Perplexed!

[beezermacc]

Thinking of the onset of spring I was surfing the Ebay ads for a cheap, modern bike to use as a day-to-day hack. I came across a couple of likely candidates, both of which contained within the ad the reassuring phrase, 'only selling because I have bought another bike' and I wondered why people say this.... because why would you buy another bike if the one you already had was any good?

[bsa-bill]

to tear it down and build it up again because that's what many of us do, we seem (alright me then) to get almost as much pleasure sorting/altering/checking/making more original or whatever than we do riding them, completely illogical.
but if we wanted logic we'd buy a Honda

[muskrat]

Where's the logic in Honda's being logical. Have to remove the motor to get the head & barrels off!!
Cheers

[jachenbach]

My favorite is "ran when parked". Or the Triumph on Craigslist Dallas, which was in pieces and had been for years, but owner insisted "this is not a basket case!" Huh??????

[muskrat]

Yep, looks like I've sold the A65. Only just got it running after a full motor re-build. She owes me at least the sale price. Two years of fun riding and mechanican worth a lot more than money.
Cheers
ps. It'll pay to replace the four bald tyres on the ute, and maybe a bit of play money at the IOM in 5 months!!

[pato08]

The Bloke in UK I bought my Plunger off ( boxed ready to go) insisted it was all there, Ha Ha, about  "$#@"&"  spent so far on parts that were not there.

[a10gf]

The Bloke in UK I bought my Plunger off ( boxed ready to go) insisted it was all there, Ha Ha, about  "$#@"&"  spent so far on parts that were not there.

Got it the other way around, bought a complete plunger, now after carefully storing in boxes (mainly engine, awaiting my energy for an overhaul), seems some things have disappeared.

Morale of the stories, do not keep bikes in boxes, as parts then do mysteriously evaporate 

[Angus]

Yes I have never understood how when I pulled the A7 apart (a complete bike) and put it in boxes and cared for the boxes for 25 years, some parts appear to have evaporated things like the complete clutch including push rod and front mudguard brackets + others long forgotten now its back on the road and being ridden

[jachenbach]

I think the parts get lost when they are moved. I took apart a Moto Morini 350 in 1997. Reassembled in 2013 and found I'd lost a piston circlip. Should have bagged them, they were just laying loose on the top cylinder fin (sitting on a shelf, not boxed). Maybe that is some kind of record?

[cyclobutch]

Conversely the ’76 Kawasaki H1 that I was given and that had been stripped down to the last nut and bolt after it blew up in 1985 was all there. This despite having gone through four or five house moves. Sadly a lot of the parts had water damage/corrosion from at least one of their resting places. It did take me an awful long time to identify some of the parts and where they had to go, and that was not helped by cross contamination of an RD125 twin that must have passed through it at one point. Thought the pistons looked unfeasibly small.

[a10gf]

^^^

cross contamination of an RD125

lol+

[unclerob]

As a suggestion for an everyday bike, can I recommend a Cagiva Gran Canyon...a friendly sort of bike to ride and still very cheap to buy (in the Uk anyway!) I paid £1000 for mine a couple of years ago with less than 8,000 miles. Its lives outside, has always started and though people say spares are hard to come by, it hasn't been a problem for me since apart from an oil change I haven't done a thing to it....

[jachenbach]

1,000 pounds for a Gran Canyon! Wonder what it would cost to ship to USA? Not that I can afford it at the moment, but I've only ever seen one, and when I've looked for them haven't been able to find one for sale. I don't think it's possible to buy a running Ducati twin of any kind for that cheap around here. Not even a 620 Monster.

[Triton Thrasher]

I think the parts get lost when they are moved. I took apart a Moto Morini 350 in 1997. Reassembled in 2013 and found I'd lost a piston circlip. Should have bagged them, they were just laying loose on the top cylinder fin (sitting on a shelf, not boxed). Maybe that is some kind of record?

You re-use circlips?

[unclerob]

I know they're more expensive in the US but here they can be found much cheaper....really nice bikes!
On the other hand though BSA's are much cheaper in the US!