Don't understand people

I picked up another parts bike on Thanksgiving:


I don't understand this part:





1981, last registered in 1985, 6500 miles then abandoned.

It's also interesting to me how much the tinted windshield apparently protected the Atari--cosmetically it is in great shape.

 

Its a real shame to be honest. I recently picked up an 81 SR250 with only 5,000 miles... carb cleaned it runs like a top. Some people just have no respect for good machinery.

 

My wife's 87 Savage averaged 68 miles a year before we bought it. However unlike this bike it wasn't abandoned to the elements, didn't have animals nesting and peeing on it, and I'm pretty sure didn't have nasty green goo in the carb.

 

at the moment there are heaps of old jap bikes being imported into australia, with the milage on them they must have only been used for a couple of seasons then left in the shed untouched, i will be the proud new owner of a 1972 honda cb750 in a week or so myself, nice ones over here go for around $7-$12 000 or more retail.

 

How much to import it Ken?

 

I had that same year CB750, Ken. Great bike, of course mine had over 50,000 miles when I sold it. Things to look for: transmission slipping, valve clearances(no shims, adjustable), over exuberant chain oiler, leaky gaskets, that's all I can remember off hand from mine, sold it in 2004. Has even worse brakes than most XJs of course, being so old, just one solid disc up front.

 

What a sin. I guess people never had enough cash for a tarp, or a severe case of hoarding to not sell it sooner. If anything you have hopefully a good spare engine and a whack of spare parts... That's looks like a factory bikini on it, pretty cool!

 

its being imported by the owner of the motorbike museum up in queensland, he brings bikes in by the container load, hes prices are fairly competitive compared to most other importers,

thanks for the tips maximike, i will be recieving it with a roadworth so hopefully all will be well, so far ive only seen photos of it and if its nearly as good as the photos i will be happy.
ken

 

I have a '75 Suzuki GT750 "Water Buffalo" that I acquired about a year ago or so. Long story, there................. but I digress.

It was last registered in 1982, then parked in a garage. It sat in that garage until I bought it. It has 6k on the odometer.

Now it's slumbering in mine, awaiting resto.

dave

 

Then again, that bike balances out the '67 Honda 305 Dream that I acquired about 10 years ago.

THAT was a different ballgame. The fellow I got if from said, "Hey, I got my old motorcycle that I don't ride anymore.....if you want it, you can have it. Come on over with a trailer."

So I did.

He said, "it's right there in the barn". (which the barn was in imminent collapse, the walls were about a 49 degree angle, the main floor was now only about 4 feet off the ground, and the bike was in the ground level)

I looked and I just couldn't see it.....of course, I didn't know what I was looking for either............, so I said, "I don't see it".

He said, "right there, about 20feet in, right between the stanchion rows."

Hmm......still couldn't spot it, so I said, "where is in relation to the pile of hay, with the bent conduit sticking up out of it?"

He said, "that's it......that's the handlebar sticking up".

Uh-oh.........

he continued, "climb in there and hook this chain up to it, I'll drag it right out onto your trailer."

He did, and I left with literally a pile of hay on my trailer, I had no Idea what I was gonna see, and I still didn't know what kind of bike it was..( I was a real greenhorn then).

When I got home, I could see what it was........a mess. But, a restorable one, so it got cleaned.

Now all the sheetmetal has been fluid-bed stripped and is waiting for final blasting before repainting. The engine is on a separate bench, and the rest is either up in the attic, or on another shelf.

She'll be back together "soon".

Dave F

 

I know i'm going to get flamed for this, but i'm guessing its someone who "upgraded" to a Harley.... as some folks like to say... then only put 1200 miles the hog anyways. I'll just be frank.. I live in Milwaukee and I am NOT a Harley fan. Far too many bikes in this town are trashed due to the so called "upgrade".

 

its a damn shame, thats for sure.

 

oh and hey, another cheesehead!

 

What's a "Harley"? Never heard of that. Is it some obscure flash-in-the-pan company somewhere?

Dave

 

Oh....... THAT ' Harley".

Have ridden one, didn't like it. Yammy's will go 100k+ on the odometer when properly maintained, parts are readily available here, Len, eBay, etc.... for the standard fare though rare bikes will have more difficulty just like any rare item. I'm not going to get into the Harley bashing, and the constant oil leak discussions. Yes, many jap bikes are in scrap yards, reasons not limited to:

1. someone abandoned it when new shiney "Red Ryder BB Gun" came out. (The 'I want one" factor)
2. many people didn't take care of their bikes, and went the way that a lot of old cars went..........
3..a lot of people 'hot-rodded' their bikes, burned 'em up, or blew 'em up, and junked 'em.
4. various other forms of abuse and neglect, so they went to salvage.
5. stupid, unsafe riding caused wrecks and they went to salvage.

etc..............

