How I bought a $50 Motorcycle

[akwon]

So a couple of weeks ago, I see my neighbor cleaning out his garage and sorting all the 'junk' out in his driveway. I'm pretty friendly with all my neighbors so I walk up to him and ask if he's having a garage sale...just joking around.

Among the pile of old chairs, roadbikes, crappy furniture and misc. computer parts, I see a red motorcycle that looks like it's straight from RoboCop. It isn't all that impressive to look at, in fact, it's pretty ugly.

I jokingly ask if he's trying to sell it, and he says, "Sure. Make me an offer". I say I don't know, give me a price...and he tell's me $50!

I obviously agree. He has a title, the bike has under 4k miles, it's in decent shape and it RUNS!!!

It's a 1984 Honda VT500 Ascot, not the most desirable bike, but hell, it runs. It needs a couple of new parts like starter switch, new front tire, battery and probably more. I'm prepared to restore it, but I rather not because I know I want to make it into a cafe racer style bike. Would love to save money and do it right, the first time.

I have a couple of questions to ask....actually a lot. I've worked on cars, but never a bike (currently drive a MKV GTI). I have a lot to catch up to.


1. Honda VT500 is Driveshaft driven, does that mean I need to get a rear wheel for a driveshaft?? (not chain driven) Can I just take off the sprocket and put the driveshaft mechanism on it?
2. Can you suggest a good source to get parts? I need to replace the seat, bars and mirrors.
3. This bike hasn't run in 2 years and probably has bad gas, what should I do to maintain in? It idles fine, but hesitates when you rev it.
4. As pictured, can I use that smaller battery? It was originally used on a CB200 OR 250
5. I want to get fatter tires, The fronts is 3.50S18 and rear is 4.25S18....what tires do you suggest? Size?

 

[Big R]

Might be a real challenge to get a "cafe" look out of that bike. Maybe more of a fighter..... whatever you do with it though, it will be "your" bike which is what's important!

1) I have 0 experience with driveshafts. But I've never heard of anybody converting it to a chain drive, don't think it's really possible. 2) check out www.roccitycafe.com for seats, bars, etc and DCC (top of the page) for everything else.
3) As far as the gas goes, flush the tank + petcock a couple times with fresh gas and pull the carbs and give them a good scrubbing too
4) A smaller battery might work, depending on the use of a starter or a kickstarter - does that have a kickstart?
5) I would say stick with the stock size tires. Look around for some sportier tread patterns, but in stock sizes. Once you change tire sizes, it can wreak havoc on the handling and such

 

[boingk]

That smaller battery looks like a 6v, your bike needs a 12v. Personally, I wouldn't go below 6Ah (amp-hour) with your battery as any smaller and you may have problems on cold mornings or short back-to-back trips.

You could definitel make this a cafe - put a long bump-stop or Dunstall/ducktail seat on it and replace the headlight with a round one. Throw straight bars or clipons and some rearsets at it and you're in business.

I wouldn't mess with the tyres either. They look fine on the rims to me. What a lot of people don't realise is that fatter tyres often give worse handling and slower response - the reason MotoGP machines run huge rear tyres is because they're trying to put over 220hp to the ground! Our machines only have a fraction of that, at best. I'd go handling over looks any day.

Another vote for roccitycafe.com, too. Awesome gear at pretty reasonable prices.

Cheers - boingk

 

[dakine_surf]

Nice man, I love the ascots... and for 50 bucks!! They sound great!

+1 on what the other said about tires... look for stock sizes, it will cause much less problems down the road mainly because it is a shaftie.

As far as the shaft drive goes, they are very reliable, but limit your wheel choices...

You might want to consider turning this into a street tracker, thats what I would do... they have a great lines for a street Tracker.

 

[killerdwarf]

The Ascots are great bikes!!!!!! They were produced as a factory street tracker, named after the great, and historical Ascot racetrack. The seat looks great already, as does the tail. Clean up the ass end, change the bars, headlight, and 2/1 pipe and you'll have a pretty cool, and enjoyable bike!!! $50 bucks!!!!!!!!!! If you decide to go with a cafe, can I have it before you fuck it up? I'll give you $100 for it

 

[Swagger]

Mr.Dwarf is very concerned about everyone else "fucking up" but I have yet to see anything he's done.
Perhaps killerdwarf could enlighten us all on what constitutes fucking up a bike by showing us what he builds.
Or perhaps not.....

 

[JRK5892]

hell ya a vtwin cafe!!! pull the carbs and clean them suckers! that is prob where your hessitation is coming from. for wheel choices, those mags are slick man! where only made for a short time. clean them up and do something cool with paint. you may have to weld in a new sub frame to make a cool style cafe seat, look at some cafe viragos to help give you some ideas

 

[hurley209]

cool bike man, the last bike i built was a magna, similar frame, engine, and same drive shaft, and the same exact wheels. a little creativity and itl be awsome. do what make you happy with it, thats my advice. cafe, fighter, tracker, whatever as long as you dig it. either way it'll be a rad ride.

heres a pic of my last build, like i mentioned it has the same wheels, shaft, and some other things are very similar.

 

[killerdwarf]

Mr.Dwarf is very concerned about everyone else "fucking up" but I have yet to see anything he's done.
Perhaps killerdwarf could enlighten us all on what constitutes fucking up a bike by showing us what he builds.
Or perhaps not.....

