Tampan
Race Dog
- Joined
- Oct 20, 2015
- Messages
- 2,333
- Reaction score
- 1,111
- Bike
- KTM 1190 Adventure
I bought a bike at a very good price, about a year ago. It was "in excellent condition" with just a minor "burnt wiring issue", causing it not to start and a "new top end with 0 hours", etc. :deal:
Long story short, I eventually had it transported to the bike shop I always use, earlier this year and around R7k later, they got the bike started and sorted out many other issues. The mechanic warned me, however, that although running, the bike wasn't sound. ???
Got it to the farm on Thursday and decided to take it for a test ride this morning. I started it up and immediately saw that it smoked way too much, in my humble opinion, to have a healthy engine with a 0 hour top end.
It was quite cold, so I putted along slowly in third gear. After less than 1 km, the back wheel locked and we came to an abrupt stop. The bike is now completely dead and the starter doesn't even make a noise. I hate small bikes without a kick starter... :
I pushed it, in gear, and the engine turns, so it didn't seize - which was my conclusion after I initially thought that the chain or rear brake locked, for some or other reason.
What would be most satisfactory at this stage, is to throw the f@cking thing in the river and forget about it, but that would set a bad example to my kids and I'm already around R16k into this lemon. So, I either have to sell it for like R5k, or make a project out of it. Strip it down completely and rebuild it from the ground up, overhaul the engine, properly, basically rebuild it to new condition.
But is this route worth the effort and would parts be readily available? It will probably be cheaper and much wiser to just buy a used XR125/150 to use on the farm.
The bike is a 1994 Suzuki DR250SE...
Long story short, I eventually had it transported to the bike shop I always use, earlier this year and around R7k later, they got the bike started and sorted out many other issues. The mechanic warned me, however, that although running, the bike wasn't sound. ???
Got it to the farm on Thursday and decided to take it for a test ride this morning. I started it up and immediately saw that it smoked way too much, in my humble opinion, to have a healthy engine with a 0 hour top end.
It was quite cold, so I putted along slowly in third gear. After less than 1 km, the back wheel locked and we came to an abrupt stop. The bike is now completely dead and the starter doesn't even make a noise. I hate small bikes without a kick starter... :
I pushed it, in gear, and the engine turns, so it didn't seize - which was my conclusion after I initially thought that the chain or rear brake locked, for some or other reason.
What would be most satisfactory at this stage, is to throw the f@cking thing in the river and forget about it, but that would set a bad example to my kids and I'm already around R16k into this lemon. So, I either have to sell it for like R5k, or make a project out of it. Strip it down completely and rebuild it from the ground up, overhaul the engine, properly, basically rebuild it to new condition.
But is this route worth the effort and would parts be readily available? It will probably be cheaper and much wiser to just buy a used XR125/150 to use on the farm.
The bike is a 1994 Suzuki DR250SE...
