Thinking about this wreck....

[CoconutPete]

well... back from family vacation to D.C. Finally talked to this guy today. Sounds like me.... young kids.... has one XS already... probably shouldn't have this one .. but has 2 or 3 more. Going to look at it tomorrow. I researched the NC title thing. This thing can be titled as soon as it fires up and one of the DMV people can look at it between ... I think it's literally Wednesdays between 10AM and noon... I have done it before but have mostly forgotten on purpose. Anyway... it may not be $500, but hopefully it'll be in the $600's.... god, I really want to build one with spoked wheels and Miesha is right where I want her, only thing left is teardown and paint. This would keep my hands busy while keeping her on the road. Stay tuned...

 

[CoconutPete]

Well, I finally made it up there to look at the bike. Tank is rusted through, no seat, wiring harness, coils... yadda yadda yadda.... but it has those beautiful 32-spoke aluminum wheels, a straight frame, complete motor (has carbs, pipes etc) and man, all i see is potential in this thing. I held the title in my hand, so that's a pretty big deal too. NC seems to be a pain otherwise. I have a gentleman's agreement to buy the bike. More than i had imagined, but the bike has a title, and he is delivering it to me, so what the hell right!!!

It has low compression on one cylinder so I get to teach myself how to do a top end job which I am actually looking forward to!

 

[gggGary]

What could go wrong??

Pics we gotta see pics!
document this project!

 

[CoconutPete]

Jens agreed we have to buy it.

In a box: Motor mounts, carbs, header pipes, left engine cover.

Tank isn't in the picture. I think i'll leave it behind. There's basically no bottom to it, plus I have the "smurfette" tank from my Special as an extra.

In other news.... we are looking at a house with a 3car garage. A fella can dream. Guess what the third bay would be for?

 

[59Tebo]

Pete,
Yeah, potential. But a non-running, incomplete bike (around here anyways) would be in the $200.00-$300.00 range, even with a title...
Best of luck to you!...

 

[CoconutPete]

I'm not sure where "around here" is Tebo, but "around here in Charlotte" you'll need to fork over "a few hundo" more if you want to get a hold of a somewhat complete XS with the 32-spoke wheels. I would have loved to pay $200 for it but it just wasn't to be.

 

[X77S]

Btw this bike was a first for me with wire wheels. Relacing isn't difficult

 

[MrBultaco]

Hey Pete, I only hope that those wire wheels have all 36 spokes.........just sayin'

 

[59Tebo]

Sorry Pete. "Around here" is in upstate New York, north of Syracuse. I have an '81 that I refer to as '...a $50.00 North Country lawn ornament'. All I got was a bill of sale, and a "...just get it out of here"...
It looks like the P.O. (his son) dropped it, got scared, then parked it, never to ride again. The right side handlebar is bent, right side turn signals are gone, big cuckoo on the tank, etc. 12K on the odometer, last registered in '96, but the engine is not stuck. If I want to do anything with it as a whole motorcycle though, I'll need to do the Vermont registration/transfer to NYS, thing....
The $200.00 non-runners did come with titles, though. Needless to say, they're all three roached out, POS, basket cases, requiring new/rebuilt/replaced everything before I would even think of trying to register them, let alone ride them....

 

[CoconutPete]

Hey Pete, I only hope that those wire wheels have all 36 spokes.........just sayin'

Go by what I mean - not what I say!

 

[650Skull]

it's only expensive if you buy something and find it is not what you paid for..............whatever you see and are willing to pay for then it is what's wanted..........Nothing more annoying than others telling you how much it should be worth or a story of how cheep they get things........Enjoy.

looks like all the spokes are there, be a good learning experience and there are some good threads here to re-spoke.......PM me or ask through the thread and i will post up some links.

 

[5twins]

You can piece just about any one of these back together if you're patient. There's still tons of good used parts out there. Keep watching local classifieds and some parts stashes may pop up, maybe even another partial bike cheap. Lots of good stuff still comes up on eBay too. Some parts do interchange between years but not all do. Ask here if you have any questions on a particular item.

 

[mrtwowheel]

That bike is hard tail bait !!!!!! Everything that's not there....would be discarded for a hard tail.

Scott

 

[CoconutPete]

I'll do a build thread for sure and I'm sure I'll have tons of questions that I didn't know existed, even after being through it with the first bike.

This time I get to tear the top end off! I'm actually pretty excited. Last time I had a cylinder off, it was a 50cc one. I'm sure 5twins is excited for the slew of repeat questions on days where my search skills are off.

I haven't spoked a wheel since I was 14 and that was a bicycle wheel. I'd imagine the concept is similar though, just bigger spokes, etc. We'll see. Rims are solid, hubs are solid, I think the spokes are done for, but I was expecting that.

Head pipes seem solid, i happen to have 2 mufflers in the garage. I have a tank and 2 petcocks. Carbs are in a box, I didn't look at them for too long.

Foot pegs are there, left engine cover is there. Brake rod and pedal is missing, but Gary has one which I'm procuring from him.

Sorry, no hardtails. It's just not my style. I'll be putting a hoop back on - although a shorter one that used to be there, and putting my fab skills to work on trying to either make my own seat, or make the frame fit a pre-made one.

This frame has definitely seen more of a hacksaw than my other bike. This might actually result in the other bike going a wee bit back towards stock with some components and the aftermarket items like small gauges going onto this bike.