1971 Yamaha CT1 – 175

I bought an Enduro. $380

The good:

  • It runs… kinda
  • Cosmetically… it’s pretty nice… but just rough enough.
  • The wheels are straight… kinda
  • The seat is original and really nice.
  • Inside of the tank is perfect.
  • Carb is clean.
  • Motor has 90psi compression. Probably do the Wiseco piston kit anyway since it’s like $40.

The bad:

  • No title. Looks like I’ll be doing the Vermont shit.
  • Guess how many quarts of oil were in it… Zero.
  • No wiring on the bike is connected at all, except 1 wire. It comes off the magneto, runs directly to the coil, from the coil, the spark plug wire goes to the plug. That’s it. Does anyone understand how or why that works? Seems like the magneto creates enough current to make the coil fire. There are no grounds… no other wires at all. No battery. Just that 1 wire which goes from the magneto directly hard wired into the coil. Definitely some sketchy shit, but it works. I’m going to make a custom minimal wiring harness.

I just rode it to the grocery store in the snow. Pretty darn fun.

The oil-injection pumps too much… or the engine seals are letting oil by, and the jetting is too rich with the pod filter.
So basically it runs like shit.
And the clutch slips like a mother fucker.

Still cool, and for the price… can’t go wrong.

I’ll say it again… who wants to build dirt bike jumps with me in the sketchy woods near Huntingdon and Richmond street?

ct1-snow-1
ct1-snow-2
ct1-snow-3
ct1-snow-4
ct1-snow-5

14 responses to “1971 Yamaha CT1 – 175”

  1. Ben says:

    Yo Ed-

    Bike looks good.

    Talk to Andrew- He also bought a barely running shitty dirtbike and is scratching his head trying to figure out the electrics.

  2. Adam K says:

    Ed, I saw that thing on CL and almost called on it. Glad you got it. Great price, too. I’m definitely going to pick something up before spring.

  3. Adam says:

    Oh yea, we’re building a new on/off road ‘fairmount loop’ with dirt jumps and then do once a month 2-stroke Thursday ride.

  4. colin says:

    You could run the (probably black/white)wire from the magneto through a kill switch on the handlebar to return it to stock- other than that, from what i can tell that’s more or less legit. No grounds required because there is no battery- charge goes from the magneto straight to the engine. Coil and engine(spark plug+magneto) are ‘connected’ by the frame. Send it!

  5. Carson says:

    That makes sense on the wiring, most of those old bikes had points and a very simple stator plate setup, one wire coming off the lighting coil for your lights, and one power wire coming off the starter coil for the ignition coil. I’m assuming that the mounting bracket for the ignition coil grounds itself.

    a wiring diagram for that bike shouldn’t be too hard to find. If it’s 6V points, which I’m assuming it is, you don’t really even need a voltage regulator, just hardwire you’re lights into the lighting coil lead from the stator plate so they come on when the bike starts up. batteries are optional on those bikes, but they definitely help regulate your lighting if you plan on doing any riding at night with that thing. otherwise at idle your headlight barely flickers.

  6. Steve says:

    Adam, the “Dirtsday” ride can go though the trails near the coal pier off of Richmond. I don’t know how long those will be around and accessible with the 95 on-ramp construction though.

    Man, all the street riders are gonna be so jealous when we skip the normal thurs ride for a dirt ride.

  7. adam says:

    Sounds good Steve. Come up with a route through that wasteland and you lead one this coming year.

  8. Patrick Huff says:

    Ed, Have you attempted to get a title through Vermont yet? I was just wondering how easy it is because I thought that I had heard that they were trying to crack down on it…which would be lame.

  9. Ed says:

    @pat
    Yep… I did the vt registration which was no problem and I recently transferred it into pa and applied for a pa title. So it all worked.

  10. Kyle says:

    Ed – what company did you go through to get the VT registration? Can you email me?
    Kyle – kja139@gmail.com

  11. Johnny says:

    Have the big brother to this the DT400 enduro making a bar hopper/ bobber outta it

  12. Toby Lampson (outta Cali) says:

    Dude,
    My hunch/fear is your bike, by now, may be long ago forgotten….but hopefully not.

    Dude if you study this bike, in depth, and ride it plenty you may discover what I did back in 71….. this bike came
    from a small family of AT, CT, DT, and RT Yamahas that changed motorcycling. And they didnt’ do it with hype. They did it with great engineering, and love of aesthetic’s. You have an ICON motorcycle. That 175 has remained, in my opinion the best handling motorcycle I’ve ever ridden.

    Hope your still enjoying it!

    Best,
    Toby Lampson (ex publisher Dual Sport News)

  13. marco says:

    Hi guys i bought a 1970 yamaha ct1 175 someone knows, besides ebay,where i can find parts for that.

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