Faults:

Coil gone, running in the engine oil, rewound (not the often suspected CDI).

Transmission gearing, tear and wear over mileage.

Some wiring issues, age-related.

General Comments:

This comment is actually about two of these nice horses:

First I got a 1999 with a stalled odometer, which I had until winter 2019. It had supposedly about 100k km when the transmission was worn beyond reasonable rebuild, second piston. The second was a stroke of luck, got it with 19k km (vintage 1984!) in June 2020.

I tried Kawa Z6, Honda seven-forty, Suzuki SV 650, Suzuki DR 650 in between, all well built and going beasts in their own right.

But. The XT550 is so close to downhill skiing, so light steerable, has virtually no weight (140 kg fueled) and is such an un-heavy pleasure, yet surprisingly quick (5,8sec 0-100), I simply don't need anything else. Rovering on wheels, that is. I like the looks, too.

As for the exhaust: I do have the original Yamaha silencer now and it's really quiet at motorway speeds, unlike the aftermarket BSM and stuff. I also suspect that this one preserves the gearing, since it doesn't push the least 10% of torque.

Acerbis fuel tank is recommended (20 litres instead of 10), though the mileage is reasonable.

I suspect this is my final motorbiking (courtesy of Chris Spedding..)