There are plenty of American-made bikes that have gone that direction, too.

I will strongly disagree with the Drag's comments, but that is his opinion and I have my opinion.

Dave

 

ridden an evo? yep, it was ok but nothing all that special. And they still sound like crap.
not going to make it past 52K? my 650 is at 60K and going strong.
hard to find parts? never had an issue getting stuff for either of mine.
jap bike = disposable toys? Only in the sense that because they are more reasonably priced, some people equate that with them being cheap "toys" so they don't take care of them.
tons of jap bikes vs. harleys in the scrap yard? How many jap bikes vs harleys are sold per year I bet a lot more jap bikes which would naturally lead to more of them in the scrap yard. Also sounds like a good source for parts to me

oh and there is that whole cam chain tension issue Harley doesn't like to talk about.

 

look at the survey on the home page, what year is your xj.
then think about the economy going down the toilet around that time,
a lot of people had a change in priority's about then

 

WOW... I did not mean to start a subject highjack! Harley make's a fine product.. its just the SAME product for the last 50 years...

I'm 100% for Made in the USA.. but most Harley folk don't seem to understand the following:

-Your EVO carb is made in Japan by a company owned by Honda. A Keihin carb casted with the Harley logo is still a Keihin carb....

-Your forks are made by Showa of Japan.. the same company that made them for Jap bikes for the last 30 years.

On the other hand.. a good selection of Screaming Eagle parts are in fact made in China and Mexico. So a ZZ-Top looking guy in Milwaukee may have dreamed the bike up.. but it still has more imported parts that the average Toyota.

And my final and last comment...

I know three people who work for Harley.. They all worked in R/D and have worked at dealers in the past. All three of them have a garage full of bikes from many makes and models. They are true motorcycle people like us. The people who put on their offical Harley gear only on the weekend and laugh at us for having jap bikes are just in it for the image.

Either way, ride what you like!

 

Aren't some of the parts made in Germany, too? Seems I recall something along that line................

 

My only real problem with Harley is that they only make one thing, big heavy cruisers. Old school looking ones at that. They hosed Buell at every opportunity, I'd buy a used Lightning if I got the chance.

 

60's? Lol. One word: AMF. My bike had over 30k when I got it. So did my Honda before that. Jap street bikes are much much much less expensive, that doesn't mean they are "cheap" it means Harley buyers are paying for an image. How can scrapyards be full of Japanese bikes and also parts be scarce?

 

Guess it depends on what yards you're in.

Trans - I can have my hands on a 900rk trans, 650 trans, two 550 trans, a 750 trans, all in under 5 minutes. But I digress...........

I don't see a harley-bashing here, anymore than I see a foreign-bike bashing here.

Sound? Some like 'em loud, some like 'em quiet like a new goldwing. Some say 'loud pipes save lives', others say loud pipes piss everybody off, and scare the crap out of people on the road which can lead to accidents and make people proclaim that loud pipes lose lives.

Some will say others are not a real biker if they don't like the harley look, or the aftermarket harley sound. Others will not care what a harley looks like or sounds like because they prefer other bikes and there's less of them at bike nites, etc..... and they stand out more. That doesn't make anyone less of a biker (or a motorcycle rider, to avoid stigma).

I personally don't have a harley. I like the mid-80's Yammy's. Personal preference. I am as much a 'biker' as anyone else. As many others have done, I rescued my bikes and have put them into stonecold reliable condition, received some trophies, and RIDE them all. Each one has a different feel and personality for whatever type of riding I want to do, and for the times I actually DO want to get LOUD.........my 99 Suzuki (Yup......Jap) Intruder 1500LC with non-baffled straight-shot shotguns will make more noise than many other 'loud'bikes in the parking lot or the cruise line.

To each his own.

Nuff said......I'm shutting up.

Dave F

 

Haha. It's always funny to see a Harley lover in denial. Love the videos of them abusing jap bikes at their rallys for fun. There's a video around here of them trying to redline an XJ to kill it. It just keeps going and going and going. Starts getting awkward, it lasts so long. A friend of mine just showed me a video where they tried to do the same thing with a Ninja250. Hung it from a tree, emptied the oil, and redlined it.

It lasted for 50 minutes before it died. Without oil.

Go ahead and tell me more about Jap bikes not lasting? Harley was sucking so bad in that time period that they had to lobby the government to add a tax to the jap bikes that were competing with them--a totally illegal tax and an incredibly dirty business tactic--because the Japanese were making bikes that looked and sounded just as good, and were constructed MUCH better... While charging what they were actually worth, instead of adding a name brand 'premium'.

