wvonborstel
Puppy
- Joined
- Feb 23, 2011
- Messages
- 14
- Reaction score
- 0
- Location
- Bellville, Western Cape
- Bike
- BMW R1150GS Adventure
I've been looking around for a little 250cc to commute the hectic daily distance of 2.5km to work rather than using my 1150 or cage and as a plus get the Agteroppie to go riding on her own. 8)
So faithfully logging into Gomboom every day for the past couple of weeks, setting alerts, browsing to find a non-chinglese 250cc an advert for a Honda Tornado at about the 2/3s of the usual price came up. Ticked all the boxes, year, price, Yap brand, dual purpose and I know the little air cooled engines are pretty good considering how many Twisters are being used for delivery bikes by okes not giving a hoot about how they treat the bikes. Couple of phone calls to the seller, managed to secure a much better price, and 2 days later a rather bright yellow Honda Twister is dropped at my home. No expecting much for the price I still did the obligatory WTF!?!
It was covered in mud and cow dung, battery flat so no starting, bit of surface rust on the frame, one fork boot torn, front wheel flat, couple of indicator broken, clutch and brake levers missing. Pretty sad state but my over the phone estimation of condition matched the actual damage and I recovered as soon as I swung my leg over the saddle.
A quick clean followed by a strip search revealed some more surprises but nothing to stress about.
Huge 50 tooth rear sprocket fitted which would make the first ride interesting, knobby tire at the back confirming the reason for cow sh!t all over the bike. Draining the oil created another WTF moment and I started searching for an obvious oil leak. Nothing found so I will put my trust in the quality of oil used at the last service which from the looks of the old oil was a some time ago.
This week some serious cleaning was done, some scrubbing and sanding followed by painting of all brackets with black Hammerite DTM paint. Still need to put some high heat on the silencer and touch up some sections on the frame with silver paint. After a detout to Tracmac this week a new spark-plug could be fitted, the oil and filter replaced plus new battery. Some more shopping is required, will pop into Startline tomorrow and see what else my card can afford before payday.
To try and stretch the budget a bit I am soaking the chain in the old engine oil but will have to replace the sprocket set and chain so might have to force that plus fresh rear rubber onto my card as well.
I will post another update or two next week and include part numbers and where to source some of the bits. Hopefully this rescue will work out well. Holding :thumleft:
:sip:
So faithfully logging into Gomboom every day for the past couple of weeks, setting alerts, browsing to find a non-chinglese 250cc an advert for a Honda Tornado at about the 2/3s of the usual price came up. Ticked all the boxes, year, price, Yap brand, dual purpose and I know the little air cooled engines are pretty good considering how many Twisters are being used for delivery bikes by okes not giving a hoot about how they treat the bikes. Couple of phone calls to the seller, managed to secure a much better price, and 2 days later a rather bright yellow Honda Twister is dropped at my home. No expecting much for the price I still did the obligatory WTF!?!
It was covered in mud and cow dung, battery flat so no starting, bit of surface rust on the frame, one fork boot torn, front wheel flat, couple of indicator broken, clutch and brake levers missing. Pretty sad state but my over the phone estimation of condition matched the actual damage and I recovered as soon as I swung my leg over the saddle.
A quick clean followed by a strip search revealed some more surprises but nothing to stress about.
Huge 50 tooth rear sprocket fitted which would make the first ride interesting, knobby tire at the back confirming the reason for cow sh!t all over the bike. Draining the oil created another WTF moment and I started searching for an obvious oil leak. Nothing found so I will put my trust in the quality of oil used at the last service which from the looks of the old oil was a some time ago.
This week some serious cleaning was done, some scrubbing and sanding followed by painting of all brackets with black Hammerite DTM paint. Still need to put some high heat on the silencer and touch up some sections on the frame with silver paint. After a detout to Tracmac this week a new spark-plug could be fitted, the oil and filter replaced plus new battery. Some more shopping is required, will pop into Startline tomorrow and see what else my card can afford before payday.
To try and stretch the budget a bit I am soaking the chain in the old engine oil but will have to replace the sprocket set and chain so might have to force that plus fresh rear rubber onto my card as well.
I will post another update or two next week and include part numbers and where to source some of the bits. Hopefully this rescue will work out well. Holding :thumleft:
:sip:
