ohai, I know nothing about bikes
Posted: Mon Dec 22, 2014 12:20 pm
Hello, the Internet.
Some months back, I decided that a motorcycle would be a good, less expensive than a car mode of transportation. I found a '94 XJ600S for $1100, then a week later found a '93 for $300. The latter is fairly beat up, having clearly been through more than one accident, but the engine sounds good, and I figured worst case scenario, I could always use it for parts if it turned out to be less than it appeared. I had planned to learn to ride on it, thereby saving the somewhat nicer '94 from the ravages of being ridden by someone who didn't even care for bicycles as a kid and knows nothing about engines. The only problem is that, as the seller said (whether he honestly thought it was true or not will eternally remain a mystery--I still probably got a good deal either way), the starter is bad. 'No problem,' I though to myself 'I'll just learn how to switch out the starters, then switch them back when I'm ready to ride the other bike.' Unfortunately, it turns out the problem is somewhere in the crank--the other bike started fine with the supposedly bad starter, while the '93 still would not start with the good starter. The bike can be push started, but between my weighing less than a third of the bike and my not knowing what I'm doing, I'm just not comfortable at this time with relying on push starting. I will fix that crank some day, but with no garage and the cold months here, it isn't going to happen soon.
Now, I don't have much spare time to begin with, working full time and going to school half-time, so the whole learning operation was slow-going to begin with. Then I ran into some mechanical issues just as the latter part of the semester--with all my due projects--was setting in, so I put the whole thing on hold. Finally, just as the semester came to a close, Skadi suddenly arose to curse us with some late-arriving winter weather.
But, the weather has suddenly warmed up again, so I'm here to see if I can figure this stuff out before the snow returns. If not, then I'll just sort of hang around until spring, then try again.
As alluded above, I'm currently working on prerequisite courses for the Nursing program at my local community college. The object is to acquire an internationally in-demand job skill-set with which to move to any country I want, so that I can move to a new country every few years and learn a whole host of languages. I'm currently infatuated with the idea of moving to Brussels first, though that's subject to change at random. My main hobbies are Warhammer and MTG; I'm attempting to integrate motorcycles into that.
Anything else you may have a desire to know about me, feel free to ask.
Some months back, I decided that a motorcycle would be a good, less expensive than a car mode of transportation. I found a '94 XJ600S for $1100, then a week later found a '93 for $300. The latter is fairly beat up, having clearly been through more than one accident, but the engine sounds good, and I figured worst case scenario, I could always use it for parts if it turned out to be less than it appeared. I had planned to learn to ride on it, thereby saving the somewhat nicer '94 from the ravages of being ridden by someone who didn't even care for bicycles as a kid and knows nothing about engines. The only problem is that, as the seller said (whether he honestly thought it was true or not will eternally remain a mystery--I still probably got a good deal either way), the starter is bad. 'No problem,' I though to myself 'I'll just learn how to switch out the starters, then switch them back when I'm ready to ride the other bike.' Unfortunately, it turns out the problem is somewhere in the crank--the other bike started fine with the supposedly bad starter, while the '93 still would not start with the good starter. The bike can be push started, but between my weighing less than a third of the bike and my not knowing what I'm doing, I'm just not comfortable at this time with relying on push starting. I will fix that crank some day, but with no garage and the cold months here, it isn't going to happen soon.
Now, I don't have much spare time to begin with, working full time and going to school half-time, so the whole learning operation was slow-going to begin with. Then I ran into some mechanical issues just as the latter part of the semester--with all my due projects--was setting in, so I put the whole thing on hold. Finally, just as the semester came to a close, Skadi suddenly arose to curse us with some late-arriving winter weather.
But, the weather has suddenly warmed up again, so I'm here to see if I can figure this stuff out before the snow returns. If not, then I'll just sort of hang around until spring, then try again.
As alluded above, I'm currently working on prerequisite courses for the Nursing program at my local community college. The object is to acquire an internationally in-demand job skill-set with which to move to any country I want, so that I can move to a new country every few years and learn a whole host of languages. I'm currently infatuated with the idea of moving to Brussels first, though that's subject to change at random. My main hobbies are Warhammer and MTG; I'm attempting to integrate motorcycles into that.
Anything else you may have a desire to know about me, feel free to ask.