Bikes and budgets... Who's broke like me?

[samsquantch]

How many of you shouldn't spend $ on bikes, but do?

When I got my first bike (78 kz650), I could barely afford the $400 initially. Then I drank the crappiest beer, ate really poorly for like a year while trying to rebuild it. It needed a lot more than was obvious at first (low compression in one tube). I tore it all down, painted it in my bedroom and finally got it running. I never got to ride the bastard before I had to sell it though.

I'm facing a similar predicament at the moment. This time I'm not quite as broke (still a student, still shouldn't get a bike), but it's a kz400 twin that I'm looking at. I found this nasty 400 twin- 79 kz400 LTD- $400 not running (claims elec issues). It has mags which I used to hate, but are really growing on me- old spoke wheels are expensive and hard to rebuild. Mags just need paint and bearings. I could swing it, and wouldn't really feel a pinch, but I know I shouldn't.

I'm almost ashamed to admit it, but I started looking for top-tank mopeds. Those damn things are more expensive than UJM's!

How many of you are in the same boat? Any of you hang around here, but can't afford a bike?

How do you get your fix? I'm trying to get re-interested in bicycles, but mine is fine and doesn't need any work...

 

[YogiBear]

I knew this was me as soon as I read the title lol. ;D So many projects, so little time and cash. : If you really are set on the 400, lowball the seller and see what happens. No shame in getting a good deal.

 

[Nojokirk 75cl360]

hey man, im the same way, i just bought my first bike 75 Yamaha DT1-250 Enduro. im going to make her a cafe once i get my wings. I picked her up for about $700 and she needs a little more then $150 to get her complete. She as spoked wheels but im going to transfer her to RD350 mags(for the disc brakes). I know how you feel though man, im pretty broke too so all this is going to have to wait a while.
8)

 

[samsquantch]

I tried the lowball and I was going to just do it if he took $250, even 325. I guess he's getting some part (of the charging system) and will try to get it running. If it's running at $400 it'll be hard to resist!

 

[SCARE!]

i find saving that little bit more to spend on the initial purchase saves more dosh in the long run.. nothing like a registered runner as a base..

 

[Hoofhearted]

No, You're not alone in your situation. The photo below is my bedroom around 1971. It took about three years to build the Norton. If I had some money that wasn't absolutely required for food or rent it went to the Norton. I will admit to painting it outside. The landlord wasn't too hot on me painting it in the bedroom.

By weslake at 2011-04-14

Fast forward 40 years and things haven't changed too much. I still don't have any money to throw at the bike. But I do have a garage that is too full of shit. Over the intervening years I learned that if I couldn't make it myself I could love without it.

By weslake at 2012-02-05

 

[ozarkansas]

I'm a college student of 23 years old(which means i've been broke for a while now). First build, 72 Cl 450. Tax refund bought me a 71 CB 450 which I am having to use for a donor instead of what I thought was gonna be another project. Thats what I love about the cafe culture though. It's not about all the new parts you can buy, it's what you can do with what you already have.

 

[crazypj]

I've always been a 'motybike' mechanic so I've always been broke (except for a few years when I worked construction equipment repair, wages doubled 'overnight')
Been unemployed since last June when I was laid off.(most know, it gets worse, had 3 surgeries on elbow so far, 2 F.U.'d up discs in back, etc)
I would like to say thanks to everyone who has helped me by buying little bits and bobs (thanks guys, you know who you are )

 

[DesmoBro]

DUDE.....I hear ya broke is how I live my life....InBetween jobs is where I usually am.....A little hint that's helped me start a Ducati Collection and also trade a leaf blower and a weed whacker(& other useless Garb) for several different motorcycles....Barter Section Craigslist .....it's not just for twinkie's & snackpak's anymore you can legit trade an F150 (yes a ford truck) for Land

 

[Ringo]

*Raises hand!*

But I'm proud to do what I can with as little as I've had. I'd love a state-of-the-art shop (or even just tools) but there's something about scrounging your way through it that just multiplies the sense of accomplishment.

