Thursday, April 26, 2012

My other bike

In December of 2011, I traded a pinball machine for a non-running Yamaha RD400F that had been sitting in a garage in Aurora for around twenty years.  A little cleaning (gas tank, carburetors etc.) and maintenance was about all it took to get the bike running.  That project is documented here:  Yamaha RD400F



Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Liberated the bike from the fairing

As soon as I got it home, I removed the fairing and placed it on a shelf.



Drove to Dekalb, IL to purchase the bike

I had been waiting for an A model kz550 to show-up on Craigslist, and this one looked pretty clean in the pictures.  The guy had it sitting in his dining room in the two pictures that he posted.  I'll have to use that trick some day, because it made me feel as if the bike must have been babied.  When I actually looked at the bike, I was a little disappointed and probably should have offered less.  He came down 300 bucks from his asking price, but in hindsight I paid too much.  It did come with a spare engine and a bunch of parts though.  Considering some of the deals that I have gotten over the years, I am still way ahead.
I rented a van because even though the bike was running, it needed new tires and there was snow

I still have that fairing, sitting on a shelf where it belongs!