Another catch up article, this time a 1983 Honda Magna V45 that I bought as a complete wreck and set about turning in to something pretty. I kept this one pretty much standard, it was only the paint work that changed to a rather nice metallic bronze. from memory it was a Subaru colour, a mate of mine did it and used whatever he had on hand. He did a pretty nice job of it, I tend to do my own paintwork these days.
It turned in to a much bigger job that I had expected, the seller had lost the keys, which wasn't a good start. In fairness to him he dropped the asking price to compensate so it was no big thing. What was a big thing is that it was missing it's side panels - the left one is very easy to find, the right hand one is harder to find than compassion in a politician. I found one in the US of A eventually but with purchase, postage, import duties and painting that one panel cost me 300 quid and any chance of making a profit. It was an early foray so not too surprising the return on investment was less than I had thought.
it had to be stripped right down to get at all the bits that needed doing, there were rather too many hours put in to this one. Mechanically it was actually pretty good, as with any bike of this age it was the rubber bits that all needed replacing. That includes obvious things like tyres but also less obvious things like brake caliper seals, fork seals, carb seals etc - it's a lot of hours. I thought it was worth it though as they are a very nice bike when done.
I sold this one within hours of advertising it, and there lies a story. The guy had been here to see it but didn't have his gear with him so just left a deposit and came back with his Mrs in the car. He took it for a quick test ride, was happy, paid the cash and left on the bike with his Mrs taking the car. About 1 1/2 hours later the phone rings, the guy that bought it complaining that it wouldn't start and that the battery was knackered. i said I found that hard to believe as it was new and the charging circuit had been tested and was working fine. He then started to get a but upset so I said no worries, i will bung some tools in the car and come and find you. He was at a cafe about 20 miles from here so the bike had got him that far. I turn up and he comes out of the cafe swearing and accusing me of all sorts of things, which was a bit harsh. so we go over to the bike and I ask him how long he has been riding. "Effing donkey's years, what the effing hell has that effing well got to do with anything" was the somewhat impolite response. "well" says I "I would have thought you would have known about the function of an engine kill switch by now". Yup, that's all it was. I was not chuffed at a 40 mile round trip and being sworn at for trying to help but there you go, it was sorted and off he went, never to be heard from again.
This photo was taken while I was waiting for the elusive right hand side panel to be painted, I was rather chuffed with how it all came out.
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