Hi Everyone! I have always been a fan of classic Japanese bikes and over the winter finally caught the bug to give owning my own a shot. My dad has ridden for a while now and kept suggesting I get a motorcycle to ride with him, so I'm looking forward to learning and joining him on the road.
I quickly got the feeling that I was looking for a stock bike in decent shape a few years too late. A lot of what I was finding were half-complete hack jobs or ones that needed a full restoration. I'm pretty handy and can follow directions if something goes wrong, but I wasn't looking to take apart an engine from the get go. There was a very clean Honda CB550F that I liked a lot, but the engine had some chatter that gave me pause. Turned out for the best because I continued looking and found this 1982 GS450T:
vg_gs450t.jpg
Great condition, starts right up, and runs no problem. As far as I can tell the bike is pretty close to stock and I plan to keep it that way. It has been sitting for a couple years so it needs new tires and brakes plus a general once over, but it clearly has been taken care of so I'm hoping there aren't many if any surprises waiting for me.
This looks like a great forum with a lot of information. While I'm not usually the most active member on message boards I'll share what I can to add my experiences to the conversation.
I quickly got the feeling that I was looking for a stock bike in decent shape a few years too late. A lot of what I was finding were half-complete hack jobs or ones that needed a full restoration. I'm pretty handy and can follow directions if something goes wrong, but I wasn't looking to take apart an engine from the get go. There was a very clean Honda CB550F that I liked a lot, but the engine had some chatter that gave me pause. Turned out for the best because I continued looking and found this 1982 GS450T:
vg_gs450t.jpg
Great condition, starts right up, and runs no problem. As far as I can tell the bike is pretty close to stock and I plan to keep it that way. It has been sitting for a couple years so it needs new tires and brakes plus a general once over, but it clearly has been taken care of so I'm hoping there aren't many if any surprises waiting for me.
This looks like a great forum with a lot of information. While I'm not usually the most active member on message boards I'll share what I can to add my experiences to the conversation.
.png)
Comment