Impression: Yamaha HL 500

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Impression: Yamaha HL 500

Time Machine

MOTORRAD editor Gert Thole, 46, dared a journey into his own past: almost 25 years after his racing debut, he contested an oldie race with his first crosser, a Yamaha HL 500.

Sometime in the summer, on a Sunday morning at six o’clock on the empty freeway towards Bremen. The staccato of the sun’s rays penetrating the trees on the roadside pounds on my face as if the intensity of the moment wanted to burn into my brain. I’m on my way to the race with my Yamaha HL 500, the four-stroke crosser with the XT engine, on the back of the loading area. The tension, the adrenaline, the dull feeling in the stomach area – this mixture is never as compressed as it is when you arrive. Funny, 150 km / h, the look at the speedometer brings me back to the present. I’m not in my rickety box R 4 in 1978, but in the MOTORRAD transporter in 2002. Otherwise everything is as it was back then, the illusion almost perfect. Okay, the hairstyle is much more civil, and there weren’t any wrinkles and bruises back then either.
So let’s talk about age, because this story is about old motorcycles and – more or less – old men. In 1977, a damn long time ago, I gained my first off-road experience with an XT 500. The HL 500 followed a year later, Yamaha’s last attempt for the time being to revive the four-stroke in cross-sport. The letters stand for Hallman and Lundin, both former cross-country champions. At the presentation of the XT at the end of 1975, Hallman, then a Swedish Yamaha importer, had the idea of ​​using the engine in the Cross, where the two-stroke engines had long since taken the helm. The engine was initially temporarily transplanted into a Husqvarna chassis. In 1977 Bengt Aberg drove the further developed machine in the world championship and even won a race in Luxembourg. With a lot of persuasion it was possible to wrest a small series from the Japanese. Around 100 machines were built in Europe in 1978, and in 1979 there was again as many of a modified model.
Recently, in the year before last, I happened to get my hands on an issue of the Australian magazine Vintage MX with the legendary HL 500 on the cover. Immediately I am fascinated by the delicate aesthetics and angular mechanics. I think of all that junk back home in the attic. As luck would have it, suddenly I hear about a 1979 HL somewhere in Saarland. Infinitely expensive, but it doesn’t matter. A little later the part is in my garage, pretty original, but in dire need of restoration.
Months later, finally, the first kick. Puff. Ouch, I’m hopping around the machine on one leg that just hit back so badly. No motorcycle was as sneaky as the 1979 HL with its electronic two-stroke ignition and far too little ignition advance. Then the first attempt to drive a week before the race, three or four laps on an old, bombed-out cross-country piste with a fat foot. I am horrified. Compared to my current YZ 250 F, the HL is a complete disaster. The chassis, the brakes, the handling, the engine, all light years away from today‘s machines.
And then the race in Hoope Park near Bremen. I am seriously concerned about a handful of Dutchmen on 490 Maicos from 1981/82, with two struts, air cooling and drum brakes, of course also eligible to compete in the Twinshock class. Back then, the two-stroke rockets had easily over 50 hp, while my HL with a worn out series XT engine only had 30 hp. But in the first training session, my Yamaha behaved very well on the excellently groomed slopes. After a few laps I can jump all the tables and even manage the uphill double jump. If only the engine had more pressure. And the handling would be better, the stubborn oldie just doesn’t want to go into the curve.
It was clear to me that the starting straight belongs to the two-stroke engines on the first run. I turn into the first corner as a passable fourth. Only one of the Dutch Maicos offers serious resistance, with a brutal driving style I can stay on the rear wheel halfway. But on the long start straight alone, I lose dozens of meters. I squeeze out the HL like a lemon, the engine rings alarmingly. Only a few rough laps will bring the necessary cushion. Incredible, a victory with HL. At this moment 25 years dissolve into nothing.
W.hat should go wrong in run two? Especially since the start is now even better. I can pass the Dutch Maico on the first uphill jump. What a triumph to jump over opponents with the iron heap. But arrogance takes revenge. I’m losing my line, my forearms cramp. The whole lead is gone. I hear the poisonous barking of the two-stroke engine directly behind me, I know exactly what is in store for me on the next straight. The dirt is already pounding on me. Only in the last few laps do I find my rhythm again, too late. All lost, the race win, the day win, and that against Holland of all places. But wait: My secret weapon is still somewhere in the attic, a 600 engine with the finest tuning parts and at least 40 hp each ?? it must be enough.

Technical data – Yamaha HL 500

Air-cooled single-cylinder four-stroke engine, 499 cm3, bore x stroke 87 x 84mm, compression ratio 9: 1, one overhead, chain-driven camshaft, two valves, contact-controlled magneto ignition (1979: electronic CDI ignition system), Mikuni round slide carburetor o 38 mm, dry sump lubrication, five-speed Gearbox, Kayaba telescopic fork o 38 mm, Ohlins stereo spring struts, front / rear travel 270/260 mm, single-tube steel frame, aluminum box swing arm, drum brakes front o 130 mm, rear o 150 mm, front tires 3.00-21, rear 4.50-18, steering head angle 60.5 degrees, wheelbase 1385 mm, weight 118 kg, price 1979: 6,995 marks

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