Resurrecting an old bike - how much will it cost?

LOL LOL make money off an old bike ....lol.. rarely does it happen ..the bikes been sitting for a long time , not counting labour , your up for a new battery , new tyres , new fluids (all of them ) good chance clutch maybe stuck , yes you may unstick it but often your up for new plates , disc brakes have a habit of sticking so you may also be up for m/cyd rebuild etc , tank could be rusty so may need a clean / reline .. mmmm $$$$ are adding up even if motor starts up and runs well ... may be its why i have a few bikes in the shed untouched .im just waiting for them to get older and rarer so that their value increases without me doing anything, hopefully then have some mug comes along and says WOW thats cheap , this doesnt count for my actual rare bikes but they are a labour of love that my relies will sell for a lot of money (of which they havnt spent a penny on ) when i turn my toes up ... mmmm .. might just donate them to a animal shelter and give the other ones to the relies to teach them a lession
 
I do it for the fun.....
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good chance clutch maybe stuck , yes you may unstick it but often your up for new plates

Actually, on the issue of stuck clutches, my '76C (the formidable, yet recalcitrant Lucille :yikes: ) came from the proverbial barn complete with a coating of sh!t (and I do mean real dried manure) all over her underside and a clutch that was stuck tighter than a Dutchman's wallet.

I changed the oil, lashed the clutch lever to the handlebar with a tight bungee cord, popped her into 1st gear and then did a Fred Flintstone routine rocking back and forth in the garage as the stereo played some Motown tunes. There may also have been some adult imbibements on hand.

About halfway through the second play of This Old Heart of Mine by the Isley Bros., I realized that I was halfway across the garage floor from where I had started. I kept at it for another 15 minutes or so, and the clutch came completely free. I have since put more than 15,000 miles on that old gal - and never been into the clutch at all.

So, the moral of that story is that while it won't bring back old tires and tubes or stop most oil leaks, patience and perseverance (and some good music plus some BEvERages) can reduce the cost of restorations - sometimes.

...just sayin'....
 
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Actually, on the issue of stuck clutches, my '76C (the formidable, yet recalcitrant Lucille :yikes: ) came from the proverbial barn complete with a coating of sh!t (and I do mean real dried manure) all over her underside and a clutch that was stuck tighter than a Dutchman's wallet.

I changed the oil, lashed the clutch lever to the handlebar with a tight bungee cord, popped her into 1st gear and then did a Fred Flintstone routine rocking back and forth in the garage as the stereo played some Motown tunes.

About halfway through the second play of This Old Heart of Mine by the Isley Bros., I realized that I was halfway across the garage floor from where I had started. I kept at it for another 15 minutes or so, and the clutch came completely free. I have since put more than 15,000 miles on that old gal - and never been into the clutch at all.

So, the moral of that story is that while it won't bring back old tires and tubes or stop most oil leaks, patience and perseverance (and some good music plus some BEvERages) can reduce the cost of restorations - sometimes.

...just sayin'....
its amazing the time you must have on your hands over your frozen winters not to mention the things you do just to keep warm , we in oz would only keep rocking the bike / clutch for that long just on a bet as the beer would get to hot to drink
 
Yes, Flea - at least as far as weather is concerned, you folks definitely got the long end of the stick when the Poms divyed-up the empire.

...but of course, you also got nearly all of the poisonous snakes, spiders and bugs plus all of the wacky looking large rodents with huge claws.
 
dont know why everyone o/seas gets hung up on our snakes spiders etc etc , would rather have them than bears of all types , mountain lions , deer that aim for you on the rd etc etc let alone black ice / snow etc etc , in fact i reckon we have it good as most of our wild life doesnt try to hunt you down .. except for the drop bears .. now they are dangerous
 
Roos have taken out many a motorcyclist..............And they are so fuc**g dumb they will run past your front wheel, you breath in a sigh of relief and think about buying that lotto ticket...........only to find they turn around and run into the back
 
I guess with respect to your snakes and spiders, we feel the same way about bears and wolves. They are really quite rare in the 100 mile wide band adjacent to the US border where about 90% of Canadians reside.

P
 
Lifted up a pot plant i had in the garden to find this little fellow..........Funnel Web Spider
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Had this guy, (Red Belly Black Snake), spend 3 hours in my house............ Him on the way out the door
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But yea the snake is only the 3rd or 4th i have had any dealings with in 20 years
 
dont know why everyone o/seas gets hung up on our snakes spiders etc etc , would rather have them than bears of all types , mountain lions , deer that aim for you on the rd etc etc let alone black ice / snow etc etc , in fact i reckon we have it good as most of our wild life doesnt try to hunt you down .. except for the drop bears .. now they are dangerous

You all laugh..........Proof
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You all laugh..........
 
This thread has taken a wild turn to that nasty drop bear!
Honestly when I bought my partially restored TX I was all concerned about not spending more than I could recover if I sold it, but I've realized how much fun its been to learn about this old bike and how gratifying it is to ride it, having all this work into it, and I can't wait till the nice weather to ride it again. Now it really doesn't matter whether I ever recover the money I have into this old bike, as long as I have fun. :bike::bike:
 
Yes, I think this is a really nice old bike, easy to work on and fix up. And with all the little tweaks and mods folks have come up with, it can be made into a very nice bike, the perfect local ride I think. It's no cross country touring bike, but it was never intended to be that. Used as intended, for local blasting around, it's great, even today.
 
After being out of the motorcycle scene for many years I bought a POS 74 TX650, I do everything myself and make lots of parts myself as that is my addiction rather than the bikes themselves, but still this bike has cost a lot more than I thought it would. I've built enough bikes to know that it is very difficult to make money from building bikes in a backyard shed. Mostly it's about learning to cuss properly, and through that, letting your wife and neighbours know that something didn't go the way you intended. I have an excellent vocabulary now, perhaps not for mixed company though!
 

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This is a real drop bear, he attacked me walking through the scrub the other day, fortunately he saw my wife coming in to attack and ran away screaming.
 

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