Rebuilding an RS50

[Silky]

Yo dudes!

Ive recently agreed to buy an Aprilia RS50 off of some old biddy at a breakers yard for a very reasonable £50.

I intend to (hopefully) get it road legal again and sell it on to make a few bob. (i wouldnt be seen dead on a 50 )

As you've probably guessed, its pretty shitted up. im not sure if it runs, and im having a few worries about sorting a 2-stroke.

If it doesnt run and i cant fix it, i should be able to sell it for parts and still make a profit.

I know it will cost a few hundred for parts etc... but im prepared for that.

As this is the first bike i ever done up, im just looking for a few words of advice.....

Any help at all is appreciated.
Cheers

[TOM M]

sell it to me, im after a small project like that to get me into learning about the mechanics side of things
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Now owner of a 1200 Bandit

[Kickstart]

Hi

Add up the prices before you start. At £50 you should be easily able to break it at a profit, but I am very surprised it is going that cheaply.

Just watch out for all the things Aprilia changed over the years on the RS50.

All the best

Keith
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Traxpics, track day and racing photographs - Bimota Forum - Bike performance / thrust graphs for choosing gearing

[bidman]

Mmake sure its not a write off, infact i wouldn't bother tryin to get it back on the road incase there is something big time wrong with it i'd just break it for spares you'l easiuly make a profit
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Don't ride it, RAG IT!!

[Silky]

It was cheap because the woman who sold it to me has no idea about bikes.....luckily

the only major problem i could see (excluding any engine problems) was the fact that the left hand part of the bars was hanging off after a crap welding job, which was the reason why the guy crashed it.

Its all perfectly legal. I got it from a breakers yard that deals with stolen and written-off bikes. Its fine to buy them from there as long as you have permission from the owner and all the adequate paperwork sorted.
[/list]

[faith183uk]

Hi, i think what they meant by legal is, Can the bike legally go back on the road. If the bike was purchased from a scrappy fo £50, its more than likely a cat A which is to never to go back on the road and if you look on the DVLA website a Cat A shouldnt even be sold for spares, legally it must be crushed. You may have just saved the breakers the disposal costs!! + £50

If Cat B, again it cant go on the road but can be broken for spares etc.

Cat C can go back on the road, may need an inspection or just an MOT to check its legal after rebuild.

Cat D - normally just cosmetics etc. Repair and MOT and alls good.

I personally have been breaking bikes for 3 years now and at £50 i would break it instead of repair. Ebay is the quickest method for a quick profit.

[loply]

Break it for parts, the return on your hours will be better.

Or get it on the road to ride it yourself ;P
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Yamaha SZR660 Caution to the wind, the throttle pinned!

[gemka]

no way would you want to restore a rs50,

ok so it would be worth the doing, for fun,

but you would spend more on parts to get it going, you would never make a profit on it, they usually go for about 900 these days,

my brother just bought a fairly bloody good one for 800, but just before he bought it the previouse owner was a friend of mine, he told me about dropping it and having to fork out nearly 100 just to repair the borken wing mirrors and indicators, i think also some fairing,

i would really attempt restoring it, but breaking it sounds like a fairly decent idea
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yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, today is a gift

[gemka]

sorry,

ignore the last part of that post, i meant....

i "wouldnt" really try to restore it....
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yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, today is a gift