sleepyhead65
Active Member
Nothing like a week of rain to get the wrenches turning.
With no understanding of what is involved, mechanical knowledge or connections with people who have done this before, I have jumped into a project bike. You know: a "Barn Find".
It's going to be fun! I'm going to stumble my way through it, curse a lot at sheared bolts, learn to paint, maybe learn to chrome, probably rebuild my first engine, and spend an enormous amount of time and energy which may result in a cool bike....or almost as likely a basket case bike.
I stumbled across a good bike for the task while endlessly shopping for the elusive dirt cheap dual sport.
It's a 1973 Kawasaki KE100. It's a terrible motorcycle. The 100 cc two stroke motor puts out 11 horsepower which is barely enough to push along a steel frame dual sport. The forks are spindly and weak and the rear completely undersprung. The drum brakes front and rear are um "exciting". Anyway two strokes are cool and having a 43 year old bike in the stable is pretty awesome in my books!
. Best part about this bike is that all the pieces are there except for the airbox. Right now the bike has no spark but pretty good compression. I'll figure it out. So far all I have done to the bike is put wd40 on every nut and bolt I can find.
Cuz you guys are my buds ( and I like to alternately bitch or brag) I think I will share the progress with you guys.
Here's some pictures to give you a general idea of what I'm working with
With no understanding of what is involved, mechanical knowledge or connections with people who have done this before, I have jumped into a project bike. You know: a "Barn Find".
It's going to be fun! I'm going to stumble my way through it, curse a lot at sheared bolts, learn to paint, maybe learn to chrome, probably rebuild my first engine, and spend an enormous amount of time and energy which may result in a cool bike....or almost as likely a basket case bike.
I stumbled across a good bike for the task while endlessly shopping for the elusive dirt cheap dual sport.
It's a 1973 Kawasaki KE100. It's a terrible motorcycle. The 100 cc two stroke motor puts out 11 horsepower which is barely enough to push along a steel frame dual sport. The forks are spindly and weak and the rear completely undersprung. The drum brakes front and rear are um "exciting". Anyway two strokes are cool and having a 43 year old bike in the stable is pretty awesome in my books!
. Best part about this bike is that all the pieces are there except for the airbox. Right now the bike has no spark but pretty good compression. I'll figure it out. So far all I have done to the bike is put wd40 on every nut and bolt I can find.
Cuz you guys are my buds ( and I like to alternately bitch or brag) I think I will share the progress with you guys.
Here's some pictures to give you a general idea of what I'm working with
