1974 750 GT

Geez, It's been pretty dang quiet in here lately!

So... I'll ramble on about my latest project, or more accurately, soon to be project.

Tomorrow morning I'm heading off to Mineapolis to visit family and... pick up a '74 750! It needs a TON of work and may not even be worth saving, but what the heck. It's cheap enough to take a gamble on.

More info later when I actually have the bike in my hot little hands...

-Craig

www.teamyikes.com

Well... here it is!

http://www.teamyikes.com/teamyikes!-theug.html

-Craig

www.teamyikes.com

Looks like a "fun" project. I've taken on a few sad cases myself. Good luck!

Dave Swanson
98-916

Hmm... Is this section for vintage bikes, or vintage messages???

Anyway, I'm about a year into the project now... not as far along as I'd like, but it's come from this:



To this:



More before and after pics on my site...







Modified by DesmoDog at 8:55 AM 7/21/2005

Hush listen real good..... you can here the rust falling off . don't know why I don't visit this section. that ugly duc is not to bad!! nice work you got going on!! its nice to save these old M/C's i got about 8 british bikes and one lone ducati the newest bike i own! keep up the good work i will visit more often!!! craig

That's the sound of rust falling off? Dang, I thought it was the sound of dollar bills being sucked out of my pocket!!! Kinda hard to seperate the two sometimes.

Hopefully the engine will be going back in the frame soon. Then it'll really start to look like a bike again.

Wait, Oh Yea.... $$$$ Now I heard the dollars, Oh Maaaannnn Thats the .....wallet opening.... Crap its its its....sounds like plastic.... Oh sheit its a credit card!!
NOT only money but alot of man hours,disassemblely,cleaning,looking up part numbers,looking for parts,getting tried of that one company you give your money to,but they could care less....
Yea the dollars I try not to look at that and just look at work being done,cause it adds up big time in just parts!! just think if it was in a shop being done. I know I don't have that kinda money. BUT i don't think its the same for people that get their hands dirty its the pride of what it look like at first and what the finish bike looks like!! YEA MAN I BUILD THIS MYSELF!!!
I am just finishing a Chenney triumph 500 Mx race bike from scratch. Man alot of time on the lathe and mill making parts that you just can't buy! and it was cheaper buying a Hobby grade lathe/mill than a bunch of trips to shop thats working with you to make a spacer or something. was really a learning thing!!!
Craig

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by cmcduc &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">...NOT only money but alot of man hours, disassemblely, cleaning, looking up part numbers, looking for parts, getting tried of that one company you give your money to, but they could care less....
</TD></TR></TABLE>

I see you've been there too!

My latest irritant is discovering one place I've been working with has slowly changed from nice prices to, in some cases, three times what I can buy the stuff for elsewhere! Hmm... if nothing else, it shows you need to keep checking around and not get too familiar with only one vendor.

I now buy parts from all over the world for this thing. I have no idea how people did any of this before the world wide web.

P.S. Wow, you're good hearing that plastic. This is the first month I haven't paid the entire credit card bill. I sure do hope I get that bonus next month!

Haa yea the price hike! they get the idea what your doing and pretty much can watch you finish buying front end parts and start on the engine or something! and they think theyare the only ones your dealing with.YEA seen that happen even with the local people I know who I buy parts from. bouce your money around and keep checking prices. before the internet GADS I was all over california taking road trips and phone calls. and people still don't like giving you a prices for a list of parts.they want you to give them a order and they will get back to Ya with the what they got list. and I can understand that I use to work at a shop and there was alot of running around checking stock and prices and then they don't order from you!! So I have been on both sides of this motorcycle fence!! keep cleaning the parts its looking good!! BOY its QUIET down here in the vintage section have you ever ventured down to the RC 51 crowd Man thats a wild group when you compar it the Duacti crowd. Hey those rc51's are pretty cool bikes too! craig

Looking real good. I which I could find one of those for a couple of bucks. Real beauties, especially with th fairing ...

Pete

Nice work one day I want to take on a project like this for now I'll just tinker with my 93SS

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by bruntr &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Nice work one day I want to take on a project like this for now I'll just tinker with my 93SS</TD></TR></TABLE>

I had a '95 900ss for a few years and really liked it. In fact, one thought is to pick up another one after this latest project is done.

Speaking of which, I got the case halves back together yesterday, then found out the gasket kit I bought didn't come with the oil pump gasket. Grrr.... so once again, I'm in "waiting for parts" mode...

That's coming along real good! Wish I would have heard about that bike being for sale! Keep up the good work (& posting it)

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by MATTinMN &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Wish I would have heard about that bike being for sale! </TD></TR></TABLE>

That's the trick... this one wasn't for sale until I asked about it. It belonged to a friend of mine and I knew he hadn't done anything with it so I'd ask about once or twice a year if he was ready to sell it yet. Finally, he was.

I found one on ebay - 1982 900 ss. I'll be picking your brain about bevel's soon enough! Just have to get it to my house from San Fran. The bike needs some work, but it looks like it's all there. Cant wait for it to arrive!

That sounds like a cool bike. I'd like to pick up a squarecase like that too, but of course there are those time/money/space issues that need to be dealt with!

BTW: What part of Minnesota are you from? I grew up in the Minnetonka area...

I live between North Branch & Taylors Falls. I know what you mean about $$ - you can never have enough of that! Especially when you have addictions of the 2 wheeled nature.

Dezmo - How'd you get the motor so clean? Did you bead blast it? (if so - do you leave it together or disassemble it?).

The heads and cylinders were stripped, all internals masked, and then they were bead blasted. Then they were washed in a hot tank, which was basically a huge dish washer. I'm very leary of bead blasting engine parts since any abrasives left inside will trash an engine in a hurry. Don't even think you can clean them all out once yyou're done, it's best not to get them in there to begin with.

The cases had too much open area to mask, so I cleaned them up by putting them in the hot tank, and then using hand held stainless steel brushes and aluminum wheel cleaner. Carb cleaner came in handy too. I did the same thing to the hubs and got pretty good results. http://www.teamyikes.com/RCWheels.html

It took a while, but the results were pretty decent. The pictures do make them look nicer than they are in person though. If I was looking for a better finish, I would have tried soda blasting them, or even had them dry-ice blasted.

Your site is fantastic. I will refer to it often with my semi-resto, for sure.