YL1-E

HEY GUYS....has anyone ever heard of the Yamaha 100 YL1-E. I just picked one up yesterday....talking about cool....does anyone know about these bikes...

 

1967-68

YL1E

THE ... Yamaha "Twin-Jet" 100.
I was riding one of them babies to High School.

Square-lookin' heads on a nice, zippy-looking frame.
Most were Red.
Two-stroker, with the "NEW" Auto-lube system.

Introduced by Yamaha to Compete with the Honda Super-90's.
The Super-90 was the Honda-90 Packaged in a Sport Bike look.

The Ying-ying-yinging Yam had the Honda 4-Stroker beat.
Actually, killed a good many of them.

Many a Honda-90 Connecting Rod got thrown when the Owner tried to get to the next light ahead of the "Fuel-Injected" (Oil) Yam 100 2-Stroke twin.

 

Rick...tell me what are these lil bikes worth now....and where do you think you can find parts for them

 

Wow ...

I have NO Idea. I did see ONE at Last Summer's Bike Show ... I don't know if it ran ... but, the guy swore it did.

I think, it being a 2-Stroker, that you might be able to find parts for it in Boneyards.
Most Oil-burners are off the road. I don't think there's much you can't fix.

The Heads come off in a half-hour and the Reed Valves might very-well be the same ones that Yamaha uses in the Off-Road little-bikes.
I doubt you'll have a hard time finding Reed Valves and Rings.

What else would you be looking for.

 

Well I need a headlight bulb, the voltage regulator is tired, so my battery keeps on die'n on me, and SHOCKS...HOLY H*** I need some shocks bad

***Edited by Robert, kindly watch the language please. Thanks.***

 

I've got a '66 YL-1 (not the E-electric start). Cherry red (now faded to a strange orangish..) lots of chrome...twin carbs and pipes... sweet scoot! Nice and simple. Not too many paralell twin smokers out there!

Check ebay regularly you'd be suprised how much is there. I've practically rebuilt mine for $100 in ebay parts.

Yamaha sent me a copy of the owners/sevice manual for free when I first got it.

 

Man they were a fun little bike. I think it had a top speed of about 65mph. It's been years since I've seen one.

 

There was something about the exhaust note that set it apart from some of the other 2-Strokers that were on the street when the 100 appeared.

That Auto-lube system made it fun to go places on, too. You didn't have to "Run-home" for fuel, which made it easy to gas-up when you needed too.

I was 16-Years old and qualified for a Solo-permit in NY which allowed you to ride it to school and study-related activities without a Guardian following you in a car.

So ... you just rode-around with some school books permanently lashed to the seat and you were off to the races!