[CAPTAIN AWESOME]

Unless you paid or put a ton of cash in them, I say kick them to the curb.

 

[o1marc]

seems to me your playing RR w/ 5 and 1 empty . if i had to choose id take death by #5. good luck

That would almost be like playing Polish Roulette, one bullet in an automatic.

 

[grandpaul]

I would build 2 totally mismatched frankenbikes with lots of duct tape, baling wire and globby welds.

 

[Cyorg]

Sell some of the projects off as projects and those can fund the ones you really want to put money into. No sense doing another build like this one only to have to sell it.

That is probably the best advice ever. I wish I could do that, but It will likely take a life altering event for me to actually get it done.
Only advise that might be better, would be to sell everything as is and then spend the money on a featherbed frame and a Comet engine.

 

[thechief86]

Kinda late getting back to this, but I'm very happy with this deal, although Dave is a little pissed at me now that he's realizing there are still a few things to do to this bike, but I'll fix it, and he'll get over that quickly. If not, I'll have meself a 750f, itellyawhat lol.
I just have to remind him that he bought an antique, and its age means it isn't likely to be perfect right away.

He is also not as into bikes as I am, nor into antiques, so this will be quite the learning experience for him.

As for Geeto, the man is a gentleman and a scholar, and a most gracious host. Who else would let an almost total stranger ride such an amazing bike as a Monoposto sport classic? He is right, I am obsessed now.
So much so that I ended up buying a new pickup to keep me from buying the first sport classic I found for sale.
Apparently the wife wanted me to shoot my wad on something practical or some shit haha.
Anyway, our trip to Ohio was very fun for me, even if my brother is being apprehensive about the whole thing post-purchase.

 

[Geeto67]

I'm kind of disappointed hearing that. Dave was a really nice guy. I was drafting him up an email with a pinch list and a service manual.

 

[thechief86]

Kerry it is by no means any fault of yours. I believe he just saw how much I like the bike and overlooked things that he is worried about now that we have it home.
He has found a couple of wires that he's not sure about, and the rear turn signals have died again, as well as the electric start issue that you told us about, and since I haven't been over there to help, he's afraid he's over his head. It's all little easy stuff, but he doesn't know that, as he's not really any type of mechanic.
He left the fuel on from test riding, and then couldn't get it started the next morning, and that was his biggest worry. He hadn't had that problem on the more modern bikes he's had, so it's just a new habit he'll have to learn if he wants to continue riding old bikes.

I talked to him some more, and I do think he still sees the potential the bike has, and still won't sell it to me, so I know he's still excited about having his own bike again. Jeff has been scammed several times in the last few years, and probably feels like I said the bike is nicer than it really is.
I told them I thought the bike was in really nice, easily restorable condition for its age, but neither of them have ever ridden anything that was more than a couple of years old.

All three of us are still very happy that we all have bikes and can ride together, and I personally think Dave has the coolest bike in the group. All is well, sir.

 

[K9Swine]

Probably shouldn't ask since I have no
technical knowledge to share , I really liked the Patina Flip thread as that is similar to what I have to work on. But I wouldn't mind seeing a thread on those Honda carbs alone. Seems like a lot people with practical experience roaming around here, just a thought.

 

[jaguar]

I have had "near perfect" vintage bikes that I sold, only to have people not understand vintage bikes. At the end of the day the buyer needs to decide of this "is for them" and that really can only be done by buying one and trying it out.
It happens.

Important thing is no hard feelings.

 

[jaguar]

Im cheating here a little as I have detailed knowledge of Geeto's garage of broken dreams. I hope his father still has my number....told him to call me if there was ever a yard sale. Geeto and I go back and forth all the time on what should be "next" or how to deal with the collections. Thing that is worth talking about is the emotional attachment value. While I am no where near as "invested" in my bikes as other, I can understand that some are "forever" bikes. I have taken a model of buying/selling things that I want to experience to keep the ball rolling on stuff I want to keep. Any project takes money to keep going. This thread needs a few more totals, but I think it showed that even a well chosen project takes at least a grand to get back on the road.

My advice for what little it is worth is sell everything triple that isn't needed for the Goldstein bike. The parts are worth money, easy to sell an unlikely something that will be used. Take the time to prep some of the parts to maximize the sale.
Sell some as projects and enjoy watching others enjoy things.

