New guy checking in, 83 650 and a half:)

[GLHS837]

Hi all, nice to find this place. I'm 43, and have been riding since 1982. Got the current bike about 5years ago, rode it intermittently til recently, but the recurring charging issues with other problems to be had from a $600 bike kept it mostly on the sideline. I got luck last spring and got a complete 84 parts bike with no title for $300. That, combined with an increased personal budget, alllowed me to get past the issues, and get it running properly. This pic is from not long after I got the parts bike, which came as complete as the black one. In fact, most of whats missing from that bike has been swapped over to the 83, which had been red:)




Since then, its been a few things. Not long after that, the ignition switch cooked, so that rebuilt front end got torn up to replace that:) Fork seals went bad over the winter, had a guy do those, shouldnt have, he took thee weeks to get the darn parts. Saved labor by bringing him the forks, but lost riding time. About 2 weeks ago, starter went, swappped that over from the parts bike. Last week, then right front brake caliper Id rebuilt with what seemed like good seals from the parts bike went south, leaking like a sieve. Just got those parts in and finished rebuilding that caliper tonite, I'll bleed them out tomorrow.

[Hondo]

  to The Forums GLHS837!

Yep, old bikes can be some work, but having a donor bike for parts makes it easy.

I miss my 85 650 NH....

[GLHS837]

Thanks, Hondo, yep, its been an easy $1,000 the part bike has saved me so far, easy. I'll be taking some more pics and participating in a lot of discussions.




Bill 

[Hondo]

If the pipes are nice, you might want to pull them off & put them in the attic or other dry place.

Nice pipes are hard to find.

[GLHS837]

Right now, Ive got this thing called a "Motoshed", a metal frame temporary shedgot a great deal at BJs. Was $89 bucks. 10X12, so both bikes and a couple of parts shelves fit in just fine. Put down a floor of scrap plywood.

[detdrbuzzard]

hello aned welcome to nighthawk forums glhs837, older bikes like older cars as you know require maintinance but take up less room in the yard

[GLHS837]

Thanks, Det, yeah, theres one 68 Cougar left in the garage, awaiting a much larger budget for a complete restoration. The other one I had had to go, but taught me a lot about just diving in and learning. Prior to that, it had been a few things here and there. That car, head gaskets blew, so I learned how to pull heads and rework them. C4 trans went south, pulled that and rebuilt it in the basement. Ring gear broke, learned how to swap a diff:)

Having +20 years of wrenching on various military aircraft helps.