"Peter Monshizadeh" (practicalenthusiast)
07/24/2015 at 11:33 • Filed to: Yamaha R1, Bike Rebuilt, Budget Bike, $300 Motorcycle, Modern Classic, Superbike, Sportsbike, Lanesplitter, Yamaha, R1
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"Peter Monshizadeh" (practicalenthusiast)
07/24/2015 at 11:33 • Filed to: Yamaha R1, Bike Rebuilt, Budget Bike, $300 Motorcycle, Modern Classic, Superbike, Sportsbike, Lanesplitter, Yamaha, R1 | 43
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It was Sunday morning and I was finishing up my second cup of coffee while learning about the origins of the three pointed star in Hemmings Sports & Exotic Car . It was a morning that warranted nothing more, nothing less. Then the text came.
“Umm…my car won’t start.”
I’m sure many of you can relate to such a text message. It is the sort of text message that makes you realize that you may have overreached your bounds when talking about the joys automotive maintenance while at a party. The sort of message that pulls you away from the serene simplicity of a Sunday morning and immediately ratchets you into fight or flight mode. You have three options when such a message arrives:
1. Ignore.
2. Make an excuse.
3. Accept challenge.
If you intend to keep friends, and you truly don’t have other pressing matters at hand, there is really only one option: “I’ll be over in 30 minutes”.
This particular friend was in the homestretch of a weekend-long project concerning the deletion of the A/C system from his beloved Mustang. As he was finding out, a forum “how to” is not exactly the end-all when it comes to procedural completeness. As I started rooting around in the engine bay, looking for loose wires and the sort, I began coming up with theories for his non-start condition. Everything looked good that I could see; no pistons were outside of their cylinders. Pulling my head out of the engine bay, something caught my eye in that dimly-lit garage.
A bike.
Well, what it looked like was a bunch of junk piled in the corner, but a keen eye could spot the beautifully welded aluminum frame, gold anodized forks and a hunk of engine lying beside it all. This wasn’t just any bike; this was a long-since-cherished, turn-of-century, Japanese superbike. A second-year Yamaha R1 – and it was calling me.
Trying to contain my excitement, I returned to the matter at hand. Nope, nothing stood out. I was getting ready to mark it up as a failure. This Mustang needed a real mechanic.
“What’s the deal with that bike in the corner?” I asked.
As it turns out, my friend’s roommate bought the bike 8 years ago as an eBay impulse purchase. Having never ridden before, he didn’t know the difference between a starter bike and full-fledged racing machine for the road.
At that time, the bike was in perfect original condition. It could be predicted that things wouldn’t end well for the R1. Long story short, the bike had met the pavement a few times and I don’t mean just the tires. One of these little ‘oopsie’ moments caused the transmission to begin a fit of erratic shifting. The roommate had “ridden it in 3 rd gear” for a few months because he couldn’t get it to shift correctly. After growing tired of his single-speed superbike, he began to tear the bike down, piece by piece, in an attempt to get inside the transmission. A combination of losing interest and not having the correct tools for the job ended up in a 7 year scattered slumber for this poor bike. Oh dear.
We finally figure out why my friend’s car won’t start. A quick Google search shows that many a Mustang enthusiast has deleted their A/C only to find that their car won’t start. As it turns out, the crank position sensor does need to be plugged in for the engine to run. Who knew?!
Finally, the window was open to make a move on this neglected bike. “Can I talk to your roommate?”
An hour later I was the proud owner of probably the cheapest Yamaha R1 in the country. For handsome sum of $300 and a signed title, I stuffed the R1 frame and its remains into the back of my 4Runner and headed home.
The minute you take on a project like this is the minute start to question your sanity. The sheer state of all the boxes and parts scattered around the garage will send most people running for the hills.
It’s important, however, to keep your cool and realize you don’t yet have much money invested in this. At worst it will be a learning experience. At best it will be an education.
The first step with a project like this is to determine how deep you want to go. At first I thought I would just reassemble everything and reassess the shifting problem. However, I figured that it would be a shame to reassemble everything just to determine that there indeed was something wrong with the transmission.
When you are presented with a machine that is more apart than it is together, you see that there isn’t much more work left to do to get inside the inner workings; the real fiddly bits of the engine and transmission. So with that, I went in with an objective of inspecting the state of the transmission. I mean, the previous owner had already gotten this far:
Check out the
!!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!!
when I go into the separation of the engine cases and ultimately take a plunge that put my bank account into shock.
bob and john
> Peter Monshizadeh
07/24/2015 at 11:39 |
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I am soooo subbing to this series....
