Craigslist Rescues

[umberto]

Thought it would be fun to share some of the bikes I have "rescued" off of Craigslist over the years.  I generally buy a bike or two a year (usually in poor condition), bring them back to life, and flip them for some cash to keep my habit alive.  If you have pictures of bikes you have rehabbed and kept or sold, I would love to see them.

I was shamefully riding a pit bike many moons ago, just chasing my boy around on his 50 when a guy I worked with decided he wanted a bike.  He ended up with a 1994 CR 125 that I got to work on.  I remembered how much I loved two strokes.  I chased down and bought a 2002 KX 250 that was a really nice bike.  It just had one problem, it was not my style.  Black plastics and Vegas Roulette Wheel graphics:



I cleaned it up with new plastic, levers, grips and factory graphics.  It turned out really nice, but it just never felt right for me.  I flipped it for some extra cash:



I'll post more flips later.  Would love to see any other rescues you guys have done.

[umberto]

Okay, I couldn't help myself.  Here's one more.  It's a 1987 KDX 200 that I found in OKC.  The guy actually had two bikes that he was selling.  One was in horrible condition, and the other one was worse.  Somehow I was able to cobble one running bike from the two bikes.  It seemed like whatever was broken or non-functional on one bike would would work on the other.   Blind squirrel finding a nut if I ever saw one.

Here's how the better of the two bikes looked when I got it:



After a ton of massaging and my first plastic restoration job, the finished product didn't look too bad.  It was a nice bike, but I didn't have a spot for it so off it went.  Funny story, I almost traded a Quadzilla for it, but the guy backed out at the last minute.  I was pretty bummed.  

[umberto]

I bought these two about two years ago from a guy that worked in the oil fields.  He was away for an extended period, and his teenage son rode the bikes into the ground.  One was a 2003 KTM 250 SX that the kid broke the subframe on and trashed pretty much everything else.  He even had a buddy weld the shifter on.  The other bike was a former Oklahoma pro's bike (I forget who it was) that the son had transformed into a freestyle bike.  I got both bikes for a song, because there was so many things wrong with them.

Here is the CR Before:



And the KTM:



After a ton of work, here is the CR:



And the KTM:



It was fun bringing them back to life.  One guy bought both of them for himself and his father.  

[81cr450]

Wow looks like you stay right busy keeping the stock rotated

[umberto]

It keeps me out of trouble for the most part, and I just love working on and riding dirt bikes.  My 15 year old son loves to help me with them as well, so it's kind of become a father/son enterprise. By doing the flips, it also keeps me from perpetually changing the bikes I plan to keep.   

[umberto]

Here's a KTM 65 SX I did about two years ago.  My son was riding a nice little Pitster Pro 110 pit bike, but wanted something with a clutch and he had started to feel the two stroke pull like his old man.  I found this bike in Arkansas.  It was in pretty rough shape, but the motor was strong.  I thought it needed fork seals, because the front end had no dampening at all.  Come to find out the bottom bolt on the fork that connects to the dampening rod was actually gone.  The bolt on the other fork was loose, so it was a few turns of a bolt from losing the wheel on a jump.  If only there were a humane society for dirt bikes.  My son ended up hitting a huge growth spurt, and never got to ride the bike at all. This was the first bike he did most of the work on, so it was a nice learning experience.

Before (unfortunately, we didn't get to keep the bed frame  ):



And after:

[zz3gmc]

Nice job! The KDX was really nice!

[umberto]

Nice job! The KDX was really nice!

Sorry, I was out in the boonies with poor/no internet.  I felt like Fred Flintstone.     Thank you sir!