Mid 80's bike

[Doc]

That sounds horrible.

 

[jpr62902]

Just keep taking those baby steps and pretty soon, you'll be right as rain!

 

[NorthernRedneck]

Physio guy was impressed. He came to see me Friday and I still required a walker. I just walked in unasistested to the physio dept and did twenty minutes on the elliptical

 

[NorthernRedneck]

My bro lives 4 hrs away. He took his bike to the city after work on Monday. He ended up breaking down an hour outside the city with a fuel delivery problem. Turns out the fuel filter screen was clogged. When he got here he set out to replace his old virago with something newer. Ended up finding a nearly new 2003 honda vtx 1300 with less then 10k on it. Nice bike.

 

[NorthernRedneck]

Looks like the bike survived the crash better than I did. I'll have her ready for the road again with a little work. Im thinking a for sale sign would look nice on there.

 

[NorthernRedneck]

I'm having very serious doubts about ever getting back on a bike again. A very small part of me wants to ride again but every other day I see of or read that another motorcycle was in an accident. Just the other day a van pulled out to pass and hit head on killing the motorcyclist instantly.

 

[Leni]

I have a feeling that everyone would be very happy to see a for sale sign, especially the wife and kids.

 

[NorthernRedneck]

I've got the smaller bike for sale. Had a few people come to see it already. The goldwing is sitting over at a friend's house with a tarp over it. I plan on getting it home once I'm in shape to do anything. I will change the front forks and rear luggage rack/taillight and put it up for sale.

 

[NorthernRedneck]

Time for a revisit on this thread. It's been a long slow journey for me to this point. The ole girl is still sitting over at my friend's place with a cover on it. I'm heading over to pick her up with dad's enclosed trailer this week to finally bring her home and decide what I'm doing with her. I've found another good parts bike for cheap. Same year, same bike. So I'll have myself a little winter project to keep me busy as I sit at home recouping from my injuries. I'll be turning two bikes into one good one and still have most of a bike for parts when I'm done. No telling what will happen next spring if I keep it and ride it or put it for sale. IF I do ride again I'm looking to get a cruiser that will be lighter to handle though I do like the goldwing for comfort on those longer rides.

Before anyone says anything about me riding again, let me say that there has been a lot of soul searching on this and I've decided that just because someone else made a stupid move it won't stop me from doing something I enjoy. If someone gets into a car accident does that mean they should never drive again? Who knows right now. Physio is now estimating six months minimum before my back is back to semi normal. A lot of things can change before spring arrives.

 

[NorthernRedneck]

I finally got the ole girl home after some struggle. We first headed over with the battery charger to try and get it fired up. No go. The battery was stoned dead. So we came back and grabbed the deep cycle battery from the boat and a set of booster cables. Success. She turned over but wouldn't spit or sputter. Looked at the gas guage and it was completely empty. Back to my place for a Jerry can of gas. We went back and filled it with gas. She fired right up. Good news. Bike still runs perfect.

We managed to drive her right into the enclosed cargo trailer we brought. Got her strapped down and home then offloaded her into the garage.

I dove into the teardown right away. I managed to get the top luggage bag off without breaking anything else as it was angled and wedged to the seat due to the mangled mounting bracket. I removed the mangled bracket and also took off the saddlebags and lower light bar.

 

[NorthernRedneck]

I have a line on a complete bike for parts which I'll be going to get this week. The plan is to get the bikes side by side and decide which one I'm going to rebuild this winter. The other one is an aspencade model with digital dash and onboard compressor. It also has a stereo system. The only problem is that it's been stripped down for a paint job and restore and a few vital parts have gone missing such as the exhaust, radiator, windshield. But if the rest is in better shape I'll strip mine for parts to repair that one.

 

[NorthernRedneck]

I have a line on a complete bike for parts which I'll be going to get this week. The plan is to get the bikes side by side and decide which one I'm going to rebuild this winter. The other one is an aspencade model with digital dash and onboard compressor. It also has a stereo system. The only problem is that it's been stripped down for a paint job and restore and a few vital parts have gone missing such as the exhaust, radiator, windshield. But if the rest is in better shape I'll strip mine for parts to repair that one.

Well, most people ask if I'm done with motorcycles. My response...if the horse bucks you off you get back on. If you're riding a bicycle and fall off, you don't give it up for good. I may never physically be able to ride again but if I have any say in how my back turns out, there might be a chance.

With that being said, the wing I had the accident with is back home now in the garage. I started tearing the back end apart to remove the bent rack that holds the upper luggage bag on. I got it off and the overall damage to the bike turned out to be less then I thought. The original plan was to rebuild this one with new forks, a new tail light, and a new back rack. Prices on ebay including the shipping would end up costing just over $300. As I previously mentioned I got a line on a complete bike for parts. I actually had a couple to choose from. I opted for the one below.

It's getting delivered tomorrow and will be my winter project. Kind of a therapy for me as I sit at home recovering. To me, it's more than building a motorcycle. It will be a labor of love. If I can't ride it in the spring, I'll put it for sale.

 

[NorthernRedneck]

A few more pictures of the parts bike. If I can get this bike to run, that'll change my game plan and the crash bike will become a donor bike despite the fact that it runs.

 

[NorthernRedneck]

Now....question...

Which color should I go with? I can keep the brown and use the rear luggage and saddle bags from the crash bike and install them on this bike. This choice means painting the front upper and lower fairing off the grey bike to match the brown.

Or......

Keep the silver on the new bike and paint everything silver to match the side pannels and fenders. I'm leaning towards this choice since the seat and backrest off the new bike would be nicer and look to be in better shape.