Nice name, by the way

 

[surplus 6]

here's a build thread for my friend off old skool performance, young lad living at home etc very limited budget, very 8) all the same.

http://oldskoolperformance.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=2139

 

[neevo]

My build us going super slow as my "allowance" doesn't allow a fast build

It does mean though that I have plenty of time to do things properly and this should mean its a well thought through well built bike.

PJ, I heard about those parts you do, might need to get some bits off you, especially if I've got a rotor coming too

 

[Ryan66]

Soon as i saw this title i was like ME! I get by every week. Times are rough and i work for one of the big 3 auto companies. So i make pennies now. I go paycheck to paycheck. Pay my bills set aside gas money then hope i have some wooden nickels left to throw at my bike. Not to mention its stressful as hell to learn these old bikes. All this old technology is new to me. So sometimes i lose site of my project because i get over whelmed by it or from what it needs as far as parts and costs. But im loving this old bike and wont stop till its done. Broke or ballin itll be done lol

 

[johngofast]

6 years ago, I took $250 out of a life insurance savings account that had been building (sloooowly) for 10 years already. I was determined to get a motorcycle. I had been looking for 3 months, finally I start searching all the yard and estate sales and I find this neglected 1971 T-250 with a big cardboard sign on it that says "best offer", being the cheap ass that I am and knowing it's going to need some work I put in an offer for $50.

Two weeks go by and I get a call "come pick up your $50 bike, I need it gone" vroom vroom errrrrk, loaded it up started to drive away and they ran out and gave me the title.

The bike took me 2 years to get on the road and like all of our project bikes, it's far from being called complete, but selling the parts I wasn't going to use on ebay afforded me the parts I wanted for it. This was a full rebuild, every assembly taken apart, every nut bolt washer zinc plated, powder coating, paint, ceramic.

In the last two years I've started to really keep an eye on the market and with and open eye and a key in the ignition of your truck or your friends minivan (whatever you might use to pick up a bike) you can find bikes that can be bought, picked up, and resold in the week for double. Last summer I bought, got running/repaired 45 bikes 3 of which I kept. Very few of these bikes require special tools, I'd say 90% of them needed a fuel system cleaning and a new battery. I didn't spend more than $300 on any bike and most were under $150.

In these last 6 years my real jobs have made me six figures some years (not any more), but I haven't put a penny of that into my motorcycles, garage, or tools. It's been paying for it's self and at one time even paid for my sons birth and hospital fees.

This is a super long way of saying, know your local bike market and watch it closely, you'll be amazed what you can find and resell, eventually either picking up a bike to keep or being able to afford the build for a bike you have.

 

[Maritime]

Yep, I bought my first bike, titled and runnig for 650 off credit line we did not have. My wife was pissed, wanted me to sell it but it was Sept and the riding season was done for most people. So I said I would sell it in the spring. Then she wanted to go to Halifax 3 hours away and spend a night and shop etc. Well we were still broke and gas was 1.50 l x 90 l to get there and back or $135, plus 100 for a room, plus food etc. So I said, "If we take the bike it will cost a lot less for gas." so She said fine. We hopped on the CM400T and road there, got a cheap off season room in a B&B $55, had a blast and it cost 40 in gas vrs the truck. So when we got home she told me not to sell the bike. We still could not really afford it but she was hooked, even though 2-up with overnight bags was really pushing the little bike hard. So flash forward and I am riding to work in Oct and I blow a piston. Now my 650.00 bike I can't afford is a broken. I can't afford to pay someone, no nothing about bikes and get on the internet to figure out how to fix it. I found this site and plenty of folks in the same situations and with their help I scroundged up a parts bike for 150, sold off the titled fram, forks and other bits for 200 and got my bike back on the road for spring, with a few mods, I have since kept working on it with very little money and love it. I scrounge up funds when I can to get parts for mods or even repairs. We are starting to pull out of the money woes, we are both employed again and once we sell one of our houses cause we had to move to both be employed we will start living with some savings vrs paycheck to paycheck with balancing payments on cards etc. You are not alone, I couldn't afford a bike but looking back, I couldn't live without it, so I do what I have to, to keep it.

