Look what followed me home!

[wacky941]

This is what followed me home:

Not bad for $500, of course it's in not running condition. It sat in the corner of this shop I take my bike to, it was owned by an old man (in his mid eighties) who was the original owner, he spends his summers in Colorado and winters in Texas, the bike sat up at the old mans house for a few years then he dropped it off at the shop where it sat again for a period of time but now it's in my garage. The tank is shot (badly rusted inside) the engine cover plates need polishing, the engine does turn over and of course the carbs need cleaned. It has some corrosion here and there and the chrome is dull but I figure it will be a nice project. The plan right now is to do a total disassembly and do my best to restore it at least that's the plan.

I guess you could say this is what my wife got me for fathers day.

 

[7981GS]

It looks like it tried to bite your truck!
Nice wife to buy that for your Father's Day gift BTW.

Daniel

 

[wacky941]

It looks like it tried to bite your truck!

The tow dolly is something I had bought a while back and have always kept in the bed of the truck as an insurance policy just in case I had problems with my bike and had to get it home, until yesterday I had never actually used it other than putting my red one on it to see how it worked.

 

[Truth]

Score! Great find, congrats.

 

[mighty13d]

you should always disconnect your chain when using those tow dollies...


Other than that... NICE FIND and your wife is awesome!

 

[Flyboy]

Nice find, no doubt it will clean up just as nice as its new stable mate.

 

[cowboyup3371]

Great looking bike. I love the tow dolly idea. Where did you get it? How well does it work? What kind of speeds can you do with it before what you are towing decides to flip over?

 

[wacky941]

you should always disconnect your chain when using those tow dollies...


Other than that... NICE FIND and your wife is awesome!

That's what I have heard, in this particular situation I didn't seeing as I was only going about twelve miles. I've also been told it's not a good idea to tow a shaftie with one of these.

Great looking bike. I love the tow dolly idea. Where did you get it? How well does it work? What kind of speeds can you do with it before what you are towing decides to flip over?

It actually towed great, I bought it from a guy who had sold his bike and had it sitting in his garage for awhile collecting dust. The fastest I traveled with it was 55mph for a very short time but the average speed was about 40. Like mighty said, when using these you should always disconnect the chain but in this case I didn't so I really didn't want to press my luck too much thats why I took mainly backroads to the house.
All in all, it's a very smooth tow you really don't know it's back there, it's very stable. I don't know if I would use it for coast to coast towing but then again I don't see why towing it three thousand miles would be much different than thirty other than the distance. The guy I bought it from said he had towed from Houston to Los Angeles and back a few times with it, I think I'll buy a regular trailer for that. It's a good insurance policy to keep in the back of my truck though.
If it's tied down right and you follow the same idea of towing a trailer it shouldn't flip gotta admit, I'd hate to find out the hard way

 

[Tech73]

Looks like you got a good deal. I just picked up it's twin yesterday for the same price.

 

[cowboyup3371]

So you are saying to disconnect the drive chain on the bike? What would happen if not? (Sorry for being stupid but I don't see the problem right now).

 

[loud et]

Congrats, everytime I see this model I want one more and more....thats a gimme price as far as I am concerned. BTW , I see you standing in the garage in the one pic...... you should think about buying some new arms before another bike.....just sayin lol

 

[Tech73]

So you are saying to disconnect the drive chain on the bike? What would happen if not? (Sorry for being stupid but I don't see the problem right now).

I could be wrong but I think he's referring to the G model bike. The one's with a drive shaft.

 

[wacky941]

So you are saying to disconnect the drive chain on the bike? What would happen if not? (Sorry for being stupid but I don't see the problem right now).

I was the same way when I first got it, all of the manufacturers of these say the same thing to remove the chain and the only reason I've been given is to keep from damaging the transmission by way of it somehow jumping into gear and also to prevent undue wear and tear on the transmission from the sprocket turning at the high revolutions without the engine running to push oil around, that's what I've been told, whether it's the right answer or not I'm not sure but it was enough to make me want to pull the chain if I can.

 

[wacky941]

BTW , I see you standing in the garage in the one pic...... you should think about buying some new arms before another bike.....just sayin lol

It's funny you say that, a couple weeks ago I was waiting for a guy to come out and give me an estimate on some exterior work, I saw him drive up and as I was headed for the door I saw him walking toward the garage and talking, I couldn't figure out who he was talking to, as I walked out the front door he comes back around the front laughing and embarrassed saying that he spotted the beat em up bob in the back and thought it was me waiting in the garage but then realized Bob had no arms. I laughed about it for a while, wasn't nice but I thought it was funny!
He did an excellent job by the way replacing the trim boards on my chimney and ripping out and replacing the railing on my balcony

 

[mighty13d]

So you are saying to disconnect the drive chain on the bike? What would happen if not? (Sorry for being stupid but I don't see the problem right now).

They say that if you allow the trans to spin without the engine running, it will not allow enough oil flowing into it and burn it up. That's why they suggest not doing it with a shafty because you can't disconnect it as easy. I was going to build one of those but lower for my car so that I didn't have to tow my trailer around. They are a great idea.

 

[cowboyup3371]

I Just looked it up and that's not a bad price ($130). I think I'll have to work the budget out for something like this.

http://www.prohoists.com/Shopping.idc?ProductID=35

Especially after my little embarrasment yesterday

 

[saffa]

So you are saying to disconnect the drive chain on the bike? What would happen if not? (Sorry for being stupid but I don't see the problem right now).

Think about it ....when the motors running the pump is pushing oil to all the bearings in the motor including the tranny bearings. Without it running you have no lube to the tranny bearings at all only the residual oil from the last run which in this case was a while back. Can only end in tears if it goes on long enough

 

[Battleship62]

Towing with the Chain Hooked Up

Towing with the Chain Hooked Up

It can be too bad having the chain still on if it followed him home.

 

[rapidray]

Think about it ....when the motors running the pump is pushing oil to all the bearings in the motor including the tranny bearings. Without it running you have no lube to the tranny bearings at all only the residual oil from the last run which in this case was a while back. Can only end in tears if it goes on long enough

Do you ever stop & look at one of these pictures before you make comments like this? Think about it while you look at the picture of the bike again up on the dolly. Do you see how the bike is tilted to the BACK? That SUBMERGES the trans & all it's bearings in the engine oil! As long as it stays in neutral, NO PROBLEMS!!! Ray.

 

[Planecrazy]

I had contemplated the idea of buying or building a tow dolly, but concluded that it was a bad idea for me ... because I would want to use it for long distance towing more often than any other type.

So, you're all wondering, why the big deal with that? Three reasons... First, replacing worn trailer tires on a little trailer is easier and generally cheaper than replacing a worn bike tire (and I'd rather wear the bike tire while riding it). Second, if the bike tire blows out while you're trailering it, not only do you NOT typically have a spare or an easy way to change it, but you might not even notice until significant damage had been done to the bike. Third, I owned (until recently) shafties, and as stated it's not recommended to tow shafties in particular any great distance (though Ray makes a very interesting point above).

So... while I think the dolly is a great idea for "emergency retrieval" or short distance towing, a conventional small trailer ultimately makes more sense to me, especially now that one or more companies sells a "trailer in a bag" that breaks down and fits in even a small car trunk. Not the cheapest trailering solution, but certainly convenient if you don't have space to store a conventional trailer!

Regards,

PS. Nice acquisition!!!