Or......

Do a complete color change to something that would look good with the grey seat and backrest. Below are a few color options. Any other suggestions appreciated.

 

[NorthernRedneck]

I'm thinking blue would be a nice color with all the chrome accents I plan on installing. First task though is to see if I can get the parts bike running. If I can that will become the main bike and the crash bike will be used to donate parts. This will be an all winter project. So far going over the parts bike I just purchased has given me an idea of what needs to be done to get it road worthy again. The front tire is near new. Fork seals need to be changed. Electrical system needs to be gone through. Needs a radiator installed. Needs crash bars installed.(it didn't come with a set but I still have the ones I had swapped out on the crash bike just before the crash). Rear tire needs to be replaced(not a problem since the tires on the crash bike were new with less than 1000kms on them.) Exhaust needs to be installed.(complete exhaust was missing and only tail pipes came with the parts bike) So I will remove the exhaust from the crash bike and install onto the parts bike. And of course all the plastics need to be painted and installed.

The air system will also get a once over since the parts bike is the aspencade version which came with the onboard air compressor. The stereo is missing from the parts bike and the crash bike didn't have one to begin with. There is a panel on the fairing from the crash bike that will be transferred over to the parts bike to fill the hole in the fairing. The speakers did come with the parts bike and will be installed. I had ordered a sound system for the first bike in the spring and it hadn't arrived yet when the crash happened. I finally arrived when I was in the hospital and is waiting for an install.

Looking forward to the finished product to see how it turns out but I'm hoping it will be something like the bike below.

 

[NorthernRedneck]

I dove into it head first this afternoon and got the crash bike stripped down and was pleasantly surprised. No sign of bending in the frame. Everything is nice and straight. For good measure I reinstalled the battery in the parts bike. The main solenoid going from the battery to the fuse box is fried. With the key on using a screw driver to connect the posts on the solenoid i could hear a click. Giving up on it. The bike was sitting outside with the air cleaner off and bare carbs exposed. Engine might be salvageable but I'm not worried about it.

 

[NorthernRedneck]

I discovered the rear fender is bent. It could be straightened but why bother when I have a good one sitting there. So that will be swapped out once painted. The fender on the donor bike has now been removed.

 

[NorthernRedneck]

The fairing on the crash bike also received some damage so since I have a good fairing sitting there it will receive a paint job and be installed.

 

[NorthernRedneck]

The front forks from the donor bike will also be swapped over to the crash bike for obvious reasons.

I had thought of moving the onboard compressor system from the donor bike over to the crash bike but discovered the compressor is seized as well. No big deal. I have a mini air pump to carry in the saddlebags barely bigger than the size of my fist.

 

[NorthernRedneck]

Just a shot of both the donor and the crash.

 

[NorthernRedneck]

This morning's project was to remove the forks from the donor bike clean them up to have new fork seals installed

 

[NorthernRedneck]

My hunch was right. I removed the timing belt covers on the donor bike to swap over to the crash bike and discovered the timing case was filled with water. So that's a sign of what the rest of the engine looks like. What a shame. Someone tore the bike down to restore it but never covered any openings to the engine.

 

[NorthernRedneck]

Yesterday I swapped over the chrome timing belt covers and chrome valve covers.

Today's project was prepping for paint including primer on all the plastic covers. I'm doing a rattle can job but paying for the good stuff. This paint is around $30 a can. I picked a medium metallic blue. I was told there's no need for a clear coat as the paint already has it.

 

[NorthernRedneck]

I spent the afternoon out in the garage working on the bike. First task was to mount the taillight to the rear fender and install it on the bike. Next the top rack that was donated from the parts bike was installed. I then shifted my attention to the front of the crash bike and removed the tire and brake system followed by the fender. I then unhooked the air lines for the front forks. Following that was a simple task of loosening the clamps that hold the forks up then removing the forks.

I'm going to attempt to straighten the bent forks to reuse on the parts bike to allow me to move it around the garage and out into the yard if needed. That task will wait a few days though as my back could only handle so much.

No pictures today as my cell phone was completely dead. I'll say it is looking sharp though with that new paint job.

 

[NorthernRedneck]

I had a couple hours between appointments today so I decided to try to bend the forks back semi straight. No luck. My torch couldn't get it hot enough. So i mounted the forks onto the parts bike with the bend facing outward. I then mounted up the front tire. It's all good to go to wheel it out of the garage. I just have a few more parts to strip off for the crash bike.

 

[NorthernRedneck]

Here's a shot of the back end of the bike I'm rebuilding. I still have to paint the luggage bags and top trunk. Then it'll get the previous crash bars reinstalled without all the lights since they all didn't survive the accident

 

[Galvatron]

I would invest new forks for safety as once bent they will never be the same again,i would also have a close look at the fork mountings as they clearly got given a lot of stress in the accident. but it is great to see you making progress Brian.

 

[NorthernRedneck]

Oh. Don't worry. The forks that were bent will never be used other than to move the parts bike around the yard.

 

[NorthernRedneck]

I did a bit more work on the bike yesterday. I picked up some more paint and painted one of the saddlebags. I also decided to wet sand the front fender and side cover and respray them to fix a couple blemishes I found. I also swapped over a few more parts.

I'm still waiting on the forks to get rebuilt with new seals.

 

[NorthernRedneck]

The parts bike is back to a rolling chassis again. I have all the parts I need off it and will be rolling it out to the back yard before the snow gets too deep. That's where she'll sit for the winter.

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