Topica Loopframe_Guzzi Archive


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:
 Years ago I learned the free bike lesson. Every now and then someone I
meet tells me about a free bike that they or someone else either has
available or just picked up.
So I try to explain the real cost of the free bike without discouraging
them. So here is a quick analysi from my persective.

What is it? Would you buy it if it wasn't free and for how much?

Now the cost of just getting it "running" : (All prices are estimates
and averages)
tires & tubes -$100 each
battery - $50
chain - $100
cables - $100

So you are already into the bike for ~$500 and it still looks the same
as when you got it for free. At this point the romance and allure of
the free bike starts to touch on reality. Many people get discouraged
at this point especially when the free bike is a 1975 350cc Asian model.

But that is just a matter of personal taste. Hench the my decision to
spruce my Eldo.

I mention this as I start looking at the reciepts for my Eldo and
realize that the price of creating a thing of beauty is truly priceless.



Tom



73 Eldo
78 T3/949

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