Greetings! I am new to the forum and am excited to be a part of the community.
Ever since my uncle bought a Goldwing in the late 70's, I have always loved the bike. I recently bought my first "real" street bike--a 2003 Yamaha Roadstar 1600. Shortly after purchasing it, I realized that just one motorcycle simply will not do. I am looking for a classic Goldwing to restore. I like the idea of "recycling" a bike and restoring it to its earlier beauty. I found a local Wing on Craigslist, a 1983 Interstate with 66,000 miles for $1650 with some room for negotiation. The bike has been for sale for about a month and hasn't sold and the seller is getting antsy. He said that he purchased the bike about 6 months ago with the thought of riding it while "fixing it up". Seeing as how he doesn't know the difference between a crescent wrench and a flux capacitor, he quickly realized he bit off more than he could chew and realized that it's very expensive to have someone else do all the work on your bike. He put tires on the bike and "did the brakes".
The bike looks to be in fair condition. All the parts are there, the plastic isn't cracked, and when he finally got it started, I didn't hear any knocking or tapping. It had a homemade one-carb conversion which was a work of modern art--I've never seen anything uglier on a machine in my life! Basically a welded semi-rectangular steel box for a manifold. The cardboard on the ground is for a valve cover leak. He tried to replace the gasket but wasn't terribly successful.
I realize that anyone hoping to make money on a restoration or even get what they put into a machine is being foolishly optimistic, but I don't want to buy a bottomless money pit, either. I can do almost all the work myself so labor costs aren't an issue. I just don't know enough about Goldwings to know what types of restoration costs I'm looking at.
I'm thinking that $1650 is a bit high; if I could get the bike for closer to $1,000 I'm inclined to take the plunge. I love the thought of a shiny thirty-year-old Goldwing in my garage next to my Roadstar!
Any thoughts?
Ever since my uncle bought a Goldwing in the late 70's, I have always loved the bike. I recently bought my first "real" street bike--a 2003 Yamaha Roadstar 1600. Shortly after purchasing it, I realized that just one motorcycle simply will not do. I am looking for a classic Goldwing to restore. I like the idea of "recycling" a bike and restoring it to its earlier beauty. I found a local Wing on Craigslist, a 1983 Interstate with 66,000 miles for $1650 with some room for negotiation. The bike has been for sale for about a month and hasn't sold and the seller is getting antsy. He said that he purchased the bike about 6 months ago with the thought of riding it while "fixing it up". Seeing as how he doesn't know the difference between a crescent wrench and a flux capacitor, he quickly realized he bit off more than he could chew and realized that it's very expensive to have someone else do all the work on your bike. He put tires on the bike and "did the brakes".
The bike looks to be in fair condition. All the parts are there, the plastic isn't cracked, and when he finally got it started, I didn't hear any knocking or tapping. It had a homemade one-carb conversion which was a work of modern art--I've never seen anything uglier on a machine in my life! Basically a welded semi-rectangular steel box for a manifold. The cardboard on the ground is for a valve cover leak. He tried to replace the gasket but wasn't terribly successful.
I realize that anyone hoping to make money on a restoration or even get what they put into a machine is being foolishly optimistic, but I don't want to buy a bottomless money pit, either. I can do almost all the work myself so labor costs aren't an issue. I just don't know enough about Goldwings to know what types of restoration costs I'm looking at.
I'm thinking that $1650 is a bit high; if I could get the bike for closer to $1,000 I'm inclined to take the plunge. I love the thought of a shiny thirty-year-old Goldwing in my garage next to my Roadstar!
Any thoughts?
k:
