More Bikes: Sad Circumstances

[Mr Nick]

Remember I was mulling over the choice between my dad's Guzzi V50 and Yam XS250 as my next project before the forum went phut?

Fate decided to intervene last week and he passed away peacefully from cancer. It was not unexpected, but sooner than we all thought.

I have now fallen heir to both, plus a K5 Bandit 650S. The Guzzi & Yam are stored at a friend's barn and I brought the Bandit home to fix it up to get MOT'd and sold on. The bike was blue but has faded to a torquoise that my other half loves so I've not to sell it just yet. Now she wants to learn to ride and that's what she wants as her bike....

I took a day off sorting out his stuff and had a look over the bike. It's been sat around for the last few years and needs a bit of a tidy up. Despite the petrol in the tank being 3/4 years old, it did eventually fire into life & ran quite happily. I'm going to drop the oil before doing much else but there's not as much as I'd thought needing done & everything seems pretty straighforward to do.

I've also picked up the paperwork for the Guzzi & there's a long list of things that the last 2 owners have replaced so I'm maybe looking at an easier job, or at least less expensive, than I'd imagined.

[wurzel]

  Having lost my father in the last couple of months in similar circumstances I empathise with your situation, yet it is touching that your partner wants to take up the gauntlet and ride the bandit.

[MartinW]

Sorry to hear about your Dad Mr Nick.

I'm sure you will do the kind of refurb that would make him proud.

[Fat Rat]

Sorry to hear of your loss Nick.

[Hugo Magnus]

Yes, very sad. I hope the Guzzi brings a smile to your face.

[Timmo]

Sorry to hear of your loss, it will be good to hear the story of the Bandit, a nice tribute.

[obalanga]

condolence for your loss. keep riding.

[Ridaz]

Sorry for your loss Mr Nick

[Yoyo]

Sorry for your loss bloke, lets hope the old man can look down on you and your good lady going for a spin together.

[tallpaul]

Sorry for your loss. :(

[Mr Nick]

Thanks chaps: appreciate the thoughts.

I will admit to doing something & feeling a total nugget as long as you keep it to yourselves.... When I tried to turn the bandit over to check the basics, I couldn't get anything out of the starter: lights dimmed but no turny over. I looked at it for a while & decided to bridge across the solenoid - starter spun! Eventually she fired into life: not bad considering how old the fuel is.

I pulled the solenoid/relay out of the bike & set about figuring out what might be wrong with it. A quick squint through the wisdom of the interweb revealed that there could be an issue with the loom at the headstock, a dodgy kill switch or starter button, or.....

It could be that you have to pull the clutch in.....! 

I'd forgotten all about having to do that on Suzukis. Luckily, the good lady wasn't about when I found that so I can claim it was the underclunken rod had fouled the zimmerman flange and it was a total biatch to fix....

[tallpaul]

Good call! Your secret is safe with us! We won't say 'owt...