New Purchase!

My life is a downward spiral of poor financial decisions and today was no exception. I bought a gray market import 1996 Ducati Monster 750 last weekend. I saw a Craigslist ad for a super cheap '1997 Monster' with no title. 

Come to find out it's actually a 96. The owner bought it when he was stationed in Japan with the Marines then brought it back here and the paperwork got lost in the move.The United States did not get the M750 until 1997. 

I'm kind of excited to see how poorly Mario and Luigi made it. We saw what happened with the Triumph (which is sold, by the way!). 

The bike has been sitting for a few years. Only has 9k miles. I'd like to find the rear seat cover. It looks very awkward with out one

An original rear plate mount/blinkers would be nice too. But as far as old bikes go, it's pretty close to unmolested. Previous owner installed eBay 'adjustable' levers and bar end mirrors but those can be remedied.

I must say I am excited to dig into a bike made from the land of pasta and Olive Garden! It has timing belts and I can't wait to change them. 

With regards to the CBR954 I posted last time, the owner gave me the 7 digit key code when I bought the bike. I went to my local Honda dealer to get a key and they cut one to the code. It didn't work so they told me to pull the ignition and bring it to them.

4 hours later I Had the ignition and top triple clamp removed and brought it to them. They tried four times to cut a key and none worked. I brought the ignition to my local grumpy locksmith and in 2 days he had a key cut that worked perfectly. 

As far as sales go, the only one to report is the Triumph. I put it on eBay with no reserve and a feller from New York won it. I lost a couple hundred on it but in reality I was never going to get it. The whole experience really put me off. So I'm glad it will go to a better home than I can give it. I hope it gets restored to it's former glory and I regret not being able to do that and riding it. C'est la vie. 

Until next time,
See you on the road!

Thinning The Herd

So since I last wrote I had brought a bunch of bikes home from storage.

I've sold all of them (1987 Suzuki GSX-R1100 x2, 1988 Honda Hawk GT NT650). I didn't lose money but still I wish I had time and space to fix those bikes. I did keep the 1998 Suzuki GSX-R750.

The only thing I've added to the stable is a 2003 Honda CBR900RR (954).

The feller I bought it from was the original owner. That's right; I bought a 13 year old motorcycle from the first owner. I don't think that's happened yet. He put awful stickers on it, dumped it at the gas station and then lost the key. I guess you just don't care when you've paid something off. But all of those are easily fixable problems. 

I'm still looking for other junk piles to add to the collection. Will update as I get them!

Until next time,

See you on the road!

Some Happenings

Ahoy.

No new purchases on the two wheeled front but I did bring home all of my bikes that were in storage.

First one:

I've posted about it before, it's a 1987 Suzuki GSX-R1100. It sat in a barn in New Hampshire for a long time so it needs to be restored. Currently it is for sale with my other 1987 Suzuki GSX-R1100 as a pair.

Second one:

This is that Honda Hawk GT I picked up for free. I sourced a fuel tank and radiator for it. 

Today, I sprayed some starting fluid and cranked it over and it fired up so I pulled the carburetors off to clean them; this is what I found...

Poor bike must have endured some serious abuse in its time in order to break a carburetor body! The hunt begins for a replacement set...

And finally! 

This is the 1998 Suzuki GSX-R750 I bought from a co-worker at my previous job. It shut off while he was riding it. Today I put some fresh gas and a battery in it and it fired up and ran great! I then polished up the body panels and cleaned the wheels. A very nice looking bike indeed!



On the four wheeled front, I've been slowly making the Golf just a little nicer. I replaced the entire suspensions front to back, timing belt, fixed the oil leak and some other minor improvements.

Until next time,
See you on the road!

It's Been Over A Month!

Even though it's been over a month, not much has really changed. I put the 1993 Honda CBR900RR up on eBay and someone won the auction for a good price so now I'm just awaiting payment and shipping.

One last photo of just how good it looked with the solo cowl :(

I've been working 6 days a week for the past month or so, leaving me with no time for motorcycles. I am going to bring the 1997 Suzuki GSX-R1100 to the shop and write them a blank check to make it run properly. I've really had enough of it, I can't even get it start anymore. As far as paperwork goes, I am going to send in the forms to register it through Vermont so we'll see how that goes. Then I can finally start to fix the other GSX-R, the 750 SRAD.


On the four wheel front, I managed to get a nice little commuter car. A 1999.5 VW Golf TDI in flash red:

It's certainly not going to win any beauty pageants but the color and number of doors are right so it should get me to work Monday through Saturday with very little fuss. I just need to do all the catch up maintenance on it.


Until next time,
See you on the road!

Small Update.

I finally got around to putting the red/white/blue CBR900RR back together. I reassembled the carburetors and put them on the bike. I sold the cruddy Vance & Hines slip on the bike had when I bought it so I borrowed the Yoshimura slip on from my red/white/black CBR900RR in order to get this one started with out alienating my neighbors.

After some convincing with the choke and idle, she started up and held an idle. I still have to put the airbox on and a few other odds and ends but I'll get to that later.

Until next time
See you on the road!

I'm Sorry!

For not posting very much lately.

