Monthly Archives: July 2008

Check it! Isn’t she awesome and silver and stuff? Totally she is. I think I’m naming her Katie, though I’m giving a few weeks before I settle on anything. She’s a Yamaha 650 Special from the year 1981. Mtv was still showing videos then. And Yamaha was working with Triumph engineers to refine their frames and look how great they did. I know!
I bought her off craigslist. Duh. The dude who sold her to me lives in Forest Lake. I went up there last Friday after work to see it and give it a test drive and act like I knew what I was talking about. It was a long ass drive. Also: 35W is torn up. So yeah, like 90 minutes. But it was worth it. The dude lived on a hobby farm or something. It was a little spooky driving up his looooong driveway, what with it being out in the country and isolated and I’m alone and then there’s the fact that like 1 in 5 craigslist sales ends up with someone dead, right? So yeah, I had Huna on the cellphone as I pulled in, just in case. But the guy comes out and he seems harmless enough in his golf shirt and jeans, so I exhaled and hung up and shook hands and crossed my fingers that the bike looked as good in person as it did in the one blurry picture he posted with his ad. We walked out to one of his barns and he throws open the door and there are like 5 motorcycles in there. One completely torn down. I’m in way over my head. He’s one of Those Guys.
“So, it runs?” I say, exhausting my list of questions.
“Yep,” he says.
“Mind if I start it?”
“Nope.”
And he shows me the choke and it idles a little fast with the choke on – naturally – and I push the choke back in after like 10 seconds and the engine dies and suddenly the guy is all “Oh, come on now, don’t embarrass me in front of the buyer!” And I pull the choke out and start it again and it’s raging along and the guy says “She’s a little cold blooded.” And he’s saying it in a way that makes it seem like he’s making excuses. Here’s the part where on the outside I’m giving it my “Huh” face but on the inside I’m jumping up and down screaming “She has a personality!!”
I take it out for a little spin and it’s right on. I banter some more about oil changes and rust in the gas tank and the carbs and stuff. He saw thru me, but he humored me and that was cool. I ask if he can deliver it and he says sure so I just give him what he’s asking no bargaining or nothin’. Not really my style, but delivery included? I’m all over that.
I’m gonna take it over to Midwest Cycle to have them look at it. I called and asked the guy about having them give it a quick inspection. He kind of flipped out and said no. From looking over their website it looks like they prefer to work on bikes from 2000 or newer. My neighbor – who drives a 1985 Honda – insists these guys are great, so I still think I’m gonna take it over there. If anyone has other suggestions, I’m all ears. I have the shop manual, but I’m not ready to tackle everything on my own just yet. Eventually? Count on it.
It’s been 3 days. A couple of trips around the neighborhood. A few laps around Harriet. Today I drove it the 6 miles to work. A guy could really get used to this.