A scrapyard full of bikes doesn't tell you much other than the fact that the Japanese automakers flooded the market. There were WAY too many bikes for sale, too many produced, and as a result prices went WAY down in the 80's, new old stock and bikes that were brand new last year's model were constantly available. A telling sign is that you can pull most of the bikes from the junkyard and get them running again without too much work.

Harley is a brand name bike, an image bike. I don't see louis vuiton sold at goodwill either, that doesn't mean louis vuiton is a quality purse... Just an expensive one.

Most Jap bike owners don't hate on Harleys as much as not understand the mentality of people who pay more for a lower quality product. We're practical people. The Harley riders are the insecure ones... I cruised up next to some expensive Harleys a couple nights ago, would have been happy being a friendly biker with them. I was on a Jap bike, though, so they ignored me and tried to make sure I wouldn't outrun them at lights, though I didn't have a remote interest in racing. Once I realized what they wanted, I smoked them at a light.

They gave me the finger and turned off at the next light. Guess their modern screaming eagle upgrades weren't as good as they thought... Sad when their $30k modern upgraded bikes can't keep up with my '86 fully loaded down with 50 pounds of luggage after sitting for a year, bone stock.

It's the Harley riders who don't know what their talking about. Price does not indicate value; the Emperor is wearing no clothes, buddy.

Not that I'd expect someone who spells it 'texass' to understand. Your problems with quality assessment obviously go deeper than motorcycles.

 

Dragsta I grew up on 4 cylinders I like the smoother sound. The harley sound just doesn't sound right to my ear. If I rode one for a while I would probably get over it but I would rather just ride my 4 cylinder. I do like the look of a vtwin its just the sound that gets me. If that means I can't be a biker big deal I will still be out riding the wheels off my bike.
And yes I probably can't get a new trans but I can get a low mile one without much issue and all the wear parts I would need. and if I want a custom part I wouldn't be looking on a shelf anyway.
I can also put my hands on a few running yamahas with 50k+ miles and I don't even really pay attention to such things I just know a guy who builds a lot of xs bobbers and he asks me every so often how many miles are on my bike when he gets a high mileage one in. A guy on this forum recently rolled his odo over so there is a 100K bike for ya.
I'm only 26 but I have seen 2 harleys go to the scrappers, they were your average big bike, and a handfull of jap bikes but I don't really pay attention to the scrap yards all that often.

I'm not trying to bash Harley they just aren't my thing. They are all about A look and A sound and I prefer something different especially the sound, the look is fine but like you I like some looks a lot better than others we just differ on what that look is.

 

Man, I can't believe anyone can say this with a straight face. Harleys are all about looks and sound. That's why they're crap. That's why I have no interest in them and can't take people who ride them seriously. They do indeed sound like crap--they sound like an out of tune machine. Period. They also sound like they have an exhaust leak. Harleys are for people who want to buy their way into an image. The exceptions to that can be some cool people. But they are the exception.

Pop music is for people that don't know music. Pop bikes are for people that don't know bikes. Takes more than a leather jacket and a straight pipe exhaust to be a real biker, bud.

By the way, I just bought my FJ at 67 k... It had been sitting for a year. I did an oil change and a petcock fix on it, and just drove it 3000 miles home in less than a month... Including the ironbutt saddlesore 1000 and bunburner 1500 in the same ride for the last 1650 miles in 35 hours. Dyno'd at 57k miles as having the stock 115hp at rear wheel, by the way...

What was that about jap bikes lasting?

 

Engineering, Durability, Longevity and Cost. Does the bike perform in the manner for which it was designed? What materials were used to manufacture the bike and how accessible are those parts or similiar parts of equal quality including normal wear items? How often will I have to replace/repair those parts? And lastly, can I afford to keep my bike in this shape and performing in this manner for as long as own it? Technology, like this forum, that wasn't around when I was growing up makes it possible for people, like myself, to acquire and restore these bikes. The membership has risen from around 10k to now 12.5k since I joined last year. That's 2.5k bikes at the least (some members have more than one). I suspect there are more of these bikes and other model bikes in the U.S. alone in people's back yards, barns, sheds, etc. that could be restored and made street legal then any number of bikes in any junkyard. When you can mount any bike with the confidence that bike is safe and everything is operating and functioning properly; ride and bend the speedo to the far right, and anywhere in between, without causing damage to the engine; not have to contiuously replace/repair parts on the bike and be able to afford to do this for as long as you own the bike you have a good bike. Model bike owners are partial to the bikes we own. It's not the bikes, it's the riders. If you're cool with what you ride...I'm cool with it. Just my .02.

Gary