I've started a new job and barely have time for motorcycles currently, here is a view (terrible photo) of when I leave work at night:

I bought my ex-corworker's 1998 Suzuki GSX-R750 after many years of convincing:

As per usual, it is in storage until I can get to it. He was riding it home one day and stopped for coffee; after he came out - it would not start. Furthermore, the fuel injection system returned one code for a camshaft sensor. He replaced the sensor to no avail. 

I also finally sent the forks out to be rebuilt for my daily rider 1994 Honda CBR900RR:

The bike rides so much better. I wish I had done it sooner. 

In four wheeled news, I sold my 1997 Ford F350. It had the bulletproof (but down on H.P. given the displacement, 235H.P.) 7.3L Powerstroke engine. The transmission went out so I swapped a potent ZF-5 with a high performance clutch a couple months prior to the sale. 

After I sold it, I made a pretty silly decision and bought a 1988 Mazda 323GTX:

The car is pretty rare; some 1200 were brought to the states. Mazda took a base and mundane 323 and turned into a rally monster by strapping on a turbo, 4WD with lockable differentials and a strengthened chassis. 

The one I bought has a large amount of modifications:

Corksport ECU Set for 16 PSI

VJ11 9111 Upgraded turbo set for 12 PSI

Ford Probe Upgraded Intercooler

CorkSport 160 T-Stat

Corksport Front and rear sway bars

Nearly all Poly bushings

BBK upgrade using Escort GT components 

Konis on coil over sleeves with adjustable top hats

2.5 inch exhaust with custom down pipe

Front and rear strut bars

1 of 3 custom made short throw shifters

Hella fog lamp grill insert 

Battery relocated to hatch with shut off switch

HKS Blow off valve

The problem is my new job works 6 or 7 days a week, leaving me no time to enjoy this little rally treat so it's currently on eBay.

On top of that, I need a good daily driver to get to Boston. A VW TDI would be nice....

Until next time,

See on the road!

Small Update

Since I last wrote, I finished cleaning the carburetors on the 1997 GSX-R1100W I have. I wish I took pics but it's pretty straightforward.

My preferred method of cleaning is Evinrude Engine Tuner:

Followed by some brake clean and then compressed air. Be careful not to get those chemicals on your skin - it will burn. 

So I put them together and all of a sudden the choke cable didn't fit. I cut it from the lever on the clip on just so I can get the bike started. 

After hooking up all the lines, I put some gas in it and turned the petcock to prime. Aaand it started leaking. Figures. The bike sits for 5 years with bad gas in the tank and no leaks but as soon as it has an inkling of coming back to life, it starts leaking. Typical.

So I bought a rebuild kit which was specified for a 1993-1994 GSX-R1100W as the OEM Suzuki numbers cross over. I put it all back together and it leaked from everywhere. I bit the bullet and bought a brand new OEM Suzuki unit from Motosport.com; they even had it in stock! It should be here tomorrow so I can finally get it going. 

In other news, I bought two bikes recently. 

First one is a 1998 Honda VFR800 in lovely Italian Red:

It was sat behind a house just north of Boston. If you've read the first couple posts, you'd see that I've had a couple of the earlier generations of VFRs. They are great bikes. This generation 800 was the first of the fuel injection. I got it for a very good price. It needs tires and a mirror. The tires and mirror just got here today so it will be for sale soon! 

I spent a day polishing the oxidation and general dirt off of it:

The Italian Red shines up pretty well I must say. It's strange, I can almost feel the paint is thinner than on my 1993 CBR900RR. Honda cutting costs perhaps? 

A while ago you may remember I posted about a red, white and blue 1993 CBR900RR at a dealer for a good price that I was looking to pick up. The deal fell through on account of a very flaky dealer. But as of last night, the situation has been rectified! 

I spotted one on Craigslist Sunday night. Pretty thorough ad:

1993 CBR900RR - Red/White/Blue color scheme. currently will not stay running. ran when it was put away 4 years ago. don't have the time to fix it or ride it so I am looking for $1500.00 OBRO. Should just need the carbs cleaned and a new battery, speedometer isn't currently hooked up. comes with extra set of rims and all components to get speedo working again. currently has newer rims on it that don't let the speedometer work. rode it that way for 3 years with no problem. Vance and hines exhaust installed, vortex sprocket and chain kit installed with only 180 miles on it 15T front and 45T rear sprocket, K&N air filter.includes extra frame, swingarm, extra front disc brakes (needed to get the speedometer working) new wheel bearings, undertail delete kit, assorted extra plastics, headlight, vortex sprocket and chain kit installed with only 180 miles on it. 1 gallon sealed Honda motor oil and any other parts I find in my garage. 

I got in contact with the owner and set up a time to take a look at it. 

I made the seller an offer andff he took it.

As far as condition goes the middle side fairings are all cracked up but repairable or replaceable but the rest of the body is near perfect. Came with a full color matched Corbin seat set up, undertail kit NIB, spare tail fairings, spare frame with swingarm and shock, 17 inch front wheel conversion, strange V&H SSR2 slip on with a flange which will be binned in favor of a stock muffler, spare blinkers. Seller bought it 7 years ago with no title and swapped it all onto a titled frame.

I'm super excited to have the first year and best color scheme of such a game changing bike plus it will look great next to my 1994 red, white and black version! 

Until next time

See you on the road!