Just to put things in perspective (Opinion) | GTAMotorcycle.com

Just to put things in perspective (Opinion)

TK4

TK4

Well-known member
I started riding in 1968, when finding a used motorcycle more than say 10 years old that was worth buying and didn't need a ton of work was rare and unusual to say the the least. We had no choice but to learn how to do our own repairs. Work on it for an hour, ride for an hour.
Now here we are a few (ahem) decades later, and people are buying up P.O.S. that are often 40 to 50+ years old and expecting them to run flawlessly and reliably with nothing more than basic maintenance. AND at the same time paying ridiculous amounts of money for them AND taking it personally when a shop refuses to work on it because its going to cost too much or there are no parts .
What's wrong with this picture ? Unrealistic expectations because the Japanese manufacturers (and H-D) did too good a job of building the stuff in the first place, and the sales boom through the 70s, 80s and 90s has this stuff still lingering around peoples' garages and garden sheds instead of being in landfill.
I'm not suggesting that you don't take on a fun project, goodness knows I've had a few over the years, but don't count on them to be your main source of summer transportation. I've seen too many people get caught up in the romance of it all, where maybe if they'd set their sights a little more realistically they'd be having more fun. And learn to do your own work and source your own parts.
End of rant...
 
Robbo said:
Who ****** in your corn flakes this morning?
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I'm just tired of having to explain to people I meet why buying an old P.O.S. is a frustrating waste, as opposed to maybe finding something much newer and riding (instead of wrenching) is a good idea.
If I handed you the keys to a 1976 Chev Impala would you plan on making it your daily driver ? I doubt it.
Your results and opinions, of course, may differ.
 
There is enough retro bikes out there with abs, fi, cruise control keyless start, etc that having an old machine almost isn’t needed.

Now I have a 73 CB500 four and likely picking up a Buell tuber in a week or two but, I’m a fair weather rider and don’t mind the grease under my finger nails.

That said, I’d prefer a ride to wrench ratio of 10 to 1. Like a Sunday morning maintenance routine that achieves 5000 Kms of trouble free riding before the next Sunday maintenance job. And sure the unplanned little thing comes up from time to time.

But, indeed I hear you. Years of bragging how those machines are so reliable and need nothing have the uninformed with illusions of the same ownership experiences.

And then all the rubber bits need replaced because of age or requires a new clutch or bottom/top end refresh because those gaskets just ran out of life.

Dealers don’t stock 40/50 y/o parts and the techs want nothing to do with engine rebuilds or carb sync.


There are still a few of us that enjoy the reward of working on our machines and getting the privilege to ride them.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
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Robbo said:
Who ****** in your corn flakes this morning?
Click to expand...
Your avatar appears to be a 1973/74 Honda CB350F ? Is it a regular runner or a coffee table ?
I had one back in the day - the CB350 twin would wax it, then the CB400F came along at the same time as the Yamaha RD400.
Guess which one I picked... :unsure:
 
nakkers said:
There is enough retro bikes out there with abs, fi, cruise control keyless start, etc that having an old machine almost isn’t needed.

Now I have a 73 CB500 four and likely picking up a Buell tuber in a week or two but, I’m a fair weather rider and don’t mind the grease under my finger nails.

That said, I’d prefer a ride to wrench ratio of 10 to 1. Like a Sunday morning maintenance routine that achieves 5000 Kms of trouble free riding before the next Sunday maintenance job. And sure the unplanned little thing comes up from time to time.

But, indeed I hear you. Years of bragging how those machines are so reliable and need nothing have the uninformed with illusions of the same ownership experiences.

And then all the rubber bits need replaced because of age or requires a new clutch or bottom/top end refresh because those gaskets just ran out of life.

The most dealers don’t stock 40/50 y/o parts and the techs want nothing to do with engine rebuilds or carb sync.


There are still a few of us that enjoy the reward of working on our machines and getting the privilege to ride them.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

People that like restoring old stuff should live next to insane asylums to minimize moving costs.

If they think they can make money on it as a hobby they're on the wrong side of the fence.

The nice thing about the old stuff is that a mechanically adept person can keep the things going for ages. You can follow wires from the switch to the device and see what's failed. It seems on the new stuff everything leads to a chip and requires a computer program to resolve.

Kudos to the ones that keep the good old days alive.

The Japanese invasion of the 1960's gave us reliable reasonably priced bikes and destroyed the English companies. BMW motored on and Harley marketed on.

The problem with motorcycles and fiberglass boats is that unlike a 30 year old Caravan they would look good with a bit of rubbing compound. The Caravan is, and looks like, a lump of rust waiting to be ground into rubbing compound. Add Corvettes to the list. Only the bodies are fiberglass. The rest rusts and the rust doesn't rest.

Restoration isn't for the poor, the reason most large shops don't work on old stuff. It's far easier to to just say no than spend an hour explaining to someone that the old bike they got from their uncle isn't a practical repair candidate, a variation of "If you have to ask the question you wouldn't understand the answer."

I've been in the repair business most of my life and would be rich if I had a dollar for every time I heard "But maybe" from a customer hoping for a cheap fix.

