies just behind the rear cylinder dangling in mid-air. 

My first instinct was to disconnect the fuel pump outlet and let it cycle on/off to make sure it's working.  The inlet line has a spring clamp, but the outlet line has this bizarre miniature T-bolt type of clamp.  Bizarre because the screw holding it together is this teeny-tiny thing about the size of the FJ choke knob set screw.  I actually had screwdrivers that would fit it, but it wouldn't budge.  So next step was to remove the fuel filter to see if we could bypass it and confirm if it was/was not the cause.

The owner of the house was watching and talking to us in the meantime.  He was a great guy to allow us to use his driveway, gave us some water, and actually scrounged to find two old inline filters.  One was incompatible, but the other one (from an '85 Ski Doo) had the exact size barbs. Upon removing the OEM filter we saw this...   







Case Closed!  I'm guessing the reserve tank has a lot of crud in it from being old and hardly used, and too many winters stored empty.  He wrapped it up to show his buddy mechanic.  We fiddled with the replacement filter for a few minutes and voila! The bike fires up immediately. Ha! Take that! Thanking our host profusely, we head our separate ways. I head south for the 30km trip home in rush hour, and Chris headed north for the 50km trip home.  Well I get about 5km and he calls me. The bike died again a few clicks north on the 404.  By this time it's after 630pm and I have to txt the wife that she's taking the bus home from work. So back north I go.   

It takes me about 20 min to go the <20km north due to rush hour traffic.  I finally find him on the side of the road having a smoke with a tow truck driver. "WTF" he says, "I left it on reserve and it sucked the shit from the bottom of the tank!"  Oh great.  So off comes the filter again, and there's a clear indication of sludge in the filter.  We back spray brake cleaner through it to flush most of it out, and voila! It starts up again.  So the decision is made to follow him home...   

... for the next few km until the bike dies again, luckily near an off ramp so we have plenty of room.  We ponder whether to fuckit and go to his place and get his truck and landscape trailer. Never! Once more into the breach!  Off comes the filter again.  This time we keep spraying and tapping until the last vestige of gunk is gone.  It's well past dark by this time, and we are using the "flashlight" from the single LED from my phone.   

After hooking up the filter again I notice a slight drip from the inlet hose - which is not rubber but a replacement clear poly hose. I thought the hose may have cracked as they will get brittle over time after exposure to gasoline.  We found a hairline crack at the base of the inlet barb. All that tapping on the pavement was too much for the 30 yr old Ski Doo filter.  "Don't worry" I says, "If you see me flash the high beams, that means your on fire."   

We finally make it to his house by 830pm.  His wife fixes me a sandwich as I haven't eaten since 11am. I was supposed to spend the afternoon getting my shit together as I was leaving tomorrow (Thurs) for the Eastern Ontario Camp'n'Ride.  Well I really don't have a lot of shit to bring, so no loss. It will only take me about an hour to get going.  So we say our goodbyes, and I slide the abacus to the left (as good friends do) and arrive home by 930pm.   

I know these bikes are mechanically bullet proof, so it was a shame a simple oversight like that put a damper on his experience with it, as he was really liking it versus the Maxim.

[gumby302ho]

 A memory you both will never forget, its a pain in the ass at the time but years later you will think back and have a good laugh. The only tale I have to tell about a virago was a guy I used to work with had a small one like a 500cc 89 model give or take, this crazy bugger took it down to California and back for a holiday, at one stop he filled his tank with diesel fuel and found himself dead on the side of the road, he was lucky to have someone help him out with a tank flush etc to get the bike going again, he said he would never do that trip ever again on a virago. I have never took one for a ride but I have heard they are very uncomfortable machines.

[mr blackstock]

I reckon that pic is a great example of how effective an inline fuel filter can be.  I realise many riders are happy to rely on petcock filters, but over time these filters can fail.
I have always used inline filters, and considering the dusty conditions I have often ridden in, I have always been surprised about how clean my carb bowls have been.  And while many riders state the contrary, gravity fed carbs survive quite well with an inline filter, and looking at this pic is great evidence of the stuff they stop getting into the carbs despite the petcock filters in most bike tanks.

cheers, Gareth

[rlucas]

Prior to finding my FJ, I had a 1982 750 Virago. Not bad for a chopperish UJM, and I was attracted by the V-twin and shaft drive. (I had briefly lusted after the "sportier" 920 with the enclosed chain, but they were hard to find.) It never really ran right, and the early '80s models had starter issues - the gear on the starter shaft would round off and it was a 50\50 crapshoot whether the starter would engage or just go rrriiiiiiiiiiiiiiiipppppp when you hit the button. Didn't love it, didn't hate it. I did meet some fun people in the Chicago Area Riders club who were Virago fanatics and rode some fine lightly-modified examples of newer versions of the Virago\Intruder.

[PaulG]

..... and the early '80s models had starter issues - the gear on the starter shaft would round off and it was a 50\50 crapshoot whether the starter would engage or just go rrriiiiiiiiiiiiiiiipppppp when you hit the button.

Well I did tell him that it wasn't normal to sound like a broken can opener when he pushed the button....  so his buddy mechanic will have some work to do.

[Steve_in_Florida]

I rented a Virago 535 to complete my original MSF course at Sembach Air Base, Germany.

Took it out riding after the course, and managed to flatten the rear tire, just outside  a village where a buddy lived. He gave me a can of Fix-a-flat, and I was back on my way.

Small bike. Fun as a first ride.

Fix-a-flat sucks. Messy.

Steve

[Burns]

Prior to finding my FJ, I had a 1982 750 Virago. Not bad for a chopperish UJM, and I was attracted by the V-twin and shaft drive. (I had briefly lusted after the "sportier" 920 with the enclosed chain, but they were hard to find.) It never really ran right, and the early '80s models had starter issues - the gear on the starter shaft would round off and it was a 50\50 crapshoot whether the starter would engage or just go rrriiiiiiiiiiiiiiiipppppp when you hit the button. Didn't love it, didn't hate it. I did meet some fun people in the Chicago Area Riders club who were Virago fanatics and rode some fine lightly-modified examples of newer versions of the Virago\Intruder.

I worked selling Yamahas when the viragos hit the sales floor. The enclosed chain drive 920 did not sell at all and - as I recall- they were all crated up and sent to Europe; so I'll bet they are VERY rare indeed in the States today.  For me these are hard to love but easy to respect. Butt-ugly mostly but unbreakable.

BTW "UJM" they ain't.  The K model 750 Honda launched that genre, whose central feature is the  transverse mounted air-cooled in-line 4.