After I unloaded the Kan-O-Tunas, I picked up a 1985 Kawasaki ZX600A Ninja. This was the first year ZX600 in the states. World Superbike legend Scott Russll (Mr. Daytona) started on one of these back in 1986 and won his first race!
Unfortunately I didn't save any pics of it but it was beat up; this type:
It had so little compression that I could put it in first gear and push it as if it was in neutral. So an engine swap was in order.
I found a guy north of Boston selling a parts bike for just $200. I dragged it home with a friend in his Jeep Cherokee. It fit quite nicely I must say.
After we put the motor in, we towed it behind a car at 2:00AM to get it to fire. It wouldn't.
I brought the carbs to a local bike shop to get them cleaned. Didn't make a difference.
Had an ADD (you know, that made up disease from the 90s that doctors over prescribe for?) moment and sold them to a 16 year old kid who was gonna make one into his first bike.
After I sold those and the FZR I decided I had to have a first generation GSX-R "Slabside" to keep my 2nd generation GSX-R "Slingshot" company.
I promptly found one and bought it.
The previous owner bought it and rode it for a few years then parked it in his garage because he had a child. I could never get it to run right after cleaning the carburetors multiple times and even buying another set. There was something wrong with the fuel tank petcock I think. It really wasn't worth putting the money into from a collector stand point as the fairings weren't all original colors which is what people look for. So I sold it to find one in OE colors.
Surfing Craigslist one day I came across an ad saying "1994 CBR900RR- $1000" Having read RareSportBikesForSale.com religiously for the last year or so I knew that these were relatively rare bikes and had a big following. They were designed by Tabao Baba and just like the Suzuki GSX-R did back in 1986, the CBR900RR Fireblade broke new ground for sport bikes.
The 900RR was just 4 pounds heavier than Honda's own CBR600F2 and had 294 more cubic centimeters of displacement. If you remember a few posts back, I owned a CBR600F2
The night I picked it up:
The previous owner was riding it until he bought a house and just left it behind his parent's house in Yarmouth. There was surface corrosion everywhere. But it had all the fairings and a title with it so it was a good deal. Very nice Yoshimura exhaust too. Though I wish it had the OE exhaust and rear turn signals (I have a personal vendetta against flush mounts).
In typical Honda fashion, the voltage regulator went out. On a ride to the Cape. So I took the opportunity to get some Chinese food at 11:30PM while I waited for a ride with a friend.
I wish I didn't sell this one and I always will. It was super comfortable, handled superbly and had endless power.
The upside is I made a pretty penny on it when I sold it. But I'd still rather have it.
One last pic with my riding buddy:
To mourn the sale of the 900, I bought another CBR. This time it was a 1987 CBR600F1 Hurricane. It was for sale in VT for $700. The pics showed an extremely clean motorcycle and the ad said it had 40,000 miles. I figured it was worth a look. Loaded up a co-workers VW Passat TDI and trailer and headed to VT.
For being 25 years old, the bike was extremely well kept. The owner rode it Florida a few times which sort of explained the mileage. I promptly paid for the bike and headed home.
The paint scheme screamed 'MERICA but I didn't care. It was a classic bike in great shape at an even better price. I even got it featured by the guys are RareSportBikesForSale.com! I ended up selling to a friend in New Hampshire who displayed it in his showroom for a while before passing it on to a large dealer in the north east.
After the sale of this I made a bad decision. It was made in America and powered by an obnoxious V-Twin based in the '30s. It was cheap enough and I knew I could flip it.
The feller was selling it because he wanted a new chassis for his Jeep. He rode it for a while and parked it. New camshaft and some other work. It wouldn't idle unless revved. Thankfully someone got rid of the junky OEM Harley carburetor and put a nice S&S carburetor on it.
Once I got it home I printed out the S&S settings sheet for the carburetor. While adjusting the idle with the bike running I noticed that the idle screw was spinning! Apparently it had fallen out and no one put the spring back in to dampen the vibrations. Found a spring that fit and it ran flawlessly.
Shortly after this I realized what a terrible mistake I had made by buying this and sold it to a friend for what I had into it. He rode it for a few months and refinished the bodywork.
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