A dilemma: Restore my ST or buy a different bike

jwumpus said:
I like this idea but I am out of space. Clearly, the solution is to expand the garage!
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That's why my garage is longer than my house ... ;)
At the end of the day, the ST1100s are worth very little to the general public because of their age.
My ST1100s are worthless to most folks except to me. :biggrin:
 
If you don’t have the 40 amp upgrade, your bike will be a doorstop in a couple of years
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All is not lost, if you are unable to make the alternator upgrade. One third of your power budget is lighting. If you change all the bulbs to LED's then you will reduce the stress on the system and extend it's life.
 
Do you want to ride or rebuild?
Then searching for ever decreasing parts for a motorcycle that was designed probably about 35 years ago will NOT get any easier. If you like spending your time searching the interweb thingymabob for elusive bits and bobs then get on with it, it won't get any easier going forward.
If you want to go and ride a bike there are many more modern motorcycles that will do similar, it won't be a Pan, but does that really matter?
The decisions are yours but if you're getting a little long in the tooth (I haven't noticed if you've posted your age) then consider how long you will want to ride a behemoth.
Good luck.
Upt'North.
 
Uncle Phil said:
That's why my garage is longer than my house ... ;)
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In my case I have a 24x32 shop with a 2 post lift and I kept enough tools and equipment to rebuild automatic transmissions ( retired trans shop owner) and the house I am building has a 22x22 garage also a 15x15 shed.
 
tnbill said:
..........In my case I have a 24x32 shop with a 2 post lift............... and the house I am building has a 22x22 garage.................. also a 15x15 shed................
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Yes, rub it in to all of us poor slobs with just a 2 car garage in the suburbs. I guess we can all live vicariously through you and UP. :)

I'd love to have a 3 - 4 car combo heated garage / workshop at the cottage, no space in town. My much better half tells me to stop complaining and dreaming and just hire someone to build it for me. I really should take her advice.
 
If you are a smart man you will listen. The big issue now is the cost of building is crazy. The contractor i have helping me on a few things is talking well over $200 a square foot for a house when just a few years ago it was $110-120. If i was not doing most of the work myself we could not do this one. It is a geodesic dome kit that we bought a couple of years ago. With the full basement it is 3500 square feet 3 bed 3 bath.
 
It doesn't sound like anything is really wrong with the bike. Do you want to turn it to excellent condition? Sounds like you'd rather ride than wrench. I wrench out of necessity. I agree the stock seat is atrocious. I'm good for about 35 miles on one. Send it to Russell and get just the front done in vinyl (they will cover the stock rear half in matching color and pattern). That'll be about $500 last time I looked. I find the Corbin seats to be on par with a 2" x 12" plank. Others guys like them. Update the front springs and rear shock (~$1800). Those 2 alone will be like riding a different bike. Might want to buy the parts for the 40 amper upgrade and put them on the shelf for next winter project or sooner if necessary. I have the Madstad windshield kit and am happy with it except in the rain. The wind does not blow the rain off the front or back of the shield. I didn't stop and try to adjust it for a fix. I also have a Clearview the does a pretty good job deflecting the wind. Being a tall guy, you might want to try one of the wing things added to your current shield.

If you don't have the time, desire or place to do the work yourself, the fixes I mentioned are fairly easy task. The front springs are the most complicated and that can be jobbed out pretty easy. The alternator is another ball of wax.
 
Thats a tough one. Let's see your bike is 31 years old and it'll take maybe 4 grand to get it up to snuff. I'm quickly getting there on my old scoot and don't know if I'd drop that much coin on it. I probably would get me one of those new FJR's or RT 1250 shift cams that are all the rage these days. But if I was a used bike buyer I'd put the money into a 1999 to 2002 ST1100.
 
I refurbished my 1991, completed in November 2020. Replaced all hoses (water, vacuum, air, fuel), rebuilt the carbs, new thermostat and cap, replaced the exhaust, fuel tank and all components, installed handlebar risers, rebuilt the master cylinders, cleaned touched up paint under the fairings, filters and fluids of course. Just added up the part cost, $1929. This doesn't include the cost of going over it got when I bought it in 2015 which included replacing the timing belt and other iffy looking parts I encountered there. (edit: just added up.....the first refurb used just over $2300 in parts) There are several ST1100 refurbishment articles if you care to search on them....they highlight the task from several owners' experiences. Still has the 28 amp alternator, I found a spare from a very low mileage crash victim at a bike wrecking yard. Unless you get lucky also, it's probably a good idea to at least collect the alternator upgrade parts. Most of the work I did was due to age related issues.
Nearing 23,000 miles now. It was decently cared for, not abused by the PO. Kind'a hard to abuse it when he didn't ride it much.
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Reviving dead bikes has been my number one hobby since the mid 1960's. Mechanically, the ST1100's are more durable but many of the frequently replaced parts are drying up. It isn't practical for many folk to do this but, as you may suspect at this point, save the whales.
 
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I think I'm going to have to sell. I can do the work, or the majority of it, myself and I'm not concerned about the money. The thing is that I get attached to things and hate to get rid of them. I've got an 05 Grand Cherokee with 200k miles on. It's been meticulously maintained and might outlive me. The thing I don't have is time. I just took a new job that is going to take even more of my attention than the previous one and then there's the new deck and patio to build and trips to take and etc etc etc. Well, that kind of sucks. That's not the conclusion I wanted to arrive at.
 
You know the old saying...The grass is not always greener on the other side. If you buy another bike, plan on working and spending on it just as much. Hopefully you will like it more, but chances are, not.
 
This does not sound like a question of spending money on a restoration for resale purposes. There is no money to be had there most likely anyway.
It doesn't sound like it is about saving money to get a ride under you either, especially since you can most likely find a well running used bike for the same money and get instant gratification.
This leaves restoration for emotional satisfaction.

You have several times stated that you don't have the time to do this restoration yourself, so you will be paying someone else to do it. That will get expensive very quickly.
You have stated several times that money is not an issue, but it will become one. I write that because, regardless of this statement, there is a point somewhere where you will no longer be willing to sink more money in to this project. The return on investment in this project is a combination of not only financial in resale value, but also the emotional return through pride of ownership and enjoyment. In every project there is a point where the amount of money being spent intersects and then exceeds the combined return that we feel we will be getting from spending even more money. That intersection is different for everyone and every project. It is greatly influenced and mostly determined by how much emotional attachment one has to the item being restored.

You need to figure out where that intersection is for you, and what the dollar value is at that point in the curve. If what you need to have done to this motorcycle can be paid for with that amount of money, you have your answer so go for it. If not, you also have your answer, and it is time to move on.
 
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