maxDTM
( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
My Craigslist addiction has led to many wasted hours spent dreaming "what if." Well, a few days ago I spotted a posting that led to a phone call, which led to a drive across town, and which soon escalated into a couple of dudes hauling a pretty rough scrambler into my dad's pickup truck. So here in my driveway, in her full glory, sits Billiwhacker:
The serial number indicates this bike was the 239th CL125 produced and I'm the second owner. My friends and I purchased it on a farm called "Billiwhack Ranch," so Billiwhacker felt like an appropriate name—but to make things cooler we also learned about a little bit of folklore associated with the ranch. That's right: on that very farm exists a horrifying ram-headed humanoid called the Billiwhack Monster. And little did we know, we brought home a few creatures of our own...
Exhibit A: Under the tank I found a fucking birds nest:
An egg... scrambled?:
And the air-filter was "housing" a nice big black widow family:
Normally I am a pacifist, but in the case of the widow I had to "put my foot down." Sorry bout it.
I've been spending the last few days getting dried mud off the frame, engine, wheels, forks... Did I mention there's mud everywhere? Seems like the damn thing fell into a pit of quicksand at some point in its life. The good news is that it's cleaning up pretty nicely and the frame looks great besides some minor pitting and surface rust. Unfortunately the badass scrambler pipe is rusted away and I'll have to source a new one (if anyone has one, please let me know!). The seatpan is also rusted through, and the tank is very rusty (I sourced a tank from a DTT member, and seatpans are luckily a dime a dozen on fleabay). Suspension will need a makeover, but the wheels seem pretty solid.
And of course the bike will need a lot of of mechanical attention. The icing on the cake is that the motor is seized from sitting 20+ years out on a field... This will be my first complete teardown and I expect nothing less than a serious learning experience. My buddies and I have decided to make this our summer project and split the costs of the impending parts, which is good because I'm a freshly-graduated college alum with very little funds. We understand the implications of starting a project like this, but I'm confident that we can bring Billi back to life in the next few months. First order of business will be removing the engine and inspecting the head. I'm hoping for a frozen piston and not a broken cam chain. This has to wait until my buddies are available this weekend. In the meantime I'm dealing with a broken spark plug and a stuck float bowl.
Whether or not this will evolve into a "cafe racer" is not certain, but since a full restoration is out of the question I think this will be an appropriate place to post. I'll update as soon as progress is made, and I appreciate your patience with me as I trudge through my first build. I will have no shortage of questions!
The serial number indicates this bike was the 239th CL125 produced and I'm the second owner. My friends and I purchased it on a farm called "Billiwhack Ranch," so Billiwhacker felt like an appropriate name—but to make things cooler we also learned about a little bit of folklore associated with the ranch. That's right: on that very farm exists a horrifying ram-headed humanoid called the Billiwhack Monster. And little did we know, we brought home a few creatures of our own...
Exhibit A: Under the tank I found a fucking birds nest:
An egg... scrambled?:
And the air-filter was "housing" a nice big black widow family:
Normally I am a pacifist, but in the case of the widow I had to "put my foot down." Sorry bout it.
I've been spending the last few days getting dried mud off the frame, engine, wheels, forks... Did I mention there's mud everywhere? Seems like the damn thing fell into a pit of quicksand at some point in its life. The good news is that it's cleaning up pretty nicely and the frame looks great besides some minor pitting and surface rust. Unfortunately the badass scrambler pipe is rusted away and I'll have to source a new one (if anyone has one, please let me know!). The seatpan is also rusted through, and the tank is very rusty (I sourced a tank from a DTT member, and seatpans are luckily a dime a dozen on fleabay). Suspension will need a makeover, but the wheels seem pretty solid.
And of course the bike will need a lot of of mechanical attention. The icing on the cake is that the motor is seized from sitting 20+ years out on a field... This will be my first complete teardown and I expect nothing less than a serious learning experience. My buddies and I have decided to make this our summer project and split the costs of the impending parts, which is good because I'm a freshly-graduated college alum with very little funds. We understand the implications of starting a project like this, but I'm confident that we can bring Billi back to life in the next few months. First order of business will be removing the engine and inspecting the head. I'm hoping for a frozen piston and not a broken cam chain. This has to wait until my buddies are available this weekend. In the meantime I'm dealing with a broken spark plug and a stuck float bowl.
Whether or not this will evolve into a "cafe racer" is not certain, but since a full restoration is out of the question I think this will be an appropriate place to post. I'll update as soon as progress is made, and I appreciate your patience with me as I trudge through my first build. I will have no shortage of questions!