A "Mess About" Bike

[GazzaThePiagg...]

Seeing as I know bugger all about engines and electrics, I thought it would be a good idea for the summer for me and a friend to buy a cheap non-running bike and break it and sell it, giving us a bit more knowledge of bike engines and electrics. Anyway, we were going to buy a cheap 400 or 600 that was mechanically buggered to sell the parts but I think I have found something else that could be orth looking at.

There is a 1986 MZ something or other advertised on my work's notice board. Says it is in great condition but has been stored for 8 years and is not running. The asking price is £100 but I think I would be able to get him down to £70-80. But would it be worth it? At the end of the day we would not get much in terms of parts for it (well, I don't think we would) and is mainly just a cause for learning and if it comes to it, fixing and having some fun.

Any thoughts?

Cheers,

Gaz
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Stupid Young Tw@ts Clan 2007 - Sponsored By Powerthirst
Honda NSR 125F (Under Restoration), Honda CR 125, Piaggio Zip (For Sale).

[Ben.]

buy it as an old shitter for commuting?
not many people will want parts for it, and i bet it will be a bitch to get parts for it.
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follow my racing season
Race bike - R6
Road bike - sv650

[GazzaThePiagg...]

Commuter? pffft, I bought the NSR for a reason, to be faster than commuters!
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Stupid Young Tw@ts Clan 2007 - Sponsored By Powerthirst
Honda NSR 125F (Under Restoration), Honda CR 125, Piaggio Zip (For Sale).

[Jaloopa]

£100 to learn how a bike fits together sounds pretty good. If you strip it down and work out a simple reason it's not working you might be able to rebuild it and make a profit.
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mattsprattuk wrote: but at least the lifan could do like 104mph in 3rd gear

[McGee]

Don't do like a few of my mates and buy one to strip and sell.

Then it sits and rots in your garden for a few months with nothing done.
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Its pronounced Jixxer!

[st3v3]

Agree with McGee, if your going to buy it, then make sure you put the effort into doing something with it. If you don't sell any bits with a month or so, it may well be worth your while getting it up and running and selling it in decent nick.
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Roger wrote: Women don't get damp for clingy puppies. Get some better happy pills, hit the gym & buy a medallion the size of a dinner plate. Job done

[G]

If you're willing to spend a bit more, I've got an FX400R sitting in me garage that I've been meaning to do a couple of bits on and try putting through an MOT.
While it's not far off an MOT, it could do with a decent service / strip etc and would make an ideal such project I reckon. Would teach a bit more about modern bikes and make a decent bike for the road. More complicated and less fun to rag about across files on than an MZ, though .

Haven't got around to it for the last couple of months and could really do with the garage space as my 675 is coming back

[GazzaThePiagg...]

Thanks for the replies guys. I think we are planning to get the engine going again first of all (if we run into trouble our "bodge job mechanic" will come to the rescue. I pretty good with paint so I can see it going in that direction after aswell.

Can you PM me the details of the FX G?

Cheers,

Gaz
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Stupid Young Tw@ts Clan 2007 - Sponsored By Powerthirst
Honda NSR 125F (Under Restoration), Honda CR 125, Piaggio Zip (For Sale).

[mistergixer]

Stripping a bike down is the easy part - it's the putting it back together that demands skill and patience (or a lump hammer, gaffer tape and cable ties ).
I would recommend starting with a 2-stroke if you're not really used to twirling the spanners - much simpler engine design etc.
Personally i bought an old MX bike (1983 RM125)to cut my tinkering teeth with, and learnt a lot from it - i also enjoyed riding it, up until we had a major disagreement about which way to go.....i wanted to go right, it wanted to go straight on. This resulted in one fucked-up, written-off bike, and a fucked-up, written-off rider.
Then i got myself a 1985 RM125 and repeated the very same process!
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Space Monkey #7
Don Eladio is dead. His capos are dead. You have no one left to fight for. Fill your pockets and leave in peace. Or fight me and die!
Mistergixer's videos on YouTube

[Shaane]

It's your choice mate. Personally i would buy the bike for 100 pound or what ever you can get it for and use it to learn more about bikes with.

[GazzaThePiagg...]

I suppose it would be a bit more sensible buying a cheap and simple 125 rather than G's more expensive and complicated 400.

Sorry G, maybe next year

Thanks for everyone who replied.

Gaz
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Stupid Young Tw@ts Clan 2007 - Sponsored By Powerthirst
Honda NSR 125F (Under Restoration), Honda CR 125, Piaggio Zip (For Sale).

[Shaane]

Makes sense mate but also.. What if G is selling his 400 for real cheap as well?

Like he said there isn't many problems with it. Might be worth asking him about the details

[G]

I want more money than that definitely.

An MZ125 should be easy to work on and have some saleable value.
It can be ridden on a provisional too and is probably cheap to insure.
However the knowledge learnt won't translate quite so well as a more modern designed bike. A bigger bike would be something to move onto when working.