I think that will do the most to clean out the garages, reduce the burden and raise the most cash.
After that wrap up the Dunstall Honda. You will have cash and space. The bike will also feel like a win. The project will be fairly similar to the one in this thread.

Crosses two things off the list.
Then flip a coin H1 or K0

The K0 is an epic bike and I get how you want to do it up, but is that realistic at this point?

 

[grandpaul]

I have that "emotional attachment" problem. I'll have a rusty rolling project beater that I want to sell to get some working money together, but AS SOON AS IT FIRES UP, something happens in my brain and I start getting weird about it, wanting to keep it in the collection.

I REALLY need to get over it...

 

[thechief86]

Paul, this is the reason I have 5 cars and 3 bikes, and no matter how ragged, they all run perfectly.
Also might have a correlation to my lack of funds at any given moment lol.

 

[Fk5]

I have an emotional attachment to stuff that has been rusting in the backyard for decades. I was actually moderately upset that my cousin had his purple '74 DS100 scrapped, but he had done it 3 years prior to me noticing it wasn't getting ivied to his fence anymore.

I think there will be a big difference in any project thread that you plan to keep as opposed to one that you plan to flip. When I plan to keep things I am much more likely to get stalled waiting to get the time or money to do things exactly the way I want them. The perfect is the enemy of the good. I think this thread was excellent because it showed both the good and the bad. The difficulties showed exactly why people don't follow everyone's advice and get their bike running as a good stocker before doing mods. This was a fairly complete bike owned by a guy with a ton of knowledge and two tons of spares. It still took how long and how much money to get to the point where most people think their shitty projects are when they buy them? That is why most people just tear shit down. Why bother tuning the carbs when you are going to swap exhausts and use pods? Why make sure the blinkers work when you are going to pull them for LEDs? That stuff takes time and money and it is easier to strip it to the frame and powdercoat.

I wish there was a way to better show the value in doing things this way. Hopefully, Chief can provide that. It was still a nice dose of reality, especially since most new posters here will be like Dave and still be in pretty deep even starting with something this sorted. There is always something more to do. Personally, I usually start in Dave's position with grand plans and then just barely keep it running for the next however many years.

 

[Geeto67]

Kerry it is by no means any fault of yours. I believe he just saw how much I like the bike and overlooked things that he is worried about now that we have it home.[/QUOTE[
Family, always the best enablers for the worst ideas.

He has found a couple of wires that he's not sure about

Honda used the same harness for the K and the F bikes. Consequently if you lift the seat looking for a fix for the signals you are going to see two unused wires. I checked them a while ago and they have no power to them. There is also a power wire running up the spine from the battery area that used to power the aftermarket horn relay, it is disconnected right now.

, and the rear turn signals have died again,

Jiggle the rear external grounds. They might be loose. There were loose before and I tightened them but didn't locktite them. It might be time for a new connector.

as well as the electric start issue that you told us about

charge the battery. I ran it down and hadn't had time to get it charged.

, and since I haven't been over there to help, he's afraid he's over his head. It's all little easy stuff, but he doesn't know that, as he's not really any type of mechanic.

Give him some easy tasks and that will get him comfortable. I know for a fact I may have wounded the fuel line between the #3 and #4 carb with a pair of pliers, so replacing that might be something easy to walk him through.

He left the fuel on from test riding, and then couldn't get it started the next morning, and that was his biggest worry. He hadn't had that problem on the more modern bikes he's had, so it's just a new habit he'll have to learn if he wants to continue riding old bikes.

Leaving the fuel on is a great way to kill any enthusiasm. floods the bike, makes it hard to start, and leaves a puddle on the floor.

I talked to him some more, and I do think he still sees the potential the bike has, and still won't sell it to me, so I know he's still excited about having his own bike again. Jeff has been scammed several times in the last few years, and probably feels like I said the bike is nicer than it really is.
I told them I thought the bike was in really nice, easily restorable condition for its age, but neither of them have ever ridden anything that was more than a couple of years old.

All three of us are still very happy that we all have bikes and can ride together, and I personally think Dave has the coolest bike in the group. All is well, sir.

You can tell Jeff and Dave to give it a couple of months. If they don't want it come February, and you don't want it either, I will buy it back. I am not out to scam anyone. Hopefully that will put them at ease.

