Post by Huck on Aug 30, 2009 19:50:06 GMT -5
(Re-post from the Yahoo board...)
OK, I rode my "new to me" Ascot home yesterday....
It's a 84 VT500 Ascot, with 14k on it, got it through Ebay, and after picking it up and riding it home....I paid too much..
I thought I was buying a pretty much a "pick it up and ride" bike...not quite the condition the listing made it out to be....
The Tank is in really good shape.....OK that's the good..
The tires are bad...the rear has dry rot cracks REALLY bad, and the front is worn strangely, I believe from being ridden low on air,
The fork seals are shot, and there is apparently no fluid left in the forks....and the front brake pads are hence soaked with fork oil, so it's pretty weak....so it handles like crap....
The motor starts and idle's great..but the bike struggles to maintain interstate speeds, I'm thinking the carbs are out of sync pretty bad.
the vent on the petcock has been plugged as it drips gas, so I assume the diaphragm is bad (possibly part of the hi-end running issue)
The seat wasn't too bad....I took a gel pad I had and used it for the first tank, but rode without it the 2nd tank and it was just as good without it.
The plastic is pretty good, other than needing painted, the front header pipe is pretty rusty, but the rest of the stock system is pretty decent.
Not tool kit, and no Owners Manual.
Anyway, I was planing some mods to this bike, but I think I will first concentrate on getting it running/riding well before I do any add ons.
Anyway, I've whined about the negative enough...I will say that I REALLY think I'm going to like this bike, once I get it up to par, hopefully it won't be too much trouble to get straightened out....Wish me luck.
Huck in Kentucky
OK, I rode my "new to me" Ascot home yesterday....
It's a 84 VT500 Ascot, with 14k on it, got it through Ebay, and after picking it up and riding it home....I paid too much..
I thought I was buying a pretty much a "pick it up and ride" bike...not quite the condition the listing made it out to be....
The Tank is in really good shape.....OK that's the good..
The tires are bad...the rear has dry rot cracks REALLY bad, and the front is worn strangely, I believe from being ridden low on air,
The fork seals are shot, and there is apparently no fluid left in the forks....and the front brake pads are hence soaked with fork oil, so it's pretty weak....so it handles like crap....
The motor starts and idle's great..but the bike struggles to maintain interstate speeds, I'm thinking the carbs are out of sync pretty bad.
the vent on the petcock has been plugged as it drips gas, so I assume the diaphragm is bad (possibly part of the hi-end running issue)
The seat wasn't too bad....I took a gel pad I had and used it for the first tank, but rode without it the 2nd tank and it was just as good without it.
The plastic is pretty good, other than needing painted, the front header pipe is pretty rusty, but the rest of the stock system is pretty decent.
Not tool kit, and no Owners Manual.
Anyway, I was planing some mods to this bike, but I think I will first concentrate on getting it running/riding well before I do any add ons.
Anyway, I've whined about the negative enough...I will say that I REALLY think I'm going to like this bike, once I get it up to par, hopefully it won't be too much trouble to get straightened out....Wish me luck.
Huck in Kentucky