Cheers

 

[boingk]

I work a bar and am putting myself through flight school ($$$) but have a car and three bikes. One bike I'm getting rid of but the other two (XR600R / VTR1000F) I'm keeping. If you keep your eyes sharp and get a good deal you can often turn a profit when it comes to selling time - if and when that time comes.

If you're on a busget and think you can do it then take a proper inventory of what you initially think a project will end up costing you. Blow that out by 50% and you've got a realistic figure to go on, unless you really know the machinery and what it needs then use 20%. If you can't swing it then think long and hard.

I have the bikes I love now because I have a good track record of sales that went to fund the next bike, with very few losses along the way. A good credit limit that you frequently service isn't bad either - credit cards are damn helpful things sometimes!

Cheers - boingk

 

[Catbird]

I'm in the same boat. I bought a '81 Suzuki GS550T for a song and dance. $200, starts and runs. Pretty slick.

Then I started paying student loans, and due to a registration SNAFU, I'm paying *twice* what I should have been paying. My net income fluctuates just over and just below zero.

I'll be selling the GS come spring and focusing my time and attention on the DT250.

 

[NortonGuy]

Once you figure out what you really like and want, then you will get it and you won't have to buy more bikes hardly ever, like Hoof who has been playing with the same motorcycle frame for 40+ years.

A lot of people are suckers for trends and that is probably 90% of the activity out there where buying and selling motorcycles is concerned. Everyone knows someone that sees what others are riding or driving and just has to have one too.

When I was young and able to work a lot harder than I can now I hit the overtime on construction and was able to buy some old bikes and parts I liked because they were like my father had around when I was a kid. For many years now the only time I have gotten a new bike is by essentially trading the stuff I bought years ago for it. An old friend wanted to pass his old bike onto me, which I took as an honor, so I sold a bike I had bought many years ago with overtime and gave the proceeds to his widow when I picked it up. I sold three bikes I had bought decades ago so I could get another type that I had always thought would be interesting to ride. Lastly an old neighbor just didn't want his old flat-track Bultaco anymore and told me to get it off his property.
So I am sort of old now with grey and very thin hair and not a lot of energy, and I am not really interested in riding any bike newer than myself unless it falls out of the sky into my yard. I don't have hardly a spare dime to put in my fuel tank let alone buy any bikes or parts. That is why I am using spray bombs instead of spray guns and if I don't do it myself then it isn't going to get done at all because I certainly am not able to pay anyone to do it.
I might trade my running bike that I can ride at my whim for a basketcase, only because if I do not there is a very good chance that this Norton will end up parted out on ebay, so it is a mission of mercy. After it is saved I would send it to any good home that would have it.

So if you are broke the only problem you really have is to learn to be content and happy with what you have parked in the corner. Your bike is someone else's greener grass so it should be yours too. I had a lot of bikes through the years that others hold in very high regard for good and bad reasons. Almost every one of them ended up being a real bore for one reason or another and I don't really miss them at all, especially when I am going down the road on anything else at all that has two wheels and a motor.

 

[samsquantch]

^^ I really dig it. Thanks for the input and support. I'm trying to work a deal on a running, but not driving 81 kz440. I like 'em older than that, but it's close enough and for $250, I think I'd have a hard time going wrong. At this point if I can land the deal and get it going strong again I'll be happy. A slimmer seat and new bars and I'm 97% to where I want to be already.

 

[Hoofhearted]

Like Norton Guy said once you figure out what you like and get it you don't need to buy a lot more bikes. I was fortunate. But the reality is once you've had a Norton everything is downhill after that : - ) Like Norton Guy I'm old and not quite grey yet but working on it. And like Norton Guy I don't have the cash to pay people to do it for me. Been that way most of my life. Basically if I can't make it myself I can do without it.

Being broke shouldn't been seen as an insurmountable wall. A nuisance perhaps. Being broke makes your brain work to figure how to do it without money. When you stop and work it out its a lot more satisfying. It may not look like it came off a CNC machine but you did it yourself. Ask yourself, do you want to BUILD a special or just buy the parts and BOLT one together?