loudest143
Insert sense of humor here---->
Well, I'm on my way to a gun store to buy a small assault weapon to erase my previous owner from this planet. Before I go, I thought I'd share a few tidbits of insight as what to expect when you buy a bike from someone seemingly trustworthy.....
My bike was described as running well, carefully maintained, and in good working condition. Since I've had my bike, I've replaced:
Front and rear brakes, all fluids, plugs, wires, caps, and tires. All of this is normal wear and tear stuff, not a big deal, and recommended by most experienced riders and wrenchers.
I was not advised that the entire wiring loom had been hacked apart, and boogered back together, with soldering and electrical tape, and twisting leads together. (I've repaired over a DOZEN bad connections in the loom.)
I was told the carbs had been professionally synced at a proper shop. I just replaced the main jet that was one sized too big for OEM spec, which when you're running all factory air and exhaust, it's pretty important that the FREAKING CARBS ARE JETTED RIGHT. Improper jetting causes all kinds of problems. (sadly, many of you know what I mean.)
I found a 90 degree bend in my throttle cable under the tank that had been hiding behind the wire loom. Causes bike to hang at 2K, and erratic idling, which is also a text book symptom of an air leak. I now have really awesome sloppy red silicone on my boots that NEVER LEAKED. Also, the throttle cable is not the correct one, it's 3 inches too long. No suprise it got bent.
Now I know you're saying, "Geez, Loudest, what kind of douche believes ANYTHING the PO has to say?", and "What kind of numbnuts doesn't check these things out during the troubleshooting process??" . Yep, I should have looked closer at a couple of things. I also should have not believed the PO, while he was tearing up as he said goodbye to the bike. My fault, my bad. Shoulda coulda woulda.
My point here is to share my experience with my current bike, and to offer a bit of insight as what to expect when you buy a used bike. Not everything will go as planned, and not everything is as it seems. Also, and maybe most importantly, trust your instincts. If you KNOW something is wrong, exhaust every avenue in troubleshooting that problem before tearing things apart. Recently, I've lost a couple of nice weather days, entirely, to tearing apart this, that and the other thing. Truthfully, I like pulling things apart to see how they work, but I like riding my bike MORE. Funny how that works out, right?
My latest adventure was replacing the little float needle o-rings in my carbs. Now keep in mind I've had my carbs torn down fully and completely twice since I've owned this bike, and over 6 times at other points to make sure everything was correct. I've overlooked that stupid main jet being wrong because, "the carbs were professionally tuned", and it's gotta be the right jet, right? What professional mechanic would shove in the wrong jets? The float needle housing is a bear to take out on my bike, and if you don't have a nail punch to tap out the float support, then you can't get at the float needle, and can't remove the phillips screw that holds the needle housing in place. Mine should be difficult to pull out, you need a set of needle nose pliers to pull them loose. Mine fell out in my hand. I blew off this part of the tear down last time. GUESS WHAT. Yeah, they were bad, and suprise, suprise, it causes your carbs to be out of balance when your float needles are leaking!!
So kiddies, take the time, do the work, and be thorough. I worked on my bike all day Friday AND Saturday, and it was sunny and 80 degrees. NICE. Believe not the previous owner, as he has no interest in the bike any longer, and doesn't care if it ever runs again. Caveat Emptor.
My bike was described as running well, carefully maintained, and in good working condition. Since I've had my bike, I've replaced:
Front and rear brakes, all fluids, plugs, wires, caps, and tires. All of this is normal wear and tear stuff, not a big deal, and recommended by most experienced riders and wrenchers.
I was not advised that the entire wiring loom had been hacked apart, and boogered back together, with soldering and electrical tape, and twisting leads together. (I've repaired over a DOZEN bad connections in the loom.)
I was told the carbs had been professionally synced at a proper shop. I just replaced the main jet that was one sized too big for OEM spec, which when you're running all factory air and exhaust, it's pretty important that the FREAKING CARBS ARE JETTED RIGHT. Improper jetting causes all kinds of problems. (sadly, many of you know what I mean.)
I found a 90 degree bend in my throttle cable under the tank that had been hiding behind the wire loom. Causes bike to hang at 2K, and erratic idling, which is also a text book symptom of an air leak. I now have really awesome sloppy red silicone on my boots that NEVER LEAKED. Also, the throttle cable is not the correct one, it's 3 inches too long. No suprise it got bent.
Now I know you're saying, "Geez, Loudest, what kind of douche believes ANYTHING the PO has to say?", and "What kind of numbnuts doesn't check these things out during the troubleshooting process??" . Yep, I should have looked closer at a couple of things. I also should have not believed the PO, while he was tearing up as he said goodbye to the bike. My fault, my bad. Shoulda coulda woulda.
My point here is to share my experience with my current bike, and to offer a bit of insight as what to expect when you buy a used bike. Not everything will go as planned, and not everything is as it seems. Also, and maybe most importantly, trust your instincts. If you KNOW something is wrong, exhaust every avenue in troubleshooting that problem before tearing things apart. Recently, I've lost a couple of nice weather days, entirely, to tearing apart this, that and the other thing. Truthfully, I like pulling things apart to see how they work, but I like riding my bike MORE. Funny how that works out, right?
My latest adventure was replacing the little float needle o-rings in my carbs. Now keep in mind I've had my carbs torn down fully and completely twice since I've owned this bike, and over 6 times at other points to make sure everything was correct. I've overlooked that stupid main jet being wrong because, "the carbs were professionally tuned", and it's gotta be the right jet, right? What professional mechanic would shove in the wrong jets? The float needle housing is a bear to take out on my bike, and if you don't have a nail punch to tap out the float support, then you can't get at the float needle, and can't remove the phillips screw that holds the needle housing in place. Mine should be difficult to pull out, you need a set of needle nose pliers to pull them loose. Mine fell out in my hand. I blew off this part of the tear down last time. GUESS WHAT. Yeah, they were bad, and suprise, suprise, it causes your carbs to be out of balance when your float needles are leaking!!
So kiddies, take the time, do the work, and be thorough. I worked on my bike all day Friday AND Saturday, and it was sunny and 80 degrees. NICE. Believe not the previous owner, as he has no interest in the bike any longer, and doesn't care if it ever runs again. Caveat Emptor.
