SOLD
1969 Yamaha L5T 100cc
I have never seen one of these before and so was immediately intrigued when I first saw it, I first thought it was a version of the FS1E but on closer inspection it really is a completely different beast. This particular bike was brought in from the States and as far as I know is the only one in the UK (let me know if you know of any others). When I saw it I just had to have it and to be honest a bit of an impulse buy which luckily for me has turned out to be quite a shrewd move.
The bike is a 1969 Yamaha L5T produced from 1967 to 69. It's powered by a 100cc two stroke motor fed by a small carburetor fitted to the right had side of the crankcase (AKA FS1E). Surprisingly for a 37 year old bike it has autolube and even more surprising 12 volt electrics complete with an electric starter, can you imagine a British bike of the time with that sort of specification, eat your heart out BSA Bantam. The other peculiar thing about this bike is the gear box, it has a 3 speed down selection type (similar to the FS1E) but with a control knob on the left side of the chaincase cover for high and low ratios. The low ratio gives a top speed of around 35mph while the higher will allow a speed of around 65mph. This can be adjusted with the engine running while stationary or even on the move. The other peculiar feature is the rear carrier mounted directly behind the single seat but the bike is fitted with passenger footpegs as standard. The single seat is handy if don't want to take the girlfriend for a spin, I remember hauling my girlfriend of the time around on my fizzie (many moons ago) seriously restricting the already limited performance, maybe Yamaha should have added this feature to the fizzie. Though I have seen a photo with what looks like accessory seat bolted to the top of the rack. Overall the bike seems to be in (from what I can make out) original condition. The bike has been resprayed to a very good standard, all the chromework seems to be original and in superb condition considering the bikes 37 years, however there is a small amount of the rust stuff on the front rim but nothing serious. Similarly the alloy is bright and polished to a good standard. I think you'll have a hard time to find a better one anywhere including the States
Parts are probably going to be a bit of a problem but with Ebay USA to hand it should not be that hard to locate various components. In fact I've just ordered a factory workshop manual from Australia and I've managed to locate a parts reference CD (from the States) covering all the Yamaha models from the 60's up till the 1980's, I'll let you know how useful these are when they arrive.
I'm having a lot of difficulty in locating information about this model, even on Google there seems to be little information about the bike, if you any information, advice etc. about it please let me know by E-mailing me
Yamah L5T Trailmaster Test Report
For more photos go to the Gallery