Wouldn't start when I bought it as a winter project. Stripped down to component parts, cleaned everything until its bum squeaked, replaced lots of perished items, fork seals, old fork oil, coolant, filters, caliper seals, brake lines........ on and on an on. Valve stem seals had gone hard due to it sitting unused allowing oil onto inlet valves and baking on to valve seats giving very low compression. Not what I expected from a one owner 7000 mile bike, but proves they don't like sitting unused. Head cleaned-up, valves lapped and shimmed and she started on the button. Runs brilliantly and has been a fun summer alternative screamer, reminds me of mad times in the 90's when we got away with so much. Prefer a V twin though.
Vey nice. Had one of the last made, with fuel injection. Bloody good ride. Sharp handling too. First bike I rode that went from a full tank to warning light in 90 miles. Nothing to do with how it encouraged you to ride.. Bought mine from MandS ( motorcycles…not the other one ) for £2400 with only 6k showing. What happened with prices??
Funnily enough the bloke I bought this off tried to sell it to M&S but they too the absolute piss and offered below bottom dollar. Their loss.
I had the first of the fuel injected in blue/white. Absolutely hated it, the Zx7r was a much better bike albeit slower. The colour you have no body wanted at the time so is very rare now. I actually like that scheme.
Always good to see summat that's been unused & forgotten given a little love & attention and put to the use it was designed for. Top job.
Had one the same, spat me off with a massive tankslapper. I think it was the next model that came with a steering damper as standard. Great bike though
Do you have an original pic...?? That being said....were there any coating costs? reason that i ask is - i frequently see posts like this but you never hear the costs....being honest my old mans 400/4 thats on the other thread (ive not kept tab on the costs as it wasnt that kind of build - its personal to me but id hazzard...2.5k ish)...which most people just wouldnt even entertain...i think my hyper engine rebuild a few years back weighed in at 3.3k, 800 of that was coatings, and 1200 in parts. Sorry...rambling....absolutely lovely...im not a fan of the shape, but, that does look really nice. Well done sir.
Absolutely - be nice to know what sort of buck that weighed in at!! still a great job though....now its in that condition if it stays that way eventually itll start to appreciate....more when we all get banned from buying anything that takes fuel instead of a battery...!
All-in the bike owes me around £4K I guess. I do as much of the stuff as I can, the way I see it if I need to buy a certain tool then I will by weighing it up against the cost of getting someone else to do it. It wasn't in a bad state to start with, low mileage, one owner, cosmetically a few scratches, just hadn't run for ages and been left unloved and dirty. Sourced paint from RS bike paint to to blow-in a couple of bits on the lower belly pan area. Forks, linkages, brake lines, pads, engine removal etc all done in the shed. I got a guy I know that builds motors for classic endurance race bikes to clean-up the head, it cost less than me buying all the shims etc and came back perfect. Carbs all done on the kitchen table where it's nice and warm and close to beer. It's the hours and days that go into getting these beauties back running that you never get back financially, but if you paid someone to work all those hours you'd be massively out of pocket, plus it keeps me relatively sane during the winter months. Found the Arrow system brand new, boxed. It been on a shelf for 26 odd years.
yes - im of the same theory...better to buy the tools and do it yourself...i can do some engine work but not all...top end 4 strokes...no chance...2 stroke top ends, no problem, clutch work easy....im happy with pulling the gearbox out of my RSV4 but not a chance on the ducati as it splits the other way (vertically) vs the cassette on the RSV4.... Definately with you on the time it takes you...its been a pleasure working on my dads bike...ive learnt a shit load...now i can wire in a complete motogadget system id like to find and old 90's bike of somesort and give it the same treatment maybe with a full clock set as well...dunno...anyway...your does look the tits sir...really does.... Got any pics of how you collected it?
Unfortunately not...I picked it up in the pissing rain in december and it went straight in to the house. I have an understanding mrs. The inlets looked like this though:
I just love the colour of this one too. it's great you were able to do as much of your own work on it as possible to keep the cost down. I also feel I have more of a connection with a bike when I do this.
