advCo said:
Plus, who knows how many misc parts this dude lost along the way, the little stuff can add up to a lot of cash as well.
I can attest to this. A couple of years ago I bought a 78 KZ400 basket case from a kid, it was his first bike. He took the top end apart to fix some leaking issues common with the KZ400s and never got around to putting it back together. The engine was out of the frame, the head was pulled, and the front end of the bike was mostly stripped. He was working in a little shed and said that everything that he took off he put into one of the several boxes/bins that came with it. Many of the smaller parts were bagged in ziploc bags. It looked like it was all there, and it was... mostly. I finished stripping the bike, disassembled the rest of the top end of the engine, cleaned everything up, added new rings, painted the frame, etc. and began reassembly. In addition to the money I budgeted to spend on upgrades (bars, carbs, controls, new regulator, electronic ignition, lights, etc) I've spent hundreds on stupid little stuff that I later found to be missing. And I would always seem to find something was missing when I was in the zone and making good progress which would come to screeching halt while I ordered replacements from ebay or boltdepot or made a trip to the hardware store or fabbed something to work. It was short 2 head bolts and 2 valve cover bolts, the bolts for the starter, the bolts for the starter cover, the starter cover gasket. It seems like every time I needed 4 bolts for something I could only find 3. It was missing the tank mounting rubber dampers, it was missing a couple spacers for the engine mounting bolts (which meant having to buy a whole set of the engine mounting bolts to just get the spacers), it was missing just the rear cam chain guide, the oil pan plug, the horn and all kinds of other small misc stuff (nuts, bolts, washers, etc.). None of them individually were major issues or project killers but all the little stuff adds up in both cost and delays.
And that's not even considering all the wear items I had planned on replacing anyways, that every bike being brought back from the dead will need: tires, battery, new clutch cable, new throttle cable, new speedo cable, new tach cable, brake lines, air filter(s), master cylinder rebuild, caliper rebuilds, carb boots, airbox boots, carb diaphragms, shocks, brake pads, brake shoes, fork seals, wheel bearings, neck bearings, swingarm bearings/bushings, chain, sprockets, coil, reg/rect, on and on and on. IIRC there was a thread on here a few years back where we tallied up the minimum cost to get a neglected bike back on the road safely (just replacing wearable items, assuming nothing is broken) and I think it was somewhere around $1500. Not counting purchase price of the bike, not counting any customizations, not counting fixing anything broken (new rings? head work?).
Because I got the bike dirt cheap I'm only into it right now for about $1500 and may be able to keep it under $2K by the time I'm done. I might be able to sell it for that if I ever decide to.
Anyway, rant/warning over. Just be careful of those little things that could be missing, they add up quickly. If the PO has everything bagged and tagged that could be a good sign. If everything is just piled randomly in various boxes maybe not such a good sign.
But do what you want to do, only you know your intentions. Do you want a bike to ride? Then probably be best to avoid this and buy something in better condition. Do you want a bike to work on, build, customize? Then go ahead and get it if you can get it cheap. Are you looking for something to fix up and flip? This is probably not a good candidate, too many unknowns and risks.
