| Author |
Message |
Gunnar (Gunnar)
Username: Gunnar
Registered: 8-2006
| | Posted on Tuesday, August 08, 2006 - 5:04 am: | |
I'm a complete novice and have found a T20 locally for £200 and it's in pretty bad shape. It's also got some really bad high-bar handlebars, a blue headlight/speedo (on a red bike) and the whole thing looks rusty and as if stored under some brush for 30 years. Assuming it runs, what is a likely budget to get it to road-worthy condition? I want to make it into more of a street racer. |
Adrian Baker (Admin)
Username: Admin
Registered: 2-2002
| | Posted on Tuesday, August 08, 2006 - 9:38 am: | |
Hi Gunnar
This question is a little like "How long is a piece of string"?
How good do you want it to be? How good a mechanic are you? Do you have plenty of good contacts? etc.
It certainly won't be cheap but you can do it for a reasonable price if you do most of the work yourself and don't want perfection.
If you do all the bodywork repair and spraying yourself, you won't have to spend too much on that, although it will take some time.
One major cost will be restoring the engine, it will need doing as you will have to get the crank rebuilt to get new crank seals fitted - that is an absolute essential.
Sorry I can't be more specific, but if you want an estimate, make a big list of the cost of ALL of the jobs and spares that you will need.
Tyres
Battery
Paint
Body repair
spares (many)
crank rebuild
pistons and rebore?
etc
The engine rebuild will cost you at least £200/300 assuming that there is no major damage, and possibly double that amount if you replace all of the bearings and have new pistons and rebore.
I never totalled up my costs as I couldn't bear to see how much it DID cost...... |
Gunnar (Gunnar)
Username: Gunnar
Registered: 8-2006
| | Posted on Wednesday, August 09, 2006 - 11:00 pm: | |
I'm figuring a conservative budget of £1000. I really don't care about cosmetics at all, just that the mechanics are reliable. One specific cost I am wondering about is aftermarket racing handlebars. It's got some Harley style high handlebars and I don't even want to drive it like that. What can I expect to pay for something like that? Do I have to get someone to make it or is there a source for something suitable? |
Gunnar (Gunnar)
Username: Gunnar
Registered: 8-2006
| | Posted on Wednesday, August 09, 2006 - 11:10 pm: | |
I guess the other angle to my question is: "on a scale of 1-10, how hard of a project is this for a beginner?".
I am very handy and repair vintage electronics, cameras and my car to a degree but I literally have never even sat on a motorcycle before! |
Adrian Baker (Admin)
Username: Admin
Registered: 2-2002
| | Posted on Friday, August 11, 2006 - 2:29 pm: | |
On a scale of 1-10, I'd give it a 7 or 8. Not wanting perfect cosmetics makes the job SO much easier. The engines are easy to work on and as you obviously have skill at handywork, you should do OK.
Handlebars are a cheap aftermarket item - perhaps £20-25. Clip-ons (like on my racer) about twice that |
Gunnar (Gunnar)
Username: Gunnar
Registered: 8-2006
| | Posted on Sunday, September 03, 2006 - 3:24 am: | |
I finally got a picture of the exact bike:
<img>
It looks worse in person... |
Gunnar (Gunnar)
Username: Gunnar
Registered: 8-2006
| | Posted on Sunday, September 03, 2006 - 3:26 am: | |
for some reason the HTML didn't work:
http://www.planetofsoundonline.com/t20.jpg |
Adrian Baker (Admin)
Username: Admin
Registered: 2-2002
| | Posted on Wednesday, September 06, 2006 - 6:54 pm: | |
To add an image, click on the 'help/instructions' link below and it will tell you how to add the picture. Alternatively, copy the code below, BUT leave out the spaces between \ and image and image and {
\ image {Text description}
adrian
PS - Your bike looks similar to mine when I started |
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