Living room artwork: 1981 Yamaha TZ500H

For Sale: 1981 Yamaha TZ500H

You are reading RSBFS today because you like to ride. But how many of you have actually parked a bike indoors for the sole purpose of artwork? I must say I have done so in the past because having a beloved bike out in the adjoining garage was just too far away – but eventually gave up when it became too big a pain when I wanted to go riding. This bike, however, makes no excuses. Airplane afficianados have their “hangar queens,” and this is the motorcycle equivalent – a living room queen.

Cheaper than a Picaso or Van Gogh, I would say that this beautiful TZ500H makes the room. But look at me talking about this as a static piece of artwork. This is also a mighty 500cc race bike, one of the last of the customer “privateer” bikes offered by the manufacturers, and as such represents the pinnacle of racing machinery for it’s day. You can forgive me for thinking of these as mere furniture, however, as we see the last TZ500 posted on RSFBS suffered the same interior designer fate.

From the seller:
Might be the only New 1981 TZ500H in the world.
This bike was a sister bike that was never used. Some of the parts kit were used and most all were returned. I can only see that the jet kit is not there. To the best of my knowlage the parts kit is 98% there. I do have e-mails about the origine of the bike. I inspected the bike and removed #1 head and looked to see if everything had been drained before it left Japan (nice and dry). The hydralics were not so lucky and everything had to be r-built. The system is filled and and should be changed each year now.

All the original copper safety wire is there. The carbs had the blue fuel seal plugs when I got the bike. I have purchassed the 2 aloy fuel T`s and installed the fuel lines. The bike has never been started after it left Japan. The parts kit is very extinsive and I will not sell them without the bike. The bikes did not come with a fairing, but I have the fairing and windscreen..All the paint work has been done. Bike comes with factory stand, Manual and parts list.

Sold with Bill of Sale only.

I would love to see & hear this bike being ridden in anger. From the sounds of the text, this has not been run, and may not even be in fully riding order; some sorting will likely be needed if your intention is to ride. Still, that is not a bad proposition for a bike that looks as clean as this one, or one that has as many spares. It might be sacriledge, but I think this offering could be improved upon with some two stroke oil schmutz – for while I love a clean bike, I prefer a ridden one. That being said, the seller has an impressive collection and they all appear to be house trained!

This bike is having a second go around at auction. The first one ended with a high bid of $25k with the reserve not being met. This time around the bike has a starting bid of $30k with no takers as of yet. If you are looking for that next great acquisition and cannot decide between the classic oil painting or the modern sculpture, take a look at this one – it is both! Click here to jump over to the auction. Good luck!

MI