Meatcoma
> Peter Monshizadeh
07/24/2015 at 11:42 |
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Should post this in Lanesplitter.
http://lanesplitter.jalopnik.com/
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Peter Monshizadeh
> Meatcoma
07/24/2015 at 11:45 |
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Thanks! I’m still trying to figure how to use this site...oops!
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bob and john
> Meatcoma
07/24/2015 at 11:54 |
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except you cant. lanesplitter is like jalopnik, its not user run, its run by actual journalists.
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bob and john
> Peter Monshizadeh
07/24/2015 at 11:54 |
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dont worry about posting there. that is the motorcycle front page of jalopnik. you might get lucky and one of the journoalists that run it might come across this story and repost it there, but you are I cant
SidewaysOnDirt still misses Bowie
> Peter Monshizadeh
07/24/2015 at 11:59 |
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130 hp 1L go kart? 130 hp 1L go kart!
BobintheMtns
> Peter Monshizadeh
07/24/2015 at 12:01 |
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Awesome score! Good luck!!
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Peter Monshizadeh
> bob and john
07/24/2015 at 12:03 |
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Ah, I see. Thanks for the info!
Frank Grimes
> Peter Monshizadeh
07/24/2015 at 12:20 |
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I would have bought it even if I had no intention of riding it. Looks like a fun project and terrible as well.
Jetski
> Peter Monshizadeh
07/24/2015 at 12:21 |
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I have a 1999 Red R1 sitting in my garage, but all it needs is a battery and to be ridden every once in a while, otherwise all original. I'll be interested to see the rebuild, thanks for posting - looking forward to part2 and more.
Roman Savchuk
> Peter Monshizadeh
07/24/2015 at 12:29 |
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You should add tags (someone browsing them, probably) or even email one of the lanesplitter editors. This is indeed good, main page worthy stuff.
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BobintheMtns
> Peter Monshizadeh
07/24/2015 at 13:05 |
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I bet the transmission issue is just the shifter return spring.... a $5 part...
XJDano
> Peter Monshizadeh
07/24/2015 at 13:29 |
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I think I have you beat, for price. $2
Although that was what was written on the title, my brother basically gave me a 2001 R1 when he was getting engaged. Basically get it out of sight out of mind. There are some either transmission, or clutch issues that need resolved, about 2 to 3 years ago. Have lost interest in purchasing my own bike sense.
I still have his R1, and won’t sell it, but if I can get it fixed up maybe me and my wife will be able to go riding.
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Meatcoma
> bob and john
07/24/2015 at 13:34 |
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Lame. But you are correct.
DannyWRX
> Peter Monshizadeh
07/24/2015 at 14:21 |
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Created a profile a while ago but never cared... I now care just to keep track of your story. Great write up! We want more!!
Satoshi "Zipang" Katsura
> Peter Monshizadeh
07/24/2015 at 14:29 |
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Wait, you bought this for $300?
Man, why can’t I buy a potential project..?
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Peter Monshizadeh
> XJDano
07/24/2015 at 14:45 |
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Most seem to develop some sort of shifting issues over time. Trust me, get it running and you will be glad you did!
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Peter Monshizadeh
> Satoshi "Zipang" Katsura
07/24/2015 at 14:47 |
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Usually I’m in the boat of “why can’t I find a deal like that”. To be honest, these sort of next-to-free transactions only happen if you know the seller in some way. But that doesn’t mean your local Craigslist doesn’t have good deals too!
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Peter Monshizadeh
> BobintheMtns
07/24/2015 at 14:48 |
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Haha. You’ll just have to wait and find out! But I can tell you’ve been around Yamahas...
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Peter Monshizadeh
> DannyWRX
07/24/2015 at 14:49 |
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Thank you! More is coming...
MotoMott
> Peter Monshizadeh
07/24/2015 at 14:51 |
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The first gen R1’s are such a legendary bike, I would be shooting myself in the foot if I passed up a deal like that. Definitely looking forward to this build!
ThatGuyWhoBuysUnreliableCrap
> Peter Monshizadeh
07/24/2015 at 14:59 |
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I wish i had the time to dive into a project like this. like sincerely, but i just bought an ‘02 RC51 last week, so my money is a bit tied up for a while.
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Peter Monshizadeh
> ThatGuyWhoBuysUnreliableCrap
07/24/2015 at 15:03 |
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What a bike! I hope to get one of those some day soon, before prices decide to skyrocket.