 

[thechief86]

Thanks man.
Again, you are truly a decent dude.
I've given him some direction to get him up and running, and he's still wanting to hang on to the bike, which is good. I gave him the same offer of a buyback, and he wouldn't hear of it, so I think everything is going to be just fine. Thanks for the heads up on the extra wires and the turn signals. I'll let him know.
If you don't mind, I'll keep in touch with you for pointers as we move forward fixing this bike up, since you know it better than anyone at this point.
Thanks again, I still know we got a great deal, and will show David and Jeff similar bikes so they can be assured of it as well.

 

[Geeto67]

you have all my information. Honestly I would have sorted a lot of it myself had I had more time, but the med bills started piling up and I needed to pay them off.

If I come across a used service manual I will send it to him.

 

[thechief86]

It's still just the Internet. Powered by real people, some with respect for others and some without.

 

[Geeto67]

Shouldn't happen.

Shouldn't, but in this case it will at least leave a smell and maybe a puddle because, as I mentioned previously, I may have put a small pinhole in the fuel line by using a pair of needle nose pliers on the line.

Also, "didn't have time" to charge a battery, on a bike you were selling? Do you have a bicycle powered battery charger or what? Takes 2 seconds to hookup a charger. Busch league.

the were set to arrive at 12:00. They arrived at 11:15. At 10 I ran the battery down trying to get it to start the first time with the new carbs on it. I kick started it and took it out for a ride but it wasn't enough to charge the battery since it was local and not on a highway and I still needed to have the bike running to dial in the carbs. By the way did I mention hondas don't charge unless they are running above 2100 rpms? so having it tick over at idle while I fiddled with air screws didn't do the battery any favors. I got the carbs dialed in, rode it for 5 minutes to check, and then went inside to take a piss and they showed up mid stream. I meant to put it on the charger but hey sometimes life gets in the way. not that I need to explain my self to you but thank you for the opportunity to write something more interesting and suspenseful.

There are many things in this story I won't point out that would prompt you to absolutely shit on someone else. I've seen it before. Maybe some introspection before offering pages of advice that you don't follow yourself is in order.

Again, maybe it is because you actually haven't read this thread but I have been very clear that the point of this was to hoist myself on my own petard. Yes there are many things that were rushed, or amateur, and I have often pointed them out. Except when I point it out it's interesting and entertaining because it's part of the tone of the thread.

Notice how many build threads AREN'T here on this site? It's a dead zone for builds, relative to the site activity. Yes, You, with your constant nitpicking and strutting, are a major catalyst for that reaction.

Because build threads suck. They really do. If you are a newbie and you are making a build thread to "show off" or gather atta-boys it's useless for that. Also it's a lot of distracting work. If you are doing it as a base to ask a lot of tech questions specific to a specific project it's a much better use of time and energy.

There are some people who are magicians at it, like Paul, but let's be honest, he's been doing this for a while, did it for a living, and was probably one of those guys that used to have a photo album of his work before there was an internet. To some people it is a gift, but to the overwhelming majority it's not really worth their time.

Congratulations on approaching 22,000 posts. You are very talented at making posts on a motorcycle forum. You said it best. This is just the internet, not real life. Or is it now.

I have also been here for 11 years, back when it was just a bunch of friends who loved racing old motorcycles and wanted an internet space to bench race between tracks and in winter. The Caferacer name was marginally ironic back then, but also they weren't as popular. Who are you again? oh that's right a guy with a failed shop who has been kicked off other forums and has come to the last place that would likely tolerate you. You are right though, it's the internet, not real life, so what are you doing here?

 

[jaguar]

Im happy with the build threads we have here. Nice to not have to sift though 47894390814201384 worth of threads about Cb400 Hawks that run like shit. Would be nice if a few other members here posted more about the epic shit they are doing. What DOHC is not understanding is that most of the long term members here are NOT looking to expand this place or grow members!

 

[Geeto67]

Nope i'm on several forums where they appreciate professionals. Was kicked off dtt for this same shit. Tired of you poser hacks talking shit to everyone that passes by. My shop didn't fail it was a choice to change careers because of an endless stream of morons like you fucking bikes up. Do not slander me.

Truth does not equal slander, Damon.