kylefoundry
New Member
Greetings Tonians! I've spent the last few months lurking around DTT and finally decided I'd create an account and document my (mini) build. This is my first bike and my first "build", so I'm sure there will be plenty of opportune moments to laugh at my mistakes. Hope you all enjoy get some enjoyment out of this 8)
I purchased the bike from a fella on eBay and had it shipped from Miami to Southern California. The bike had been stripped down to the bare essentials (and even less... no front brakes, yikes!) and was priced accordingly. The engine had been rebuilt recently and it was overall very clean, perfect for a first-timer bike to ease into the moto world and play around with (ya know, add brakes and other essentials it was missing).
Here's how she looked when she arrived:
As you can see, the seller had done a lot of the grunt work of turning her into a raw tracker. Horray! But there was bad news. On delivery, I discovered that the bike was riddled with electrical issues and the inside of the tank had been sealed many years ago and the lining was so far gone and rust so bad that the tank was rendered completely useless. I think I was able to ride all of 5 miles from pickup location to home before I had misfiring issues and noticed the culprit. It was instantly clear this wasn't going to be an easy first-timer bike ???
Because of a long haul (3 months... that's a different story) in a local shop to rewire the electrical, a series of moves, life, and other projects, the bike sat with no attention from me for over a year. Fast forward to two weeks ago, I finally found myself able to buckle down and take her on.
I picked up a seriously one of a kind tank off of eBay to be the anchor for the whole rebuild. I wish I knew the exact story behind the tank, but I fell in love with the hand painted tiger and lettering that had obviously been done years and years ago. Outside is a little rough, but nothing a little bondo and paint correction couldn't fix. The inside only had light surface rust and it was cheap. Perfect!
Last week I jacked the bike up and stripped it of seat, tank, and forks to kick things off. Over the next few weeks I'll be fitting and restoring the gas tank, shortening forks, and recovering the seat with brown leather for contrast with all the black. I've collected a box full of replacement and upgrade parts for various other areas of the bike, which will then get popped on once the major essentials are complete.
So yep, that about kicks things off. More to come soon!
I purchased the bike from a fella on eBay and had it shipped from Miami to Southern California. The bike had been stripped down to the bare essentials (and even less... no front brakes, yikes!) and was priced accordingly. The engine had been rebuilt recently and it was overall very clean, perfect for a first-timer bike to ease into the moto world and play around with (ya know, add brakes and other essentials it was missing).
Here's how she looked when she arrived:
As you can see, the seller had done a lot of the grunt work of turning her into a raw tracker. Horray! But there was bad news. On delivery, I discovered that the bike was riddled with electrical issues and the inside of the tank had been sealed many years ago and the lining was so far gone and rust so bad that the tank was rendered completely useless. I think I was able to ride all of 5 miles from pickup location to home before I had misfiring issues and noticed the culprit. It was instantly clear this wasn't going to be an easy first-timer bike ???
Because of a long haul (3 months... that's a different story) in a local shop to rewire the electrical, a series of moves, life, and other projects, the bike sat with no attention from me for over a year. Fast forward to two weeks ago, I finally found myself able to buckle down and take her on.
I picked up a seriously one of a kind tank off of eBay to be the anchor for the whole rebuild. I wish I knew the exact story behind the tank, but I fell in love with the hand painted tiger and lettering that had obviously been done years and years ago. Outside is a little rough, but nothing a little bondo and paint correction couldn't fix. The inside only had light surface rust and it was cheap. Perfect!
Last week I jacked the bike up and stripped it of seat, tank, and forks to kick things off. Over the next few weeks I'll be fitting and restoring the gas tank, shortening forks, and recovering the seat with brown leather for contrast with all the black. I've collected a box full of replacement and upgrade parts for various other areas of the bike, which will then get popped on once the major essentials are complete.
So yep, that about kicks things off. More to come soon!
