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Let me give you a little background on this bike. Back in October of 2006 a guy I work with pulled his bike out to ride it to work. Being that it was Halloween night he called in and forgot to put the bike back in the garage. When he woke up the next day the bike was gone. It was a blue 2001 Kat in really nice shape with just over 13k miles on it.
In November of 2007 he got a call from a police station 70 miles away saying they had found his bike. He asked what condition it was in and they said pretty good and if he wanted he could drive it home. He re-registered and insured it and drove the 70 miles to pick it up. When he got there he found what used to be his Kat. It was in one piece, but was missing the windscreen, mirrors, both rear blinkers, taillight was broken, and they had taken generic spray painted and painted the whole thing matte black. I told him in November when he got it that I would buy it from him for $500 not even seeing the bike. Things got crazy at home and forgot about the bike.
March of this year I said to him, "So you gonna sell me that bike?" He told me he would sell it to me for $200 just to get it out of his yard because he was going to be moving. So I got the money and had the wife take me over there. It needed a jump from sitting since November, but started right up and ran pretty good, so I drove the bike home that day and started my project.
I pulled everything apart and found a couple disturbing things... the thief’s had taken the CDI out, spliced the wires and put in a CDI from a 93 GSXR 600. I also needed the windscreen, rear turn sigs, mirrors, a complete belly pan fairing, the small piece below the headlight, the horn didn’t work, and oh yeah and a new triple tree and gas cap cause they destroyed both of those.
I found a couple pieces like the triple tree / gas cap combo with key, full wiring harness with the right CDI on EBay. I got the windscreen, rear turn sigs and mirrors from guys on here. The horn I fixed (they somehow messed up the switch on the handlebar). Only things I am missing as of right now are the belly pan, and the small fairing piece under the headlight. I got the manual posted on this site and started doing the work myself. This is the first bike I have owned since 2002 when I was in the Army. Registered and insured it last week and have driven it 3 or 4 times since then.
I am working on it as I have time. They got rid of the old tail pipe and rig the one in the pictures on there. It works but is not right. I have replaced the oil, brake fluid, new tire on the front, back was ok, and got it running pretty good. I also sanded and painted all the fairing pieces I have. I used 3 coats of Duplicolor Burnt Copper MetalSpeck paint followed by 3 coats of clear. I think it looks good, the pictures don't do it justice. In the sun it has really nice metal flake look that shimmers. By no means does it match up to some of the nice bikes on here, but it works for me and it was better than the matte black it was. I am sorry I have no pre-picks as I was anxious to get it apart, but here are a couple post-work / paint pics I took.
Thanks for all the great advice and help on getting this project under way.
And by the way .... so far the total cost for the rebuild for parts including the bike purchase and insurance and registration is a couple dollars over $900.
Jared
P.S. Dont mind the kids or wife in the pictures..... They like the bike too..
In November of 2007 he got a call from a police station 70 miles away saying they had found his bike. He asked what condition it was in and they said pretty good and if he wanted he could drive it home. He re-registered and insured it and drove the 70 miles to pick it up. When he got there he found what used to be his Kat. It was in one piece, but was missing the windscreen, mirrors, both rear blinkers, taillight was broken, and they had taken generic spray painted and painted the whole thing matte black. I told him in November when he got it that I would buy it from him for $500 not even seeing the bike. Things got crazy at home and forgot about the bike.
March of this year I said to him, "So you gonna sell me that bike?" He told me he would sell it to me for $200 just to get it out of his yard because he was going to be moving. So I got the money and had the wife take me over there. It needed a jump from sitting since November, but started right up and ran pretty good, so I drove the bike home that day and started my project.
I pulled everything apart and found a couple disturbing things... the thief’s had taken the CDI out, spliced the wires and put in a CDI from a 93 GSXR 600. I also needed the windscreen, rear turn sigs, mirrors, a complete belly pan fairing, the small piece below the headlight, the horn didn’t work, and oh yeah and a new triple tree and gas cap cause they destroyed both of those.
I found a couple pieces like the triple tree / gas cap combo with key, full wiring harness with the right CDI on EBay. I got the windscreen, rear turn sigs and mirrors from guys on here. The horn I fixed (they somehow messed up the switch on the handlebar). Only things I am missing as of right now are the belly pan, and the small fairing piece under the headlight. I got the manual posted on this site and started doing the work myself. This is the first bike I have owned since 2002 when I was in the Army. Registered and insured it last week and have driven it 3 or 4 times since then.
I am working on it as I have time. They got rid of the old tail pipe and rig the one in the pictures on there. It works but is not right. I have replaced the oil, brake fluid, new tire on the front, back was ok, and got it running pretty good. I also sanded and painted all the fairing pieces I have. I used 3 coats of Duplicolor Burnt Copper MetalSpeck paint followed by 3 coats of clear. I think it looks good, the pictures don't do it justice. In the sun it has really nice metal flake look that shimmers. By no means does it match up to some of the nice bikes on here, but it works for me and it was better than the matte black it was. I am sorry I have no pre-picks as I was anxious to get it apart, but here are a couple post-work / paint pics I took.
Thanks for all the great advice and help on getting this project under way.
And by the way .... so far the total cost for the rebuild for parts including the bike purchase and insurance and registration is a couple dollars over $900.
Jared
P.S. Dont mind the kids or wife in the pictures..... They like the bike too..
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