70's Kawasaki 500 triple??

Great pics but heartbreaking to see the situation. Some very interesting bikes there. Having been down the restoration road myself a couple of times, I would say most look too far gone to be project-worthy at any kind of reasonable cost. There would be some part-out opportunities for sure though.

 

Yeah that's mine, The silver bullet 67 GTX is one of my favorite cars,

 

Somebody call my name? My advice on the the two triples in the video? RUN and do NOT look back.

 

First rule of restoring: they all stop for a reason. You have to figure the reason out first, before you decide how easy and cheap it will be. Second rule of restoring: the less you have to do, the better. See rule #1.

 

Agreed.

I did a pair of CB350's and a CB750 a few years back, The 350's were both running bikes when I got them, spent about a grand apiece just ordering new shit from Dime City Cycles and other places.
The CB750 was around $3000 because I decided to do a bunch of frame and engine mods and then a fancy paint job.

I'm gonna ask about the Indian, although I anticipate that to be a bigger project in terms of sourcing any correct parts and time spent.

 

either the CBs are really easy to restore or they were in excellent shape at the start?
Most folks I know that do full nut and bolt restos tend to be in the bikes for more than they will ever appreciate!

 

Oh brother, is that true. I did a '70 Bonneville a year or two ago. Always wanted one, ever since I was in junior high school the early 60's, expecially that one--a '70. Started with a matching numbers chopper with a coffin tank and a king and queen seat. I made it a new stock bike, just like off the showroom, completely rebuilt, with new switches, headlight bucket, new fasteners, bare metal new fenders from England, and stock paint, even a new gas cap. I will never, ever get out of it what I put into it. But, I am very, very happy with the result and ride it a lot, more than any other bike I have.


This ain't for profit, for sure...

 

Whoa . . .

You started with the coffin tank chopper and finished up with the red/silver stocker above?!?! That some WORK and COMMITMENT. Well done, a very nice job, and a lot of time, money and effort. Very, very nice.

Cheers,

Dave

 

yup, beats practicing law 24 hours a day, LOL. I like Triumphs, I guess, especially '70 Triumphs, and I didn't want to have to trust someone else's imperfect work, or risk getting stuck along the side of the road. This one I know is done right, and is as good or better than a new one was in 1970. Just what I wanted.

And yes, the original yellow pile of whatever is where I started.

I have owned and raced a lot of Triumphs over the years, including another '70, another stock framed dirt tracker, a Trackmaster dirt tracker, a Metisse motocrosser, a Redline framed 750 sportsman bike, and I am now down now to my one Champion framed 750 Sportsman bike and this 70 Bonnie (plus a 79 T140D Special on the stand for a winter project) --- and this is the one I will always keep. As the guy said up above, I will never get out of it what I spent on it, except in satisfaction. I like it a lot!

So, looking at the OP's 750 Kawasaki with no carbs and water down in the crankcase for years, it is possible to bring it back to life and make it perfect, but only if you really want to, and are prepared for what it will takein terms of hours and $.

 

Thank you for healing that poor yellow abomination! My hat is off to you!

 

You're doing Gods work there....

 

So I kind of put the bike thing on hold for a bit with this guy. Although I am interested in a few bikes, tools and other things I've been over to his place a few times this past week just trying to clean, organize and get him some groceries and stuff. I brought the wife with me on Wednesday, she wants to invite him over for Christmas ( but wants to get him a deep cleaning makeover first) I like the old dude and feel for him but I'm also an OCD clean freak, "don't step on my carpet with those nasty ass old shoes and shit".

 

We have a few very similar individuals around here. Completely disfunctional motorcycle hoarders with tons of crusty bikes in their back yard. Fascinating people, but kind of sad too.

 

Common affliction, it seems. Way back when I was a kid my dad knew guys like that, and I know guys now like that too. Usually the stuff isn’t very useful in my experience, just a lot of rusty stuff. And the guys who do this don’t seem to understand once a partially disassembled bike gets wet it’s usually gone.