tech5

In a recent conversation with an old friend, who is new to
vintage bikes and purchased his bike only a year ago, the common
dilemma that all of us face became apparent. Do you buy a restored
bike or a core bike and restore it yourself? You all know my answer:
core bike and restore it myself. But not everyone has my mechanical
abilities. My friend fell into the less informed mechanically class.

My approach can be expensive if you strive for perfection in fit and
finish and originality. But with some compromises it still costs more
than you will ever be able to sell the bike for even if you do 95% of
the work as I do. What I get mostly is peace of mind every time I use
the bike. Since I touched every piece and every nut and bolt, and did
virtually all the work myself I know the condition of my bikes. My
Hornet's bottom end is the exception and I fret about it every time I
ride it. But I didn't know the answer when I had it done three years
ago. I do now!.

Buying someone else's restoration project is troublesome for me. The
guy selling always appears to me to be a used car salesman, hedging
every hard question and never absolutely honest. I've sold a few bikes
through the years and learned quickly to not offer information but
only give it when asked directly. I've never duped anyone (well maybe
the guy that bought my Maico and planned a 150 mile ride with it) but
I have been known to be a little less than free with the info. So I
should expect the same, I suppose. In fact, if all is well with the
restored bike you can get one for less than it actually cost to do,
thanks to the market place. An absolutely pristine one with parts
receipts, and with receipts from known good out sources for repair
work is probably a steal. But somehow to me it easier to meter the
money out over several months than pay a single large sum. Its' all in
the mind but I have to feel good about the expediture or I won't do it.

My friend chose a middle road. He picked a bike "restored" by another
person unknown to him, with less than perfect cosmetics, but
acceptable, supposedly assembled from a box of parts. It did run as
the guy delivered it by riding it about 15 miles to my friends home.
It needed a fair amount of spit and polish but the motor seemed sound.
The price was towards the lower end of the market. My friend chose
this approach to better match the available cash flow, fully
understanding that he was going to have to learn about British bikes
and do as much as possible himself. He absolutely did not feel
competent to assemble the bike out of a box or to build a bike up from
a core bike. After getting the bike he felt the need to re-chrome
items, polish cases, rebuild forks, replace tires, new spokes, a new
rim, a double leading edge front brake backing plate, a new seat cover
and re-paint the tank and he still is not quite done yet. The first
club ride was a failure. Less than 10 miles from the start of a
vintage street ride the bike just stopped: no electrics and jammed in
gear. Undaunted, he brought it to me where I found a piece of dirt in
the gear change mechanism, a wobling clutch pressure plate due to poor
adjustment, and a shorted wire. My friend, now concerned that he might
never finish an event, had me totally rewire the bike changing to a
Tympanium rectifier/regulator and a Boyer igniton with new PVL coils.
Still it didn't run quite right with the required idle speed at 2000
RPM. So he rebuilt the carbs only to forget to blow out the carb dip
from the small idle passages. Another trip to me starightened that
out. The main reason he rebuilt the carbs was that they seem to have
jets in it for the Triumph Triple. I guess the previous owner must
have got his boxes mixed up. I have warned my friend to set aside
enough money to cover a total rebuild since who knows what other parts
are wrong or are jury rigged. That is what makes my way so much easier
for me to handle. If my bike's are jury rigged I did it! My friend has
doubled his investment. Perhaps if he had chosen a pristine
restoration bike he would be money ahead. But the problems are usually
located where you can't see them when you are looking at a prospective
purchase.

What my friend did get out of all this is a sense of accomplishment
from a hard item that he can go out to his garage and touch. He told
me that he got a sense of accomplishment that was usually not acheived
in most of his other hobbies He is absolutely enjoying working on his
vintage motorcycle even though he has suffered some set backs. He is
ahead of where he started and has had some good enjoyment from it all.
I suppose some of you out there are happy with just owning and riding
someone else's restoration project but I and my friend feel that the
hands on approach is a lot more rewarding. And he will finish an event!