Thursday, 17 May 2012

The Damage

So what is wrong with it?
The following things are broken/missing:
Tatty carburettors and restricted rubbers
  • Seat is nowhere to be found.
  • Carburettors are missing, except for two, that are in terrible condition.
  • Only 2 inlet rubbers, and they are restricted.
  • Missing 1 air-filter rubber.
  • The fairing is broken in the mounting brackets.
  • The headlight nuts are coming of the fairing.
  • 3 out of 4 indicator lights are broken or damaged.
  • Side fairing on the left side has a broken mounting bracket.
  • Overall the fairing and fuel tank are scratched and dented.
  • Rear spoiler is corroded.
  • Fuel gauge isn't working.
  • Fuel tap is leaking.
  • No light in speedometer.
  • Clutch cable is sticky.
  • Indicator switch will not disengage.
  • Mirrors are corroded, will have to be changed.
  • Rear tire is flat.
  • Alloy wheels are corroded.
  • Front brakes are sticking.
  • Choke cable is sticky.
  • No battery.
  • All fluids and filters need changing.
Also the mufflers are not original and quite frankly, pretty ugly. So I might have to find a set of original ones at a later time.
Scratched up and parts missing, but plenty of potential
So a lot of things are wrong, first I will address the issues, that will cause it to fail a vehicle inspection, as in Denmark the amount of tax I have to pay, is dependent on the condition of the vehicle, so I will not make the bike look good at first, but merely make it legal.

I'm really trying to do this on a budget, and my goal is to get the bike road legal and drivable,  for less than 10.000 DKR (1350€/1000£), and so far it appears that it will cost about 6.000 DKR to get the tax paid and get some plates on it.
So I only have about 3.000 DKR to accomplish this, quite a challenge.

Tuesday, 15 May 2012

The Purchase

Here's the deal: 
I go to a technical college as a mechanic, and once in a while, they sell some of the vehicles they use for educational purposes.
So I bid on the Yamaha XJ600, a bit of a gamble as I have no idea if tax has been paid, if it has any papers and if the engine has been taken apart and reassembled so many times, that nothing works. Also the bike has no carburettors, so I have no way of knowing if anything works.
So obviously I am not going to bid a fortune, so I bid 1500 DKR (200€/150£), after some waiting the school tells me, that if I want to buy the bike, I have to buy the other one that they are also selling, so they are rid of both, this bothers me a bit. But I bid 2000 DKR (270€/200£) for the set, and I win.
 So now I have two motorcycles, in a tiny garage, where I also need to fit my car in, so obviously I will need to get rid of one of the motorcycles.
Long story short: I sell the other bike (Suzuki GS400) in bits for 1200 DKR (160€/120£), and thus I have only paid 800 DKR (110€/80£) for my Yamaha.

 Basically what I am trying to do, is save a classic, that was going to be used for a breaker motorcycle or simply scrapped.
There is no doubt it has lived a rough life, being taken apart by people with no basic understand of mechanics and with to left hands.
But it being a Yamaha, I think it has potential and that the engine is solid and will eventually run, with a few spare parts and a bit of love.
Clearly this bike has not been loved for years, a pity really
A summary of this post:
Bought the bike, paid 800 DKR (110€/80£) for it.
So far I have no idea if she's a runner, if I can find the papers for it, if the engine has been taken apart or how much it will cost me to get it going.