Subject: RE: The free bike
Author: Keith Ruff
Date: Feb 23, 2005, 8:17 AM
Post ID: 1718441620
Freebies are nice for project bikes in your sparetime and if you have
spare money. You can take your time with them if they are not going to
be your only ride. I learned my lesson with the 71 Ambo "Patience" in
that even if you think your getting a good deal/steal on a "low mileage"
original bike that has been sitting around for a few years, either back
off or plan on dumping a ton of money and time into them to get them
running and looking new again. As Mark E once told me, walk away and
buy a restored one from someone who has spent all of their money and
time on them and is now taking a loss to sell it. It will save you the
time and money to get that old freebie or "steal" into a fine looking
and running machine.
Keith Ruff
70 Cafe Racer Ambo
Manahawkin, NJ
Fred Sahms wrote:
I have been riding a free bike a friend of my wife's was going to haul to the junkyard. It's a 78 KZ1000 LTD he inherited from his grandfather. It developed an oil leak and he tried to fix it. Amazingly, it didn't need tires, tubes, a chain or a battery. It also came with the very nice toolkit, keys and service manual. It did need a new (used, Ebay, $19.99) cylinder from sitting outside with the plugs out. I bought new rings, a used set of forks, fork seals and a top-end gasket set. A KZ drag-racer friend let me use his NuWay valve seat cutter to clean up the valve seats. I have about $300 in it and it runs great. Sounds just like a cop bike. I will be ditching the buck-horn handlebars and bar-mounted turnsignals because the HD guys see the signals on the bar and think it's a Sportster and wave, until they get closer. I do need to get a clip-on mullet to wear when riding it. I never turn down a freebie! At the worst I can haul it to the junkyard for trading fodder or Ebay off any good bits. Halchuk wrote:
73 Eldo 78 T3/949 |