What's the worst bodge you've found on a bike you've bought?
Discussion
I'm in the process of tidying up the crappy insulation taped wiring in my RC51, done by the previous owner. It's a nightmare as electrics aren't really my thing at all. Also some stuff has been araldited in place too..
What's the worst bodge you've found on a second hand bike that you've bought?
What's the worst bodge you've found on a second hand bike that you've bought?
Over the last couple of years I've done a few cheap Chinese 50cc and 125cc restorations since they are peanuts to buy and easy to work on.
I've had all sorts with them;
- electrical wires being simply twisted and/or taped together,
- a battery cable being held in by a hot glue gunned nail
- the best of all, a rusted out fuel tank with a plastic bag liner thrown inside to keep it from leaking!
- oh and for good measure - another one where EVERY bolt was different - size, thread pattern, everything!
I've not made any money on any of them when you add up purchase price and parts, but it has made me a bit more confident on doing full strip downs which is kind of what I wanted from them. Just got another Sym DD50 to do as soon as I heal up enough from the accident and that will probably be me done with them for a while as life has gotten a bit hectic of late.
I've had all sorts with them;
- electrical wires being simply twisted and/or taped together,
- a battery cable being held in by a hot glue gunned nail
- the best of all, a rusted out fuel tank with a plastic bag liner thrown inside to keep it from leaking!
- oh and for good measure - another one where EVERY bolt was different - size, thread pattern, everything!
I've not made any money on any of them when you add up purchase price and parts, but it has made me a bit more confident on doing full strip downs which is kind of what I wanted from them. Just got another Sym DD50 to do as soon as I heal up enough from the accident and that will probably be me done with them for a while as life has gotten a bit hectic of late.
spent an evening removing insulation tape from the loom on the 954 blade i bought, uncovering a right mess underneath. suspected as much and had bought braided split wrap and silicon tape to prep, but its still a PITA. not much else i've found other than heelguards being used as fairing mounts and the slip on being welded onto the pipe by an IBS suffering pigeon.
It was actually a bodge I did myself to get me home after a breakdown.
1973 Vespa 150 (in tango orange) back in the early 80's. The throttle cable snapped off at the handlebars in the middle of Dundee city centre. I pulled out the core (still connected to the carb at the rear) and tied it to the front scuttle so that it lay horizontally just above the foot rest. I pushed down on it with my foot and the throttle worked as normal. My only bike with an "accelerator pedal".
It was only a "get you home" bodge, but due to being a poor student and the fact that it worked quite well like that, it was left for several weeks.
1973 Vespa 150 (in tango orange) back in the early 80's. The throttle cable snapped off at the handlebars in the middle of Dundee city centre. I pulled out the core (still connected to the carb at the rear) and tied it to the front scuttle so that it lay horizontally just above the foot rest. I pushed down on it with my foot and the throttle worked as normal. My only bike with an "accelerator pedal".
It was only a "get you home" bodge, but due to being a poor student and the fact that it worked quite well like that, it was left for several weeks.
I bought an old Kawasaki GT550. It felt a bit sluggish so I steadily worked through possible causes, eventually deciding to check the cams were correctly timed. Valve covers off, engine turned to TDC, check the timing marks on the right-hand end of the cams. Where are they? After much thinking I checked the left-hand ends - and there they were. Somehow the cams had been installed the wrong way round but set up so that the engine ran. I still cannot understand how this was possible.
Far from the worst bodge, but a few years ago I purchased a 2002 GSXR600 track bike and could only wonder about the previous owners mentality when I found the fairing was secured with eBay special anodised metric button headed bolts forced into quarter turn Dzus type clips…it worked, but it made me consider going through the bike before I rode it in anger.
Then I came to the brakes…which inspired no confidence at the 5mph or so I could achieve on the driveway. The brakes were then stripped and rebuilt. The “rusty water” that came out of the rear brake line probably went some way to explain why the rear brake was effectively useless.
I will admit that I didn’t spot the wiring to the rectifier until I glanced down at the rev counter at speed passed the lake at Oulton Park to realise that the bike was seemingly turned off. Quite a surprise as I was travelling at around 80mph…that needed rewiring in the pits.
Still, it was cheap and 4 years later that old girl is still going okay in the hands of a friend who gives the bike basic maintenance.
Then I came to the brakes…which inspired no confidence at the 5mph or so I could achieve on the driveway. The brakes were then stripped and rebuilt. The “rusty water” that came out of the rear brake line probably went some way to explain why the rear brake was effectively useless.