That' two stabs it me today swagger. Did you eat some wheaties, make you all tough? I've built some bikes which have never seen a hacksaw, so maybe I don't belong here. I also don't even have time to work on my own bikes, as I have a motorcycle/snowmobile repair business which I own and operate by myself at home. Between working on other peoples bikes, and trying to keep up on the maintenace and repair of 2 race bikes I have hardly enough time to tell you to stfu

 

[Swagger]

That' two stabs it me today swagger. Did you eat some wheaties, make you all tough? I've built some bikes which have never seen a hacksaw, so maybe I don't belong here. I also don't even have time to work on my own bikes, as I have a motorcycle/snowmobile repair business which I own and operate by myself at home. Between working on other peoples bikes, and trying to keep up on the maintenace and repair of 2 race bikes I have hardly enough time to tell you to stfu

Put up or shut up, bait.
You add little to any thread you post in other than insinuating that others will 'fuck up' their bikes.
If that's all you bring to the table you're fairly useless except perhaps as fertilizer.
Good on ya for having a garage business but you're still less than useful.

akwon: sorry for the derail, seems we get a few rejects from elsewhere.
Have fun with your bike, for $50 it'd be tough to fuck up..

 

[scottychop]

Here you go:

On the Yahoo Ascot Group

 

[Swagger]

THAT is pretty!

 

[akwon]

You could definitel make this a cafe - put a long bump-stop or Dunstall/ducktail seat on it and replace the headlight with a round one. Throw straight bars or clipons and some rearsets at it and you're in business.

I'll take your advice and get the proper battery. Clip ons is definitely a cool idea I've been thinking of. Any specific brand or product you suggest?
Rearsets would be cool, but I think I need to get the basics done first...seat, headlight, handlebars.

The headlight is 100% the first thing to go. I hate square headlights.

Might be a real challenge to get a "cafe" look out of that bike. Maybe more of a fighter..... whatever you do with it though, it will be "your" bike which is what's important!

1) I have 0 experience with driveshafts. But I've never heard of anybody converting it to a chain drive, don't think it's really possible. 2) check out www.roccitycafe.com for seats, bars, etc and DCC (top of the page) for everything else.
3) As far as the gas goes, flush the tank + petcock a couple times with fresh gas and pull the carbs and give them a good scrubbing too
4) A smaller battery might work, depending on the use of a starter or a kickstarter - does that have a kickstart?
5) I would say stick with the stock size tires. Look around for some sportier tread patterns, but in stock sizes. Once you change tire sizes, it can wreak havoc on the handling and such

I'll take your advice and keep the stock size, although I wouldn't mind going a little bit fatter. Hopefully, I'll get around to the carbs this weekend. You see the battery thats pictured? Can I just refill it with distilled water/acid mixture and charge it again? It's almost 10years old and its flat dead.

cool bike man, the last bike i built was a magna, similar frame, engine, and same drive shaft, and the same exact wheels. a little creativity and itl be awsome. do what make you happy with it, thats my advice. cafe, fighter, tracker, whatever as long as you dig it. either way it'll be a rad ride.

heres a pic of my last build, like i mentioned it has the same wheels, shaft, and some other things are very similar.

Wow, that bike looks AWESOME. What size are those tires and how was the ride quality? Do you have more pics and a 'mod' list? It looks sick!

hell ya a vtwin cafe!!! pull the carbs and clean them suckers! that is prob where your hessitation is coming from. for wheel choices, those mags are slick man! where only made for a short time. clean them up and do something cool with paint. you may have to weld in a new sub frame to make a cool style cafe seat, look at some cafe viragos to help give you some ideas

CHECK. In terms of seat, were you referring to something like this?
http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t317/UJMsRule/xv920cafe.jpg


Thanks for the big response guys, seriously.

 

[killerdwarf]

Put up or shut up, bait.
You add little to any thread you post in other than insinuating that others will 'fuck up' their bikes.
If that's all you bring to the table you're fairly useless except perhaps as fertilizer.
Good on ya for having a garage business but you're still less than useful.

akwon: sorry for the derail, seems we get a few rejects from elsewhere.
Have fun with your bike, for $50 it'd be tough to fuck up..

Really, you're not really worth the time it takes to type this, but I'll do it anyways. I've helped quite a few people here with problems, and suggestions. Do some research. But you better do it quick, 'cause I ain't hangin' around a forum who keeps a half witted big mouth such as yourself around.

 

[Big R]

I guess I stand corrected on the cafe racer part......

As far as the battery goes, you could try filling it with distilled water but at 10 years old I wouldn't get your hopes up.

And roccitycafe.com has 2 types of clip ons, be sure to check them out.

 

[sebatron]

$50?! i paid about 300 for one less a front end, fuel tank, seat, half the wiring and 100cc's (NV400 chassis - identical bike)
i'm going to attempt a bobber out of mine - having something individual is pretty well guaranteed with these.
interesting motors - offset crank pins, twin spark, water cooled, e-start only...

 

[bikeboy]

Here you go:

On the Yahoo Ascot Group

I'd ride it

ian

 

[jerd61]

New guy here...lots of lurking, first post. That ascot cafe is pretty slick, and I would have to agree with earlier posts that the ascot would make a great street tracker. Either way, it is your bike and you do what you want. That magna is pretty interesting, I have been half assed trying to turn a sabre into a cafe, but might possibly try taking it the tracker way, not sure.

 

[Swagger]

Oh man...don't give up yet!
Some body work changes and some suspension and you're on your way to a monster! I love that engine.
You might look into a CX500 tank and one of Roc's cafe seats....

 

[hurley209]

Tires are shinko 110/90/18 front 140/90/16 back handled awsome. very good ride.
as far as mods i cant remember alllll of them but the main stuff was , shortened frame, lowered front, chin, longer stiffer shocks in the back, exhaust, made some bars, headlight, tail light, paint, a VERY good cleaning, made a tail, seat, i cant think of anything else right now. i did sell the bike though. made quite the profit.