If I was a motorcycle mechanic I would have no problem working on old bikes with the following understandings.

1) I get a $1000 retainer up front to look at it and give a point of view. You may get change back.

2) You don't get a quote because that missing housing or part may take hours or days to locate in New Zealand and you pay for search time. Part of my very high hourly rate is for the knowledge I have gathered over the years so I don't waste time chasing wild geese. There is no price list for rare parts. Be prepared to write a big cheque.

3) Storage will be charged for time you need to think about stuff.

4) You are expected to open an account and have a cash balance in it. Once the balance drops to the cost of shipping your disassembled bike to your location expect the doorbell to ring.

IMO the reason so many people opt for cafe racers is that it costs too much to do them up right
 
TK4 said:
If I handed you the keys to a 1976 Chev Impala would you plan on making it your daily driver ? I doubt it.
Click to expand...
Well actually, my daily driver is an '84 Olds Cutlass, pretty much the same car as a '76 Impala from the "B" post forward, and my daily ride is a '89 Honda RC31.
Neither has ever left me stranded (The Honda tried once, but it was entirely my fault). In their current state; I put gas in them and drive. No special intensive maintenance regimes (I do try to keep an oil filter in the trunk of the car. Who knew PH30 filters were rare?) (They're not.... just nobody stocks them anymore. I try to buy them by the case, CUZ THEY'RE CHEAPER, about $4) (I had the car in the shop to get tires, so why not get an oil change. The shop didn't have a PH30 filter, their supplier didn't have a PH30 filter. I had to go to crappy tire to get a PH30 filter. Then the shop didn't have any 10/30 oil....)

You wanna know the secret?
I have been in charge of maintenance of the Olds since 1998 and the Honda got rebuilt from the top down before I started riding it.
I am currently working on a '79 RD400 and a '70 Norton Commando (a Combat Commando EVEN!) that will be just as dependable. Both bikes have been torn down to ZERO and EVERY part has been inspected and rebuilt, renewed or replaced. EVERY PART.
Older cars and bikes are sorta my THING. I have a fleet of bikes, mostly twins from the '60s, '70s and early '80s and I'll tell you most bikes from the early '70s forward can be made reliable, IF you want to spend the time and money to get it there.
VERY few people want to spend the time or money, but from what I see; very few people put in the time and money doing maintenance on their newer bikes and cars either. You can get away with it for a while, but the maintenance clock will eventually catch up... and that maintenance clock doesn't stop when you park the bike.

It makes me sad when I hear about someone "finds" a cool bike in a barn or a shed, drags the thing out into the sun for the first time in 30 years and TRIES TO START IT!

... the other way of looking at this:All these tards are wrecking all the CB350s out there by chopping them up, intending to make the ultimate "Cafe Racer" (whatever that's supposed to be. "Cafes" were euro bikes, the Hondas were the death of "cafes") and 99.97% of these will end up at the back of the garage, unfinished... or if they DO get finished they won't get out much because from I've seen they're mostly death traps.... and the end result is there is VERY few stock CB350s left.
If you have a stock CB350, hang onto it. It'll be worth a fortune

AND DON'T GET ME STARTED ON VINTAGE MOTORCYCLE RACING....
 
Parts for a Norton or bevel Ducati or a unit Triumph are easier, and CHEAPER, to get than parts for my '89 Honda
You just have to know who to talk to.
Suzuki relisted thousands of dis-continued parts, mostly for the early GS's, a couple of years ago
 
TK4 said:
Your avatar appears to be a 1973/74 Honda CB350F ? Is it a regular runner or a coffee table ?
I had one back in the day - the CB350 twin would wax it, then the CB400F came along at the same time as the Yamaha RD400.
Guess which one I picked... :unsure:
Click to expand...

It’s a regular runner as is the RD250.
Only the 2-stroke has let me down in the last 20 years…now I always carry a spare condenser along with a set of plugs in my tool kit.
I wish I would have picked up a decent RD400 when they were still cheap.

Don’t get so stressed out about the younger generation…not worth getting all worked up over it .


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
UH...another thing:
IF you have the urge to "restore" an old bike, my suggestion is look for a euro bike.
Restoring a CB360 costs about the same as restoring a Ducati Sebring, but at the end you have a desirable piece instead of a lump CB360.
BUT when you lose steam you can sell the Ducati or Ducati parts instead of scrapping the Honda or Honda parts cuz NOBODY wants it cuz it was a piece of crap when it was new.
Guzzi's are comparatively CHEAP, GREAT bikes, easy to work on and easy to get parts for.
 
... there is no reason a condenser would make a bike break down.

I have a couple of RD400s for sale.
The mentioned '79 "F", a "C" and a "D"
 
bitzz said:
... there is no reason a condenser would make a bike break down.

I have a couple of RD400s for sale.
The mentioned '79 "F", a "C" and a "D"
Click to expand...
They go for stupid money now.
I remember when you could buy an orange 1977 "D" model for $1,700. A pristine one will go for 5 times that now.
 
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