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Hello everyone, after spending the past weekend lurking and seeing what conversations are happening here I'm excited to begin posting about this bike's journey and my plans for it (her?)
First, backstory and photos:
A co-worker of mine knew that as a teen I spent most of my free time out in the garage with my father. Back in the 70's he and his brothers where riding Bultacos on the California beaches, tracks, and trails and then when most of his children were out of the house he was able to start picking up dirt riding again with my brother and I (we were early teens). I discovered that I *really* enjoyed the rehab/rebuild that most of the bikes that we were playing with (60's, 70's Hondas mostly and a smattering of Honda dirt bikes from 70's-80's) required to go from half torn apart and left in a garage to cleaned, tuned, repainted and flipped for a little profit. Mostly it was just good fun with Dad, the money just kept the hobby going.
Knowing this, my coworker approached me and asked if I'd be interested in her husband's motorcycle. I responded that I wasn't looking to buy, and she said he wasn't looking to sell, just off-load. Well, that was a little intriguing and I told her to connect me with her husband and we'd see what he had. Long story short, the bike is now in my garage with a clean title. The husband acquired this bike by "barn find"; he was bucking hay in Wisconsin and traded the farmer for it (bike for bike, plus some of the farmer's cash). He rode it around in the Wisconsin and Minnesota summers for a few years and then parked it in the garden shed when their first child was born. That was in 1996 and it's been in the shed since! When I went and picked the bike up on Saturday he had taken it out earlier and sprayed it off with his garden hose.
Initial inspection shows that there was no planning for long term storage (half a tank of gas and interior rusk to the tank, no coating on the exterior engine parts, no cylinder fogging, left on side stand, fuel lines connected to carbs, etc). I'm pretty certain I'll have a week or two into the carbs alone by the time I'm done. BUT, despite all of this...it's in EXCELLENT shape. I've never been more excited about starting a bike project before. Other than the obvious/standard rehab points with any old bike this is looking like it's going to be a cosmetic cleanup more than a mechanical restoration. I'm looking forward to reading through the forum more completely as I work my way through this bike. So far I've found answers to all of the beginning questions (carbs, air filters, valves, etc) and I'm excited to start learning this GS!
Best/most surprising piece (to me at least) of this whole situation: 5,940 on the odometer:
First photo in the garage after unloading:
First, backstory and photos:
A co-worker of mine knew that as a teen I spent most of my free time out in the garage with my father. Back in the 70's he and his brothers where riding Bultacos on the California beaches, tracks, and trails and then when most of his children were out of the house he was able to start picking up dirt riding again with my brother and I (we were early teens). I discovered that I *really* enjoyed the rehab/rebuild that most of the bikes that we were playing with (60's, 70's Hondas mostly and a smattering of Honda dirt bikes from 70's-80's) required to go from half torn apart and left in a garage to cleaned, tuned, repainted and flipped for a little profit. Mostly it was just good fun with Dad, the money just kept the hobby going.
Knowing this, my coworker approached me and asked if I'd be interested in her husband's motorcycle. I responded that I wasn't looking to buy, and she said he wasn't looking to sell, just off-load. Well, that was a little intriguing and I told her to connect me with her husband and we'd see what he had. Long story short, the bike is now in my garage with a clean title. The husband acquired this bike by "barn find"; he was bucking hay in Wisconsin and traded the farmer for it (bike for bike, plus some of the farmer's cash). He rode it around in the Wisconsin and Minnesota summers for a few years and then parked it in the garden shed when their first child was born. That was in 1996 and it's been in the shed since! When I went and picked the bike up on Saturday he had taken it out earlier and sprayed it off with his garden hose.
Initial inspection shows that there was no planning for long term storage (half a tank of gas and interior rusk to the tank, no coating on the exterior engine parts, no cylinder fogging, left on side stand, fuel lines connected to carbs, etc). I'm pretty certain I'll have a week or two into the carbs alone by the time I'm done. BUT, despite all of this...it's in EXCELLENT shape. I've never been more excited about starting a bike project before. Other than the obvious/standard rehab points with any old bike this is looking like it's going to be a cosmetic cleanup more than a mechanical restoration. I'm looking forward to reading through the forum more completely as I work my way through this bike. So far I've found answers to all of the beginning questions (carbs, air filters, valves, etc) and I'm excited to start learning this GS!
Best/most surprising piece (to me at least) of this whole situation: 5,940 on the odometer:
First photo in the garage after unloading:
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