OK. Here goes. My zxr is almost done. I have a new clutch on the way along with a new cam chain and tensioner, and once that's all fitted, the zxr will be 100% mechanically finished. But something came up. A friend of a friend of mine offered his old bike to me for next to nothing (only $500) and it needs very little to get running. The carbs need a clean and balance (I have a manometer), it needs a new wiring loom (the back half of the loom to the rear lights has been cut off), fairings put back on (he has all the fairings), and some new tyres. So not a huge amount of work. The bike has never been written off and its still registerable here in QLD. Here's the catch, its an ex track bike and has spent almost all of its life getting thrashed on the track. Its only saving grace is that it was proffesionally rebuilt right before it was garaged for a year. The choice I have right now is, can I trust an old track bike on the road? If you were in my position, what would you do?
Could be a good deal if all is ok, but in my experience budget on double cost of what you think you may have to spend.
Buying any old bike is always a gamble ...... and yes the budget always blows out Actually u havnt mentioned what the bike is? Have a close look to see if the frame , forks , swingarm havnt been bent /damaged from a major crash. If it goes at all ride it to see if it tracks in a straight line.
A rebuild may do the engine but not necessarily all the other components which would wear out with a good thrashing. I'd look closer, if it was a full ground up rebuild I doubt you'd be getting it for $500. Could be a good deal if it's what you want.
$500 for a 600 thundercat seems pretty sweet, it would be a great start to rebuild and have ready when you are ready to step up to your r class licence
If I do buy this thing, I've got at least 9 months to work on it before I can go for my Class R. My initial thoughts were to just clean and balance the carbs, replace the whole wiring loom, replace the racing slicks and turn her into a street fighter. Everything looks good, engine is clean, there are no scrapes or scratches on the crank case, I've been told the engine is nice and strong after the rebuild but I cannot confirm until the carbies get sorted out, same with the clutch and gearbox, I won't know the condition of those untill I either pull them off/out or get the bike started. The seller originally wanted a lot more (about 2 grand is what I was told he had it advertised for) but it turns out I'm a "friend of a friend that gets spoken highly about".
Hmm. This "friend of a friend" thing is always a bit of an eyebrow raiser. You could gamble the $500, and if it doesn't work out I'm sure you could wreck it and make close to your money back (provided you don't go on a spending spree first). You can't really lose (and if you did it shouldn't be too much) provided you don't pour money into it. I'd jokingly offer him $350 and a carton of beer, because you can't see it running to make sure. Never know, people do crazy things for beer. If he's gone from $2k to $500 he sounds desperate to part with it, I wouldn't buy into the "mate of a mate" BS. And if he can't provide documentation for the engine rebuild, compression test it first.
There is documentation for the rebuild. Mostly receipts for all the parts and boxed filled with all the old parts. The friend of a friend is more like a 'father of the girlfriend' kind of thing.
is she a keeper ( I mean girlfriend) , get engaged then it should be yours without parting with your hard earned
Well, My mind seems to have been made up for me. I got pulled over by a nice police officer who advised me that I should probably get new fairings for my ZXR as mine are now beyone repair and have sharp plastic bits hanging off and poking out.
