8th Mar 2010, 18:09
Yeah, I bought one not that long ago from a neglectful owner, but I cannot kill this bike, no matter what I do to it. Great little bike.
22nd Nov 2010, 19:00
The XL75 was my first bike as well! Grandpa bought it for me when I was in 4th grade! WIDE open at FULL speed was about the only way to go on that bike! Nothing ever broke on mine either! DID bend back or break off all of the blinkers on that thing though from either layin it over and stuff like that! They weren't flexible blinger mounts, they were mounted RIGID so wouldn't take much abuse before bending and then breaking off... ;)
Graduated to a Yamahopper 100 Enduro after this XL75, and then a 78 GL1000 Goldwing, as well as a Kawasaki KDX 450!
Goldwing DID have an ignition issue from time to time, where when the ignition got hot, it would only run on one out of the 4 cylinders! Never fixed that issue...
Loved that XL75 though! Very good gas mileage as well, but never measured it, back then, gas was WAY under $1/gallon, so could trade in a few glass bottles and get the deposit back from them in order to fill the thing all the way to the top! Ha...
Great posts! Oh, the memories!...
Todd...
2nd Oct 2013, 23:41
Yep, I have a 1979 XL75 that I'm gonna sell. It's got 1,380 miles on it and in great shape. Everything works, missing nothing. Have the title and plated it a few years back. Tons of fun.
25th Apr 2017, 07:35
I had one of these from 1977 until 1981. I wish I never let it go. It was flawless, I could get along the highway (yes, full throttle almost all the time) at a scratch under 80 kph (48 mph). I used to do a regular 185 kilometre (115 mile) trip non stop. With two of us on it (approx 60 kg each) on a hard sand beach, I once got 78kph in one direction and 76 in the other direction. The best I could determine was that the speedo was so accurate there would not be more than a km inaccuracy.
Bought it brand new in December 1977 and sold it in July 1981 with 19000 km on the clock. Yep 3 zeros there. It was in perfect running order, not smoking or consuming oil. I bought a new CB400N. When I look back at how little I sold it for, I wonder why I never kept it. The only things I ever bought for it were fluids, ignition points, spark plugs and tyres. I wish they (motorcycles), were like that today.
8th Oct 2017, 03:10
I had one of these from 1977 until 1981. I wish I never let it go. It was flawless, I could get along the highway (yes, full throttle almost all the time) at a scratch under 80 kph (48 mph). I used to do a regular 185 kilometre (115 mile) trip non stop. With two of us on it (approx 60 kg each) on a hard sand beach, I once got 78kph in one direction and 76 in the other direction. The best I could determine was that the speedo was so accurate there would not be more than a km inaccuracy.
Bought it brand new in December 1977 and sold it in July 1981 with 19000 km on the clock. Yep 3 zeros there. It was in perfect running order, not smoking or consuming oil. I bought a new CB400N. When I look back at how little I sold it for, I wonder why I never kept it. The only things I ever bought for it was fluids, ignition points, spark plugs and tyres. I wish they (motorcycles), were like that today.
13th Aug 2018, 02:06
I had one of these from 1977 until 1981. I wish I never let it go. It was flawless, I could get along the highway (yes, full throttle almost all the time) at a scratch under 80 kph (48 mph). I used to do a regular 185 kilometre (115 mile) trip non stop. With two of us on it (approx 60 kg each) on a hard sand beach, I once got 78kph in one direction and 76 in the other direction. The best I could determine was that the speedo was so accurate there would not be more than a km inaccuracy. Bought it brand new in December 1977 and sold it in July 1981 with 19000 km on the clock. Yep 3 zeros there. It was in perfect running order, not smoking or consuming oil. I bought a new CB400N. When I look back at how little I sold it for, I wonder why I never kept it. The only things I ever bought for it were fluids, ignition points, spark plugs and tyres. I wish they (motorcycles) were like that today.
26th Aug 2019, 22:28
I got mine in 4th grade and had it till 8th on Long Island. I could go anywhere on the trails 50 miles away and not have to worry about riding in the dark... that's the only time I used a lot of paved roads, because there was so much going on in my little town: the Tesla Tower, nuclear plant, a NIKE site with 31 nuke warheads, RCA building, BNL. I'm the town's real historian for the fact I've been all these places and all the trails... and the other historians go by books and pictures... I'm like hell I was there... that was a big deal in 4th grade. Most kids weren't allowed to cross the main road and go to the stores LOL. I wish I could post the picture from 1980; it was brand new and my dad had fat knobblies put on it for me...
20th Feb 2010, 16:01
I also had a 75. What a great little bike. I wish I still had it. I moved on up to Harleys now, but I'll never forget how proud I was when we brought that 75 home as a kid.