06-22-2018, 10:59 AM
I would add a few things for you to consider before making your decision (especially worth considering since you have the convenience of time on your side until your ready to make such a purchase).
Choose a bike that holds some interest to you. Sure the CBX flips your switch, but my guess is that you pick most any bike that you've ever thought to be kind of cool you'll end up enjoying the experience and wanting to do right by it.
Choose a bike that offers decent parts availability. Finding parts for certain bikes can be pretty difficult, especially if you're trying to locate parts that are in decent shape for a decent price. Although I suppose that if time or money is not of concern when it comes to tracking down parts you can ignore this one.
Check out the forums that are out there for any bike that you might be considering. Just imagine if our CB1100s were two, three, four or five decades older. The amount of information that we would be covering here would vary far more greatly. Once you've identified other bikes that are of interest to you have a look at the respective forums for those bikes to see what the community of support is like for each one. This can be an invaluable resource not only for the information it can provide but also for the assistance you might receive in tracking down parts, etc..
You might also consider thinking about what you could fix up and flip. If you end up having fun working on bikes (I know that I enjoy it) you could end up working on them only to sell them on to someone else who is looking for their first bike. Maybe a small twin wouldn't get you terribly excited, but once you've finished working on it, there might be someone else in your town that would be glad to get their hands on it. At that point, that person might learn to take on some basic maintenance tasks after you've done more of the heavy lifting so to speak, thus you've served to pass the torch on to the next generation — one that is sorely in need of developing some of these skills. Lots of times older bikes are sold simply because the carbs gum up, but there are usually a number of other things that they are in need of attention. You'll like be able to obtain plenty of wrenching experience working on such bikes before deciding to keep them or sell them to someone else.
I can relate to your situation. I bought my Hawk GT eleven years ago with many of the same thoughts in my mind. I didn't just want a motorcycle, I wanted a total motorcycle experience. With the exception of getting some help installing new suspension components when I needed to have the damper rods in the forks drilled out, I did all of the work on that bike on my own. I had a lot of fun with the Hawk and I learned a lot while caring for it. One of the biggest things I learned was patience. Whenever I found myself getting stuck on a problem, patience almost always played a role in my figuring out how to proceed without mucking something up.
I sold that bike last Sunday. After the new owner rode the bike back home to Idaho he wrote me to let me know how well the bike performed and just how much he enjoyed it (and they already had one Hawk GT in the family before buying mine). I'll no doubt miss my Hawk at times, but man did that ever make me feel good knowing that this bike performed so well because of all of the attention that I paid to it over the past eleven years.
I don’t want to sound like I am smashing on your dreams of owning a CBX but if your M.O. with the bike is to learn how to wrench, I think it’s a mistake. When I was a kid me and my dad rebuilt a 72 Beetle for my sister to drive to high school. It was Fun because it wasn’t very hard or very frustrating. If it had been, I probably would have never enjoyed it and now I’d be one of those guys that takes their car to a jiffy lube for an oil change (the horror).
riggles, you serve as evidence that age and wisdom do not always go hand in hand. In my opinion, you've shared some very nice insights. (Boy, I'd love to get my hands on that particular XR200.)
Choose a bike that holds some interest to you. Sure the CBX flips your switch, but my guess is that you pick most any bike that you've ever thought to be kind of cool you'll end up enjoying the experience and wanting to do right by it.
Choose a bike that offers decent parts availability. Finding parts for certain bikes can be pretty difficult, especially if you're trying to locate parts that are in decent shape for a decent price. Although I suppose that if time or money is not of concern when it comes to tracking down parts you can ignore this one.
Check out the forums that are out there for any bike that you might be considering. Just imagine if our CB1100s were two, three, four or five decades older. The amount of information that we would be covering here would vary far more greatly. Once you've identified other bikes that are of interest to you have a look at the respective forums for those bikes to see what the community of support is like for each one. This can be an invaluable resource not only for the information it can provide but also for the assistance you might receive in tracking down parts, etc..
You might also consider thinking about what you could fix up and flip. If you end up having fun working on bikes (I know that I enjoy it) you could end up working on them only to sell them on to someone else who is looking for their first bike. Maybe a small twin wouldn't get you terribly excited, but once you've finished working on it, there might be someone else in your town that would be glad to get their hands on it. At that point, that person might learn to take on some basic maintenance tasks after you've done more of the heavy lifting so to speak, thus you've served to pass the torch on to the next generation — one that is sorely in need of developing some of these skills. Lots of times older bikes are sold simply because the carbs gum up, but there are usually a number of other things that they are in need of attention. You'll like be able to obtain plenty of wrenching experience working on such bikes before deciding to keep them or sell them to someone else.
I can relate to your situation. I bought my Hawk GT eleven years ago with many of the same thoughts in my mind. I didn't just want a motorcycle, I wanted a total motorcycle experience. With the exception of getting some help installing new suspension components when I needed to have the damper rods in the forks drilled out, I did all of the work on that bike on my own. I had a lot of fun with the Hawk and I learned a lot while caring for it. One of the biggest things I learned was patience. Whenever I found myself getting stuck on a problem, patience almost always played a role in my figuring out how to proceed without mucking something up.
I sold that bike last Sunday. After the new owner rode the bike back home to Idaho he wrote me to let me know how well the bike performed and just how much he enjoyed it (and they already had one Hawk GT in the family before buying mine). I'll no doubt miss my Hawk at times, but man did that ever make me feel good knowing that this bike performed so well because of all of the attention that I paid to it over the past eleven years.
(06-21-2018, 11:08 PM)riggies_imp Wrote: I am probably one of the youngest on this forum but I have been working on my own bikes since a teenager and I have to agree with everyone about starting with a single or a twin. I know you can’t ride a true dirt bike anywhere, but have you ever ridden a small dual sport on the street? It is an absolute blast. Small bikes are awesome, exactly why Grom’s have gotten so popular. (What about a used grom?)
Buying a non running bike is always incredibly risky, but here is an XR200 in Wilmington that I would buy in a heartbeat if I were in your position [url=https://charlotte.craigslist.org/mcy/d/1983-honda-xr-200-dirtbike/6623661565.html]https://charlotte.craigslist.org/mcy/d/1983-honda-xr-200-dirtbike/6623661565.html
I don’t want to sound like I am smashing on your dreams of owning a CBX but if your M.O. with the bike is to learn how to wrench, I think it’s a mistake. When I was a kid me and my dad rebuilt a 72 Beetle for my sister to drive to high school. It was Fun because it wasn’t very hard or very frustrating. If it had been, I probably would have never enjoyed it and now I’d be one of those guys that takes their car to a jiffy lube for an oil change (the horror).
riggles, you serve as evidence that age and wisdom do not always go hand in hand. In my opinion, you've shared some very nice insights. (Boy, I'd love to get my hands on that particular XR200.)