What is a 1976 Yamaha 500 DOHC 8 Valve worth?

S

Scott

New member
This bike has been sitting in my garage for years under a sheet.
There is no title or paper work. I think the owner is dead by now. Have not tried to start it.
I was looking on the web and saw a lot of people collect
these bikes....but I could not find the 500 DOHC 8 Valve online.
Is it the right year?
Is it a rare bike?
How much is it worth now and
how much would it be worth if I
had it all redone.

Thanks in Advance
 
Your bike could be either a TX500 or an XS500, though both were essentially identical.

This bike was never a popular model even when it was new. Early ones suffered from poor reliability. As I recall, they had problems with, amongst other things, weak/porous cylinder heads that were prone to cracking between the valve seats, perhaps not surprising as this was one of Yamaha's first 4-strokes and the first modern bike to use 4-valves per cylinder. You may want to check the condition of the heads on your bike...

As for worth, KBB says one in excellent condition is worth about $700.00, so in this case rarity does not equate to value...
http://www.kbb.com/motorcycle/retail/1976/yamaha/xs500/81737

Getting it redone is certainly not a financially sound thing to do... but it could still be an interesting project if you like that sort of thing (I do).
 
As others have said, the early ones had problems with cracking heads. They ALL had lubrication problems if ridden hard: The "Omni-phase Balancer" (an early attempt at counterbalance shafts) had a tendency to froth the motor oil, leading oil starvation at critical bearings. They also had a tendency to go out of tune very quickly, but ran nicely while a good state of tune lasted. The bottom line: Worth less than $1,000 even in better than average condition.
 
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