Just to put things in perspective (Opinion)

[bitzz]

Rule of thumb - never buy a bike older than you are.

A buddy had a Norton Dommi. I thought it was a '59, the year I was spawned. I told him when he dies I want that bike.
He calls me to tell me he's dying, come get the bike... but SORRY it's a '57.
Got the bike home, IT'S A 1956. The first year of the 99 model and last year of the magneto

THAT IS A CAFE RACER
and YES, it runs like a top. Starts on the 2nd kick

 

[TK4]

A buddy had a Norton Dommi. I thought it was a '59, the year I was spawned. I told him when he dies I want that bike.
He calls me to tell me he's dying, come get the bike... but SORRY it's a '57.
Got the bike home, IT'S A 1956. The first year of the 99 model and last year of the magneto

THAT IS A CAFE RACER
and YES, it runs like a top. Starts on the 2nd kick

Carryover models don't count. Shift on the right, up for low. Enjoy !

 

[Wingboy]

Rule of thumb - never buy a bike older than you are.

Is that the same as "you're only as old as the woman you're feeling"?

 

[Wingboy]

I got it home on one cylinder, so yes…technically not a breakdown


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Made me furious when a fuel injector went bad on my 2001 wing. No limp mode with the other 5 cylinders, ooh no. Tow truck ffs.

 

[TK4]

Made me furious when a fuel injector went bad on my 2001 wing. No limp mode with the other 5 cylinders, ooh no. Tow truck ffs.

And that's on a bike that's (now) only 20 years old. No roadside fixes for that.

 

[Priller]

My first bike was an '88 Hawk GT (RC31 to @bitzz ), and none of the major shops at the time (neither of the Cycle Worlds or McBride, to date myself) would touch it because it was over 10 years old and had a carb. I taught myself a lot because I was forced to do the work myself, so in hindsight they did me a favour, even if I did make a lot of mistakes along the way.

Maybe I'm getting all "kids these days", but I feel like collectively we're much less likely to work on something ourselves and more likely to pay someone to do it for us (or just buy a new one) than we were. I could see this leading to massively underestimating the work involved to keep an old bike on the road, as there's zero concept of how the thing works and what has gone, and what will go, wrong...

 

[backmarkerducati]

People just need to realize what they are getting into. Classic car market sees the same thing, some people buy a 60s muscle car and expect to DD like a new Honda Civic, they get mad at the mechanics... but it is not everyone.

Buying old, get some tools and work on it or expect to pay serious money for someone else to do the wrenching. Parts can be hard to find of course, regrettably for the British bike guys there is a COVID shortage of this replacement part.....

 

[bitzz]

To be fair to the

"kids these days"

When I was young the world was warming up the "cold war" and the powers that be were afraid of a technology gap and just pumped us kids with technology and sciences in the hope that we would grow up to be aviation, nuclear or munitions engineers.
We got classes in drafting, machine shop, auto and wood working.
They don't do that anymore.

 

[GreyGhost]

My first bike was an '88 Hawk GT (RC31 to @bitzz ), and none of the major shops at the time (neither of the Cycle Worlds or McBride, to date myself) would touch it because it was over 10 years old and had a carb. I taught myself a lot because I was forced to do the work myself, so in hindsight they did me a favour, even if I did make a lot of mistakes along the way.

Maybe I'm getting all "kids these days", but I feel like collectively we're much less likely to work on something ourselves and more likely to pay someone to do it for us (or just buy a new one) than we were. I could see this leading to massively underestimating the work involved to keep an old bike on the road, as there's zero concept of how the thing works and what has gone, and what will go, wrong...

Part of the problem is many bikes that are currently "old" do not lend themselves well to learning to wrench. Fuel injection, sensors etc. is harder to learn with imo. There are a few recent carbed bikes but the majority are pushing vintage status.

 

[TwistedKestrel]

My first bike was an '88 Hawk GT (RC31 to @bitzz ), and none of the major shops at the time (neither of the Cycle Worlds or McBride, to date myself) would touch it because it was over 10 years old and had a carb. I taught myself a lot because I was forced to do the work myself, so in hindsight they did me a favour, even if I did make a lot of mistakes along the way.

Maybe I'm getting all "kids these days", but I feel like collectively we're much less likely to work on something ourselves and more likely to pay someone to do it for us (or just buy a new one) than we were. I could see this leading to massively underestimating the work involved to keep an old bike on the road, as there's zero concept of how the thing works and what has gone, and what will go, wrong...

Lol I got the same BS from CWW on my 1991 Yamaha Radian. And parts definitely wasn't the issue, because I could just walk downstairs and walk out with the parts - they seemed to have everything in stock! I guess I should thank them in the same way, because that was the start to me doing most work myself.

