I've had my dream for about 10 years, believe it or not I got it at a yard sale for twenty bucks. I would post pictures, but I have already started dis-assembly. I have seen some of the recommendations on this forum to do just the minimum to get the thing running first before doing a major restoration. When I got this bike I had a neighbor work on it and he got it running but it seemed to only be hitting on one cylinder. Everyone I have talked to at the time said it was probably ignition related and if I had compression don't tear the engine down just get a new coil or whatever to get it going. I decided to take their advice and not tear the engine down but just take the bike apart, paint, polish and replace what's needed to make it look good and run. I stopped dis-assembly some time ago because I couldn't figure out how to get the front fork assembly off. A buddy conveniently broke the adjusting knob off in the process.
Anyway, now I'm unsure if I should proceed with tear down, or put it back together and get it running for a while first. What do you think? Oh, here is some info Frame CA78 1009175 Engine C77E 380143. What year is this? and is this the original engine?
It seems like I have everything except original exhaust and left side carb cover and tank badges. Oh yeah no tag or title.
Thanks
Newby- questionsYear of bikeLooks to be a '65 with a '63 motor. I am one of the people that recommends getting it put together so you can ride. I just got one of my bikes back together and running tonight.
Very low miles '65 that I started detailing last fall after riding for a couple of weeks. One thing led to another and pretty soon I had both exhausts off, recovered a seat so I could put the original aside, different wheels and tires (original tires are in pretty good shape - I haven't detailed them yet). Along the way I can tell you I got pretty tired of scraping caked on grease, polishing chrome and cleaning dirt. I wasn't quite ready to give up, but man, I thought I would never get to ride it again. Tomorrow, finally. One thing I know for sure, the enjoyment of riding it sure does create a lot of enthusiasm. I would strongly recommend getting your title taken care of before you do anything else. While you only paid $20 for it, the only thing worse than the police hauling the bike off would be them hauling it off after you have completely gone through the bike and have it running well. In my state they require that it be a complete bike or at least fairly complete. My DMV will even come to me if I am willing to wait a few days. If not you have to put everything in the back of a pickup and haul it to the DMV. They will check the frame number and then run a 50-state check to make sure it is not reported stolen. If not you will probably get a provisional title. Anyway, I would get that worked out sooner than later. Can I go with you to the next yard sale? You seem to bring good luck. re:Newby-QuestionsHey thanks for the reply. It's amazing how one can't seem to focus on the real first thing to do in a project like this. The forest and trees syndrome.
Of course a title will be the first thing needed. I found a source on line to help with that and will wait to get it before moving forward. thanks,
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||