Its sad to put this update so soon, but I had to let the shogun go, this was a gem, but there was this extremely passionate college kid who convinced me to give it to him
He was exited since the day I said yes. I waited for 3 weeks for him to sell his unicorn, but that gave me enough time to spend with the bike post restoration. The tyres were funky, my thought was to get Michelin sirac Street for both front(275 X 18) and rear (3.00 X 18), the tyres were not available and I was asked to wait.
Then the D day arrived, the night before D day I spent time till 12 AM washing and polishing the bike. At 11 The college kid arrives with his brother in a CBR 250, fully prepares with riding jackets and helmets. I knew he would take good care of the bike, we chit chatted and soon the guy was on his way.
After about 45 minutes I get a call from him that the bike broke down, my hear sank, thinking how this could happen and preliminary probing pointed out that the bike starts and idles and when the throttle is twisted nothing happens, I asked him if the throttle cable is broken and he confirmed my suspicion. I asked him to go to the nearest spare shop and buy a replacement cable and take the bike to the nearest shop to get it changed.
I never realised this would be the biggest mistake of the day later. I get a call from the mechanic, he tells me that the clutch side oil seal is gone the silencer is blocked with the engine oil
, he also told me that the silencer needs to be cut and burned to clear the oil which seeped into the combustion chamber due to this faulty oil seal, I asked him what the solution and he said it will take 2 days to do all the repairs and would cost 2500. I realized the kid will have the most important lesson of 2 stroke biking the same day, not to mention how his conservative parents would kill him for selling his almost new unicorn and buying this 20 year old junk. I was far away with my wife but I decided to help the kid. So I went to him and I see this con artist telling me how the clutch oil(he was referring it to as engine oil) is old and it was carelessly re filled. First question I ask him is if he knows what bike it is, he said yes. I have had the same bike for 2 years and I was working in the TVS factory in Chennai(those credentials are enough to fool anyone), I started the bike and it was not running right and fluttering when accelerated and the fuel filer was blocked.
I immediately asked the kid to get me a new samurai filter and I removed the carb by then and this mech slowly comes and is looking at what I do. I removed the bowl and started cleaning all the debris and cleaned the carb fully, the guy first asked me to pick all the tools I needed, was now helping me by getting the tools I wanted himself. I swapped the filter and started the bike. it came back to life and started running right. I asked the mech what bike was his speciality and he said hero Honda.
I asked him how he came up with a 2500 repair cost without knowing the root cause, what he did in and say in the next 5 minutes was extremely funny.
So gents, you all know who killed the 2 Stroke bikes. yes the stupid mech who does not know the difference between the 4 stroke and 2 stroke bikes. most idiotic mechs can do an oil change and sparkplug change, so you will have at least a dozen happy customers who would recommend them. There will be some grease monkey in their garage who will have at least 250 gms nuts and bolts to spare as soon as he fits an engine back, those nuts and bolts didn't come in a buy one get one offer but were there for a purpose, they shamelessly tell you that the bike is old and you need to upgrade. one word of advise, Chose your mech wisely, ensure this guy has at the minimum seen your kind of the bike, if you want to prevent the heart ache later, think of yourself as the father of a teenage daughter who is going on her first date.
This was one primary reason I decided to grease my hands and learn stuff my self.
I am sad I had to let this one go, but Dhanush ( the college kid ) who by the way calls her "kate" will ensure she stays young for couple of decades to come at the least
Pramod