As promised, here are some pics of the bike the day I brought it home.
The next pic kind of shows a 3/4 view. I think the bike must have been dropped on its left side since the ball is missing on the clutch and the left side of the engine is a bit pocked up.
From this angle the bike actually looks pretty good... almost shiny!
I'm not sure if the angle is off a bit or the pipes are actually different heights. It may not matter if they're off a bit, though, since the left side pipe has what appears to be a poorly welded hole that is now a rusted out hole.
I did some major cosmetic cleanup and pretty much got all the cobwebs out of the crevasses and also removed the tail section down to the frame. I realize that this is not how the standard maintenance regimen would go but it seems like making sure I don't get tagged by a spider reaching into the bike seems like a priority.
I am now kind of stuck until the manual shows up but here are some more current pics and an addendum to the list of known issues:
- ball end missing on the clutch lever
- hole in the left exhaust pipe (pipes look to be conjoined somehow which probably means having to replace the entire assembly)
- the clutch cover plate appears to be missing the two lowest screws
Speedo, reading 31,480. The ignition is just for show!
Here's the pocked left side of the engine case:
This is the new rear end. I think that with a new seat and maybe an integrated brake light, license plate holder would help with the whole cafe racer look.
So far there are a few good things about the bike (aside from the bargain basement price):
- Hasn't leaked anything onto the garage floor. Either everything is dry inside or the seals are all pretty good
- Gas tank is dry as a bone. Again, if I'm lucky it got drained before getting mothballed instead of having to degunk everything.
- Looks pretty badass already. while not exactly comparing apples to apples, it seems to be 6" - 8" taller than the GZ250 I have been riding around and if restored to full working order should provide much better commute capabilities.
- Almost no rust. Certainly living in Cali for 30 years is better than the northeast or many parts of the land but so far the frame and engine components seem to be in reasonable shape. That may change when I start trying to take parts off and find that the bolts are rusted into a single blob but who knows.