Destructive Tester
> Peter Monshizadeh
07/24/2015 at 15:14 |
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I'm already eagerly anticipating the ensuing shenanigans, I mean stories, with this build!
dpz
> Peter Monshizadeh
07/24/2015 at 15:25 |
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You teaser...-_-
Hurry up and post part two! :-)
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ThatGuyWhoBuysUnreliableCrap
> Peter Monshizadeh
07/24/2015 at 15:48 |
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haha yeah i got it for a REALLY good price, like, 3 grand. Around here that’s about 1500$ off similar condition ones.(not including the $400 i just spent for a tire, sprockets, chain, and indicators.) the guy I bought it from had a kid so his priorities changed, life happens yanno. But i mean, if you ever get the chance to ride one, take it, trust me, there’s something surreal about it. every time I hit the gas i still get that “fizz”
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BobintheMtns
> Peter Monshizadeh
07/24/2015 at 16:45 |
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Yamahas, no.... but def spent some time poking around motorbikes...
Adamsm293
> Peter Monshizadeh
07/26/2015 at 10:58 |
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I have done this successfully with an XR50, ttr90 (turned out to have a huge carb, cam, and bore kit...my proudest salvage yet), and two XR100’s.
Never had the balls to go for it with a 4cyl bike.
This is an inspiration.
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dreygata
> Peter Monshizadeh
07/27/2015 at 15:17 |
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This is exactly what I’m doing with my 83 Nighthawk, except I traded a push mower for mine. Unfortunately for me, I realized that I left the clutch master cylinder with the original owner 3 months later. So now I need to find one, or attempt to contact him.
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Peter Monshizadeh
> dreygata
07/27/2015 at 18:46 |
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Well shoot. I’m sure you can find one for a reasonable price on the ol’ Ebay if needed.
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dreygata
> Peter Monshizadeh
07/28/2015 at 08:09 |
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Sadly I tried. Most have some sort of damage to them :/ I’ll figure something out.
Iamopenlyjudgingyou
> Peter Monshizadeh
07/28/2015 at 10:00 |
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First gen R1’s are suuweeeeeeeeeeet bikes. Can’t believe they are considered old now but I guess that is more a reflection on me.
I think they had a minor rep for second gear issues, so you’ll want to inspect all the trannies wibbly bits (must be phrased that way due to this being part of gawker media).
Engines are known to to solid. 100K-500K solid. 25k valve inspections and all in spec each and every damn time solid. the only way to kill it is to wreck the entire bike and punch a hole in the block solid.
Unfortunately now that we put ethanol in gasoline, the carbs will likely become a weekend waster. Might as well buy relevant gaskets, replacement screws and also a carb sync tool.
Gas tank - Rust. Check for rust. Check for leaks. clean it. Coat it. Worse case ship it off for a pro treatment.
Wiring - I went through all the wiring in my old ZX-11 a few years back. I now have bags of zipties in a gazillion sizes and colors. Zip ties and electrical tap. Zip ties and Electrical tape and electronics cleaner. Zip ties and Electrical tape and electronics cleaner and bandaids. FYI: The ends to zip ties are really stabby little shits if you trim them at any sort of angle.
If anyone drops the “Dude, just part it out. You’ll end up with enough cash to buy a runner in good condition!!!”, just tell them “thanks, will keep in mind”. They are just trying to help.
SMRZ
> Peter Monshizadeh
08/01/2015 at 21:08 |
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Oh, the joys of the water pump living under the crank I have partaken of deeply.
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Adamsm293
> Adamsm293
08/03/2015 at 14:15 |
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My projects usually end up with street tires (Bridgestone miniGP rubber for the built TTR90). They spend their time grinding down foot pegs in my buddy’s business parking lot on a monthly race night. Race leathers on. Makes for good pictures and video.
What is your plan with this bike?
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360modena
> Peter Monshizadeh
08/04/2015 at 09:56 |
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At least $100 right there, so worst case is you unload the parts and walk away with beer money...
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MSC
> Iamopenlyjudgingyou
05/02/2017 at 01:15 |
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I have a 1998 R1 (blue) that I bought new - when Yamaha announced they were going to sell a 150bhp 400lb bike I just gave my local dealer a deposit. Picked up one of the first 4 bikes in CT (New England Cycle Center)
All original - less than 4,000 miles on her
Only downside with it today is the ethanol they put in gas leading to carb issues (which can be easily fixed - its just time consuming).
I would sell to a serious enthusiast or collector but would rather keep it than see it messed with and wrecked
I still believe I could beat Mick Doohan around Donnington on this bike -it’s that good.
Call if interested 860 328 1728