Boxerworks.com

My bike is now 20 years old, purchased new in 1990.
The odometer is about to roll over again (400,000kms)....(248,000 miles)
Nobody has ever taken a tool to it but me, I even uncrated it myself.

I've been adding up its approximate cost of ownership.
All these figures are on the VERY CONSERVATIVE side, and do not include incidental costs, such as speeding tickets, etc.

Bike New approx. = $10,000
Insurance and plates...20years x$500= $10,000
30 sets of tires...$300+ per set = $10,000
$1200/yr mechanical & cosmetic = $24,000
2 x $1500 flips = $3,000
Gas @ $1.00/liter (avg 40mpg?) = $25,000
80 oil changes ($10)+ 40 filters ($15)= $1.500
40 fluid changes (trans, diff, brake,fork) = $1,000

WOW!, I wasted over $80,000. on this POS, not to mention easily well over 1000 hours of my labour (priceless).
In retrospect, it was worth every penny.
The uncountable hours of bliss it provided made my life worth living.
The few hours of aggravation it caused me in between are forgiven and forgotten.

GSPD its a real credit to you that bike

Mate some cougars would spend that much on a boob job, face lift, gut tuck etc and would still look like shit....plus you wouldn't get the hours of riding enjoyment out of them like you have with had with ya bike

What Grant said. (And so nicely put, too.)

Clean that thing up a little and it will look pretty good.

Do you have any children? My lack of them is how I justify what I spend on hobbies.

I don't like the red thing where the torque arm attaches to the rear drive. You suck!


If you stared with a fully farkeled GSA1200 you'd be starting @ $30,000. and wouldn't even have driven a mile.

You got off cheap I'd say.

But after the first flip it woulda been DE-farkeled.

I thought I would be rolling it over to (4)00000kms this weekend.
it ran perfectly this morning on the way to the Trenton rally, only 420kms...

...BUT, on the way back it developed a con rod knock.
I limped it home (350kms) at 100-110 km/h while my loyal buddies continued on their merry 150-160 km/h way.
It was very embarrassing...I was being passed by Harley clones.
I think even a gen-new-wine Harley passed me. The horror!

I hope to rip it apart and smash it back together this week.
Don't want to miss too much riding time; here there is only about 10 weeks of rideable weather left .

gspd wrote: I think even a gen-new-wine Harley passed me. The horror!

Damn. Fek. Horror indeed, GS. I bet you didn't know where to put your face.
I attach a steaming mound of sympathy from Oz.

ps: please update final figure in thread header after repair.

Airbear wrote:
Damn. Fek. Horror indeed, GS. I bet you didn't know where to put your face.
I attach a steaming mound of sympathy from Oz.
ps: please update final figure in thread header after repair.

Thank you for the steaming lump.
I know a con rod knock when I hear it.
Repairs should be in the $100 to $2000 range.

I have all the top end gaskets and seals already, I just need to buy bearing shells and bolts, 4 of each.
and maybe a crank.

it's running perfectly and not burning any significant amount of oil (1L/5000kms).

Based on my experience I have only 2 options:

1) Polish up the journals and fit new OE shells.
That will fix it for sure( unless it's cooked blue)....
For how long remains to be seen...
Of course, this is only IF the oil pressure is OK.
That's the first thing I will check

2) a new crank.
I don't now of any good regrinds, and used parts are... err...used.

Unless it is totally fried, and I doubt it is, I will go with option #1.
I will then beat test it for the remainder of its natural life.
When it starts to knock again, I'll replace the crank.
Might be able to roll the odo around another time or two before that happens.

The di$$ection is scheduled for tomorrow, crack of dawn high noon maybe Monday.