I will admit that I didn’t spot the wiring to the rectifier until I glanced down at the rev counter at speed passed the lake at Oulton Park to realise that the bike was seemingly turned off. Quite a surprise as I was travelling at around 80mph…that needed rewiring in the pits.
Still, it was cheap and 4 years later that old girl is still going okay in the hands of a friend who gives the bike basic maintenance.
ZZR1400 front mudguard held together with what looked like tarmac!
Untitled by Rick Phillips, on Flickr
Untitled by Rick Phillips, on FlickrRick448 said:
ZZR1400 front mudguard held together with what looked like tarmac!
Untitled by Rick Phillips, on Flickr
WTAF!Untitled by Rick Phillips, on FlickrIt is interesting that almost all of the contributions so far relate to bodged electrics and wiring.
Not a bike but I thought I would share this photo of the excess wiring I removed from one of my cars last week. All of it relates to aftermarket alarm systems immobilisers and trackers that previous owners have had fitted over the years.
Not a bike but I thought I would share this photo of the excess wiring I removed from one of my cars last week. All of it relates to aftermarket alarm systems immobilisers and trackers that previous owners have had fitted over the years.
Bob_Defly said:
I'm in the process of tidying up the crappy insulation taped wiring in my RC51, done by the previous owner. It's a nightmare as electrics aren't really my thing at all. Also some stuff has been araldited in place too..
What's the worst bodge you've found on a second hand bike that you've bought?
Crap wiring on my RC51 too...What's the worst bodge you've found on a second hand bike that you've bought?
Maybe it's a thing...
Rick448 said:
ZZR1400 front mudguard held together with what looked like tarmac!
Untitled by Rick Phillips, on Flickr
You win!! /thread!Untitled by Rick Phillips, on Flickr
the cueball said:
Bob_Defly said:
I'm in the process of tidying up the crappy insulation taped wiring in my RC51, done by the previous owner. It's a nightmare as electrics aren't really my thing at all. Also some stuff has been araldited in place too..
What's the worst bodge you've found on a second hand bike that you've bought?
Crap wiring on my RC51 too...What's the worst bodge you've found on a second hand bike that you've bought?
Maybe it's a thing...
I think everyone installs aftermarket indicators, maybe a power commander, then a different undertail... And each time they cut and splice wires poorly. To be fair, I did the same on my first bike.I'm coming to the end of a restoration on my 1977 GS750.
The entire wiring loom has been replaced by me after I found wires twisted together, hot glued together and finding that the bike had 3 reg / recs wired in series. No idea why, all three of them work and the bike is happy with just the one wired in properly!
The engine was knocking when I bought it, both previous owners couldn't figure it out and sold the bike cheap as a result.
I was working close to the cam chain tensioner recently and thought I'd rule it out and have a look. When I removed it - it became apparent that someone had backed it off to remove it then forgotten and left it like that. So whenever the bike was started after this it was running without a cam chain tensioner at all.
Horrific but at least I discovered it in my workshop and not when I was out on the road.
She's a thing of beauty (if I do say so myself).
The entire wiring loom has been replaced by me after I found wires twisted together, hot glued together and finding that the bike had 3 reg / recs wired in series. No idea why, all three of them work and the bike is happy with just the one wired in properly!
The engine was knocking when I bought it, both previous owners couldn't figure it out and sold the bike cheap as a result.
I was working close to the cam chain tensioner recently and thought I'd rule it out and have a look. When I removed it - it became apparent that someone had backed it off to remove it then forgotten and left it like that. So whenever the bike was started after this it was running without a cam chain tensioner at all.
Horrific but at least I discovered it in my workshop and not when I was out on the road.
She's a thing of beauty (if I do say so myself).
king hours the other day going through it and sourcing the short.catso said:
Not mine but this is a good one;
There's a joke in here about heads and beers, I'm sure.My current project is an NT650V. It stated no spark on the advert. I've resolved that with a new ECU and connecting the pulse generator to the correct wiring. It still doesn't start. When I bought it, I looked for a quick guide on the Internet to remove the side fairings so I didn't miss a bolt or break something. They advised around an hour for a newbie to the bike, around 45 minute once you're used to it. Long story short, I had the sides off in less than 10 minutes on my first go because so much of it was poorly thrown on. I've got a toggle switch that's literally connected to nothing, a fuel pump relay bypassed by a tiny piece of wire, scuffs beyond scuffs on the bodywork, a bike that won't start and probably a very long and arduous process figuring out where the previous have-a-go heroes have gone wrong. Good job I don't mind electrical bits.
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