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Hi y'all. Proud new (old) Kat owner/rider here. 34 Years old from St. Augustine, FL. Been riding dirt bikes since age 8 or so, and last summer bought my first street bike/scooter, a 1999 Aprilia RS50.
It was sitting alongside the road with a FOR SALE sign on it, somebody had owed somebody some money and for $800 that little pocket rocket was mine. Since I am a short rider, it was a great way to get my feet wet. I was talking to somebody months later about buying a "real bike" and they told me what those little Aprilas' were selling for (around 1500 bucks).... AND that he had a Katana for sale, cheap. So on ebay the RS50 went, eventually bringing $1300. Money in pocket, I went to look at the Kat in December.
Guy wasn't around, but the bike was there and I was given the key. 1994 750. Fairings badly cracked, one mirror missing, windscreen cracked. But when I fired the thing up, it sounded great. A quick ride taught me two things, one, the bike ran GREAT and two, some front brakes would be nice.... it didn't have any. I was dismayed at the 40,006 miles shown on the odometer, the bike while rough just didn't look or feel THAT used. I figured the way it ran it was either rebuilt or engine was swapped sometime in the somewhat recent past. Made a deal for $800 and limped it home.
Rode it around the neighborhood (yes, without front brake, don't yell at me) for a couple weeks and then stored it a couple weeks, had a bunch of medical stuff happening. In the meantime, ordered some parts, a master cylinder, a windscreen, some levers, some fairings, all off EBAY. Then had shoulder surgery, meaning I wasn't riding for a couple weeks. So, I installed everything but the new plastics, I am going to paint 'em first. Ahhhh, front brakes, how nice they are
The bike .... it's all black with some absoutely terrible purple rims. It's got a low profile D08 on the front and a stock rear tire. I'm pretty sure that front tire is causing the speedo to read fast, that will be a Q for the tech page. The sprockets on it are were changed at some point by the previous owner, what kinda RPM should I be seeing at 70mph in 6th? It's geared very short right now ..... I'm gonna ride here in a bit and will note the RPM exactly then. Glued the existing fairings back together the best I could, they aren't flapping in the breeze now at least.
Really enjoying having the bike. I'm a very mellow rider, I just love being on the thing. It's only been a few weeks since my shoulder was operated on, so it's still short rides at this point, altho I may try and hit Daytona on Tuesday ....
And one last thing .... on Saturday (yesterday) I ran into a friend of the guy whom I got the bike from .... he said you know I almost bought that thing but you beat me to it .... he looked at the odometer and said, what he never changed that? Asked him what he meant .... said the original odo broke before he was selling it .... the bike really had about 8,000 miles on it .... because he helped swap this entire gauge panel from a wrecked bike not long before I bought it. Bonus, huh ? 8)
Jeeze I type alot. Sorry y'all and see ya on the road !
It was sitting alongside the road with a FOR SALE sign on it, somebody had owed somebody some money and for $800 that little pocket rocket was mine. Since I am a short rider, it was a great way to get my feet wet. I was talking to somebody months later about buying a "real bike" and they told me what those little Aprilas' were selling for (around 1500 bucks).... AND that he had a Katana for sale, cheap. So on ebay the RS50 went, eventually bringing $1300. Money in pocket, I went to look at the Kat in December.
Guy wasn't around, but the bike was there and I was given the key. 1994 750. Fairings badly cracked, one mirror missing, windscreen cracked. But when I fired the thing up, it sounded great. A quick ride taught me two things, one, the bike ran GREAT and two, some front brakes would be nice.... it didn't have any. I was dismayed at the 40,006 miles shown on the odometer, the bike while rough just didn't look or feel THAT used. I figured the way it ran it was either rebuilt or engine was swapped sometime in the somewhat recent past. Made a deal for $800 and limped it home.
Rode it around the neighborhood (yes, without front brake, don't yell at me) for a couple weeks and then stored it a couple weeks, had a bunch of medical stuff happening. In the meantime, ordered some parts, a master cylinder, a windscreen, some levers, some fairings, all off EBAY. Then had shoulder surgery, meaning I wasn't riding for a couple weeks. So, I installed everything but the new plastics, I am going to paint 'em first. Ahhhh, front brakes, how nice they are
The bike .... it's all black with some absoutely terrible purple rims. It's got a low profile D08 on the front and a stock rear tire. I'm pretty sure that front tire is causing the speedo to read fast, that will be a Q for the tech page. The sprockets on it are were changed at some point by the previous owner, what kinda RPM should I be seeing at 70mph in 6th? It's geared very short right now ..... I'm gonna ride here in a bit and will note the RPM exactly then. Glued the existing fairings back together the best I could, they aren't flapping in the breeze now at least.
Really enjoying having the bike. I'm a very mellow rider, I just love being on the thing. It's only been a few weeks since my shoulder was operated on, so it's still short rides at this point, altho I may try and hit Daytona on Tuesday ....
And one last thing .... on Saturday (yesterday) I ran into a friend of the guy whom I got the bike from .... he said you know I almost bought that thing but you beat me to it .... he looked at the odometer and said, what he never changed that? Asked him what he meant .... said the original odo broke before he was selling it .... the bike really had about 8,000 miles on it .... because he helped swap this entire gauge panel from a wrecked bike not long before I bought it. Bonus, huh ? 8)
Jeeze I type alot. Sorry y'all and see ya on the road !
You will find lots of riders here from your area ... I should know they keep telling me they are riding while I am still stuck in 18 inches of snow !!! Post pictures soon please 
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