Still though... doing a valve clearance check on the Radian would have been such a gravy job for them. "Too old" was such ********* lol

 

[GreyGhost]

"Too old" was such ********* lol

It may not have been the case then, but now, many shops really can't work on "old" vehicles. The mechanics that grew up with carbs and manually checking timing are aging out and many of the younger ones are pixie wranglers and parts replacers. Sure, you will find some good mechanics that can fix anything but I think they are in the minority now.

 

[TwistedKestrel]

It may not have been the case then, but now, many shops really can't work on "old" vehicles. The mechanics that grew up with carbs and manually checking timing are aging out and many of the younger ones are pixie wranglers and parts replacers. Sure, you will find some good mechanics that can fix anything but I think they are in the minority now.

I can buy that for cars/trucks. Late automotive carbs were complicated, and you can easily be a working tech having been born after the last carbureted car rolled off the lot.

Motorcycles, though... CV carbs are not really that complex. Even "fancy" ones that have a mid jet and TPS sensors barely change anything. We've had digital ignition since the 80's, so I don't think points are a huge concern anymore, but the KLR650 still had a carb on it in 2018. It doesn't really feel like things changed that much to me in the last 30 years mechanically, or at least not enough that anybody should be boggled by something like a DOHC CB750

 

[backmarkerducati]

It may not have been the case then, but now, many shops really can't work on "old" vehicles. The mechanics that grew up with carbs and manually checking timing are aging out and many of the younger ones are pixie wranglers and parts replacers. Sure, you will find some good mechanics that can fix anything but I think they are in the minority now.

I am always shocked when people take their 20+++ year old vehicle to the dealerships (cars, bikes, whatever). Pay a premium rate for someone that pretty much never touches anything that old.... maybe not even their significant other.

 

[TK4]

I have a friend who, until he bought a boat with a Mercruiser stern drive, had never worked on anything with contact points or condensers. And he's a good wrench twister.

 

[Priller]

Part of the problem is many bikes that are currently "old" do not lend themselves well to learning to wrench. Fuel injection, sensors etc. is harder to learn with imo. There are a few recent carbed bikes but the majority are pushing vintage status.

Agreed, up to a point.

Having dug into the guts of the RC51, it's not all that different to the Hawk GT as far as complexity. Sure, the parts and diagnostics are a bit different, and it's about checking injector flow or fuel pressure regulators rather than jets and floats, but the basics are a lot alike. Even electronic parts like fried CDI units can be repaired with some internet support and a soldering iron.

For my Aprilia it's a different story, though. Between the RBW throttle, the complex ABS, and the long list of sensors, that's bad enough. Add a complex motor with difficult access, and it's a bike best left to experts.

 

[Freddy F]

Over the years I have wrenched, restored, fixed, modified... so many toys and things...including sleds and a 69 Cougar I restored and hopped up ....nowadays I don't have the time, energy, freedom from pain, or proper workspace. That's why I bought new. Sound like an old geezer but Im only 56. Also just to comment on the above post about how carburetors are the devil's work, they sure can be but at least when you stomp it, the power comes on almost instantly, unlike EFI....especially if it has mechanical secondaries.

 

[Jayv]

I parked next to an old girl today, nice to look at but I prefer to ride than wrench.

Still at the stage in my life where I prefer Milf's over Gilf's lol

 

[Mad Mike]

I started riding in 1968, when finding a used motorcycle more than say 10 years old that was worth buying and didn't need a ton of work was rare and unusual to say the the least. We had no choice but to learn how to do our own repairs. Work on it for an hour, ride for an hour.
Now here we are a few (ahem) decades later, and people are buying up P.O.S. that are often 40 to 50+ years old and expecting them to run flawlessly and reliably with nothing more than basic maintenance. AND at the same time paying ridiculous amounts of money for them AND taking it personally when a shop refuses to work on it because its going to cost too much or there are no parts .
What's wrong with this picture ? Unrealistic expectations because the Japanese manufacturers (and H-D) did too good a job of building the stuff in the first place, and the sales boom through the 70s, 80s and 90s has this stuff still lingering around peoples' garages and garden sheds instead of being in landfill.
I'm not suggesting that you don't take on a fun project, goodness knows I've had a few over the years, but don't count on them to be your main source of summer transportation. I've seen too many people get caught up in the romance of it all, where maybe if they'd set their sights a little more realistically they'd be having more fun. And learn to do your own work and source your own parts.
End of rant...

My garage is full of motorcycles. I have bikes from the 60s, 70s, 80s, 00s, 10s. Nothing from the 90s.

My daily ride is always a current late model, I do enjoy tinkering and running the old girls.

 

[Priller]

Nothing from the 90s.

For shame. The '90s was an era when not only could you make a bike lime green, purple and pink, but dudes would go out and buy custom Vanson leathers to match! (note obligatory Muzzy exhaust)

 

[Baggsy]

It was really good when Ontario Cycle Salvage was still around.