Thinking about buying a cheap chookie...

As the rebuild on the Trump is gunna stretch past the end of me
holidays, I thought maybe I should buy another bike to get around on in
the meantime and get to work on once the hols are over.

Looking toward a big cheap chookie. Preferably around $1500. Any
thoughts?...

 

XT/TT600.. plenty round, and pull like a 14yr old...

 

A mate's got a KLX650 that I used for a couple of months last year but
he wants $2500 with new tyres and 12 months rego. Could maybe knock him
down a bit but the water-cooling puts me off.

That'd do.

Everyman's dream, cheap TTs...

Not fussed about make, prefer air-cooled and simple though. Might have
to check out the Trading Post...

 

why ? would be better in traffic
only a real concern if heading offroad and looking for big rocks


as long as its tidy and the rest of the consumables are good then you cant
really go too far wrong

 

Maintenance and complexity. Why have an extra system if it's not needed?

 

You'll be looking for a manual spark advance, side valves and 1-speed
gearing too, then? ;-)


BTH

 

Had the first two with the old WLA...

 

yeh putting a bit of green water in every couple of years is a headache

 

Not to mention hoses, radiator cores, water pumps, the possibility of
leaks from any of those and subsequent overheating, difficulty of access
to other components buried beneath cooling system components, etc...

 

I wish. If it were raining money I'd get hit with Yap currency.

I've decided to go ask the Credit Union to stump me the bux for a decent
chookie and a rebuild on the Pig. I've just spent four grand on the Pig
and then it goes and blows the donk. Arrrghhh!

 

I wonder how many other people got that without looking it up.

The disdain for liquid cooling thing is perplexing, though...

 

A DR650 is the tool for him, it is.

Boxer

 

I've never been much of a believer in having a car's cooling system on a
bike. The Pig is the exception but it's an expensive little bastard to
run. Only done half the k's the old Harley did due to the high running
costs.

Then there's the time I let a trusted mech do the valves. He decided the
cooling system needed flushing too.

I rode it 2k's home and had Mt. Vesuvius between my legs when I got
there. Turned out some bright spark had shoved a screwdriver or similar
down the neck of the water pump with the engine turning over. Only three
of the eight vanes on the pump shaft were still attached but they were
folded flat against the shaft. The other five fell out on the floor when
I removed the pump.

He permanently stained the frame on both sides with whatever shit he
used, melted the top of the filler neck by using a heat gun to open the
thermostat (obviously wasn't aware of the bleeder screw 2cm behind the
filler) so much that I had to epoxy it and sand it flat again so that
the radiator cap would seal.

Recently I found that the tips of three of my fan blades have melted.

**** water cooling.

 

Must admit it's a sweet looking bike, John.

 

Chook chaser. Dirt/Trail/Farm bike.

http://www.stanford.edu/~marcelo/index.html?Teaching/Docs/yap.htm~mainFrame

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yap

 

I'm having a little difficulty seeing how all this was the bike's
fault?


BTH

 

I honestly thought it was a 2-stroke!


BTH

 

It's not. I love that bike.

Eventually though, I will have to replace components of that cooling
system. Hoses, fan, pump, radiator, thermostat, etc. In the meantime, I
face additional time and cost when servicing it, as to do most work the
cooling system has to be emptied and components removed to gain access
to other components.

The point is that added complexity equals more potential problems. When
I buy a second bike, I want it to be basic, simple, easy to maintain,
cheap to maintain.

 

Check yer e-mail...

 

Melted!!!

Boggle!

Must have been a Harley mechanic.

Not used to plastic and stuff.