Why I own a Harley Davidson

[Oldbikefixr]

Maybe I would have had a chance, if the Norton hadn't been "stored" under a tarp in MA. We all know, the winters there are unkind.
That was the 3rd bike I had bought, in about 4 years. I totalled my first bike when I was run over by a blue-hair, and the insurance replaced it. That one was totalled by a shipmate of mine, and then I learned the same insurance didn't cover the state of VA.
When I finished paying that one off on enlisted sailor's pay, I bought the 2yo Norton. I literally had no flipping clue about wrenching on it, or anything else about it, but I liked the Commando.
But it was SWEET, when it did run...
I have a 1984 Honda XR500 that was given to me in the back of a pickup... just like you said. No two fasteners remained assembled, a coworker had started a frame-up restore but lost interest when it was all torn down. Even the motor was taken apart.
I have all the bags and boxes of parts and pieces in my garage...

We had a spare bedroom in the house we were in at the time I bought the CB77 bits 'n pieces. Going through the the boxes looked a bit daunting so I cleaned out that room and began sorting parts. Using the Honda manual exploded views as a go-by I recreated them with parts, thoroughly cleaned before putting them out. Counted fasteners/polished/painted/replaced everything that needed those tasks. Got it back together just before graduation and was able to ship it on one piece to our new home.
Long story as usual but anyone facing a task like this may want to consider recreating exploded views. Certainly made the assessment easy.....didn't help much with the cost, though.

 

[motornut]

Being 17 at the time I of course believed I was invincible, anywhere was a track, plus was sure any accident that wasn't my fault meant no injuries to me at all. Or something like that. All grown up now, learned and attained ripe old age with mostly luck, I doubt if it was much anything else. Some times fate rewards dumb when you are a kid and I bounced better back then too