Thoughts on bike purchase

[Yakman12]

Hey guys, i'm looking at buying a 1989 RGV 250 J

basically it has 20000km's on it with no sign of a rebuild, and it has no warrent or rego, the bike itself seems to be in decent condition (brakes are fine, engine seems sweet) the main issue is that the oil squirters are not working as well as they should (or so the guy tells me)

he wants $1500 for the bike

is it worth it?

i'm pretty handy with mechainics so i'm not too fussed as far as fixing things go, any idea on fixing oil squirters?

cheers

[James Deuce]

At 20000km it needs rings, pistons, and a decoke as minimum.

Powervalves will probably be naffed too.

$1500 is a good price, but you'll have to reregister at $400-$500 dollars.

Oil squirters? If the oiling system/oil pump is damaged in any way then the engine is probably damaged too. Full engine rebuild required. You'll probably need to do oil seals, rebuild the rear shock, new chain and sprockets, and replace all the bearings for wheels, sprocket carrier, swing arm, and headstock.

The chassis is probably worth about $1000 by itself (wheels, frame, forks, brakes) as parts, but I reckon this bike will cost you about $2000-$3000 dollars to get on the road, if you do everything properly.

So real cost $3-$4.5k

About the same as finding one that is registered and looked after in other words.

Edit: Just to keep you on course, this guy REALLY knows what he is talking about: http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/showpost.php?p=943163&postcount=2
I'd walk away quite frankly, unless you have a woody for RGVs and the time, money, and expertise to get it all going nicely.

[Yakman12]

dam now i have a hard decision on my hands haha

the truth is the guy i'm buying it off thinks the oil squirters/pump is fine, but the guy who had it before him said it was stuffed

how hard is it to check?

the reason i'm even considering this bike is cause i wouldn't mind bit of a project, i've been playing with cars for years and have rebuilt various car engines, so i'm thinking with a good manual i could rebuild one of these myself,

but i'm not gonna even think of buying it if it does need an entire rebuild, is there any tell tale signs that it needs more than just pistons and rings?

[Jeaves]

you'll have to open it up to find the answers you need bud :doctor:

[Drum]

At 20000km it needs rings, pistons, and a decoke as minimum.............


Wow. Is that a 2-stroke thing? 20,000 seems like pretty low mileage (I know nothing of 2 strokes, so pity the fool please).

[James Deuce]

Yep, that's normal, but it's no more expensive than getting the shop to do a valve adjustment around the same kms on a 4 cylinder engine.

[Yakman12]

Yep, that's normal, but it's no more expensive than getting the shop to do a valve adjustment around the same kms on a 4 cylinder engine.


roughly how much would you expect to pay for a piston and ring job?

[James Deuce]

It's a two stroke, you can do it yourself fairly easily for less than $200.

Get a shop to do it and it will be probably $400-$500 maybe more, depending what they find when the pop the heads off. If it gets that far a full teardown is really needed to check things like crank and gearbox. No point just doing pistons and rings if the gearbox needs an overhaul. I think the gearbox is a cassette on the RGV so that isn't too difficult either.

But, I really think you should walk away. It will cost at least three times more than you budget to get it on the road, particularly if F5Dave's comment about the powervalves works out to be true, because you'll probably need new barrels (or a replate if they aren't too knackered.) as he says and getting parts for an 18 year old 2 stroke must be getting a little difficult.

[Yakman12]

But, I really think you should walk away.




I'm definately gonna walk away now, thanks heaps for the advice