Hey everyone.
This is my first post even though I have been lurking on this forum for a couple years now. It's been an absolutely incredible resource and as someone relatively new to motorcycling, I can't imagine how else I could have become so familiar so with my 74 TX650A so quickly.
I purchased the bike in 2018 from a local guy who sniffs out barn finds and flips them on EBay. Had about 21k miles on it, and had been sitting idle for the last 15 years or so. The seller got it started easily, but the front brake was shot, no starter and really needed a going through. Had clearly been dropped, and at some point some genius had just cut all the handlebar wires and elec taped back together (like 2 inches away from all the bullet connectors in the headlight). That first year I fixed the brake, and sorted out lots of the electrical gremlins, and learned a lot about basic tuning and simple maintenance. I had some charging issues and got myself stranded a couple of times which prompted me to buy and install the HHB PMA/CDI system in the hopes of improving the reliability. I managed to get the bike running well and had a nice couple months of riding before the weather started to turn in the fall of 2019.
At this point, I needed to winter the bike, and had a decision to make. I live in the city, so don't have a garage, so I could either pay for storage (which is fine) or I could take the opportunity to fully go through the bike and give it a proper restoration. I've never been one to shy away from a project so I said screw it, and went for it. I broke it down and lugged it into my basement workshop and got to work....
I am not a mechanic, and before this bike, hadn't done any mechanical work to speak in about 20 years since wrenching on some classic cars in high school. Goal of this thread is to try to contribute my own experience in the hopes it helps someone the way all of your posts helped me.
So with that....here are a couple of the 'before' pics from the original seller when I bought it and a third of the last day I was riding in October 2019 before the project began.... and away we go....
This is my first post even though I have been lurking on this forum for a couple years now. It's been an absolutely incredible resource and as someone relatively new to motorcycling, I can't imagine how else I could have become so familiar so with my 74 TX650A so quickly.
I purchased the bike in 2018 from a local guy who sniffs out barn finds and flips them on EBay. Had about 21k miles on it, and had been sitting idle for the last 15 years or so. The seller got it started easily, but the front brake was shot, no starter and really needed a going through. Had clearly been dropped, and at some point some genius had just cut all the handlebar wires and elec taped back together (like 2 inches away from all the bullet connectors in the headlight). That first year I fixed the brake, and sorted out lots of the electrical gremlins, and learned a lot about basic tuning and simple maintenance. I had some charging issues and got myself stranded a couple of times which prompted me to buy and install the HHB PMA/CDI system in the hopes of improving the reliability. I managed to get the bike running well and had a nice couple months of riding before the weather started to turn in the fall of 2019.
At this point, I needed to winter the bike, and had a decision to make. I live in the city, so don't have a garage, so I could either pay for storage (which is fine) or I could take the opportunity to fully go through the bike and give it a proper restoration. I've never been one to shy away from a project so I said screw it, and went for it. I broke it down and lugged it into my basement workshop and got to work....
I am not a mechanic, and before this bike, hadn't done any mechanical work to speak in about 20 years since wrenching on some classic cars in high school. Goal of this thread is to try to contribute my own experience in the hopes it helps someone the way all of your posts helped me.
So with that....here are a couple of the 'before' pics from the original seller when I bought it and a third of the last day I was riding in October 2019 before the project began.... and away we go....