1999 KE100 56 miles!

[Brute]

Just picked this up and brought it home. 1999 KE100 with 56 original miles on it! The unfortunate part is it was forgotten in a shed for the last 10 years with an empty tank and it was over by the ocean so there is some rust, fading and the tank is full of rust. It is so clean and un-molested otherwise that I could not resist it at $500.


Now I have to start reading up on rejuvenating plastics!
One thing I have never seen before is there is an interlock between the clutch and kickstand. If you have the stand down and pull in the clutch it will pull the stand up! What the?!?! Never seen that before. Or at least I don't remember seeing it...

[Foxx4Beaver]

cool find!...was that listed on e-bay?...there was one that looked just like on there but I never read the ad.

[Brute]

I think the only place it was listed was on PNWRiders site. It was only there for about a half a day...    That was when I saw it. There were a few people that looked at it and or some that were 'thinking' about it. Too late! Don't think! Do! DO!
They had a low milage quad from the same folks but I missed out on that one.  
I am not sure how far to take this one. The pipe has little rust spots all over it and the engine has some white corrosion in places. My first thought is to give it a good scrubbing, silicone the plastics and seat, clean the inside of the tank, get it running and ride it. I am not one for gorgeous resto's or garage queens though I appreciate both and the work involved. This (if I keep it...) will be one to take camping or riding at the beach. Maybe riding to work once in a while.
Just tracked down the last owner of my 'track only' 250 Ninja so will be putting lights back on it and putting that back on the street after I have the title in hand so I have that project coming up also.

[Foxx4Beaver]

I think the only place it was listed was on PNWRiders site. It was only there for about a half a day...    That was when I saw it. There were a few people that looked at it and or some that were 'thinking' about it. Too late! Don't think! Do! DO!
They had a low milage quad from the same folks but I missed out on that one. 
I am not sure how far to take this one. The pipe has little rust spots all over it and the engine has some white corrosion in places. My first thought is to give it a good scrubbing, silicone the plastics and seat, clean the inside of the tank, get it running and ride it. I am not one for gorgeous resto's or garage queens though I appreciate both and the work involved. This (if I keep it...) will be one to take camping or riding at the beach. Maybe riding to work once in a while.
Just tracked down the last owner of my 'track only' 250 Ninja so will be putting lights back on it and putting that back on the street after I have the title in hand so I have that project coming up also.

using it for riding to work once and a while is what I was thinkin too...cheap transportation.

[Brute]

cool find!...was that listed on e-bay?...there was one that looked just like on there but I never read the ad.

Just spoke to the folks that sold it and they said it was on CL with a Facebook link and PNWRiders only. Good for me!

[Brute]

Cleaned out the tank using electrolysis. Really bummed I did not take before and after pictures. It had flaking dusty rust inside the entire tank from sitting ten years empty.
Took a piece of scrap wood and drilled a hole in it, put a couple of sheet rock screws to hold a length of carbon arrow, mixed 1 TBS Sodium Carbonate per gallon of water and filled the tank up. Put my battery charger on low, clipped the negative to the plate I made to plug the petcock hole and clipped the positive to the arrow shaft. Got bubbles immediately. Four hours later I cleaned it out and blew it out. Shiny metal!!! Amazing! I had heard about it but never tried it as I thought "It probably does not work that good". Oops. It's like magic!
Pulled the carb and I am guessing they ran it until it ran out of fuel as the 'crud' line was low in the bowl. Must have been non ethanol as there was no green to it and no corrosion, just old dried varnish gas residue which cleaned up pretty easily.
Ordered a battery, put an 'in line' filter on it and I think I am ready to start it up. Cool.

[Foxx4Beaver]

post a video when you get it fired off!

[Brute]

Got the title today and it turns out it is a 2000, not that it matters much. Put my 'working on it' temp gas tank on it and started it up. First kick! Here is a vid of the first. Let it warm up just a bit a little later and it runs excellent. Very cool! Ordered tires today too. View My Video

[sandblaster]

Nice!

[Foxx4Beaver]

sweet!...looks like that thing was stored well, nice and clean.

[Brute]

Up close there is speckled rust on ALL the painted parts and white corrosion on the aluminum parts. The chain is lightly rusted and 'sticky', but the bike will still roll. The fenders are faded on the tops of the exposed ends. The tank has some tiny chips that rusted so it has a number of little brown spots on it. I suppose it could be flaws in the manufacturing process that 'came out'. Hard to say. The wheels have speckled rust as well but there is one big deep rust patch on each wheel where the 'mist' settled and stayed. For sitting 10 years it is not bad because it was in a shed. If it had been outside it would be nothing but rust.
It is a super low mile bike though! I think I am just going to give it a good scrubbing and call it good. I will try heating up the fenders to see if I can get a little color back then maybe put some silicone on them.
It would require a tear down, blast and repaint of all the painted parts and re-chrome to make it look 'new' again and I don't think that is going to happen. It does not look 'bad' it is just not 'pristine' for only having 56 miles on it. Still will be fun!

[Foxx4Beaver]

yup, for what you paid for it, and how little it was used...I wouldn't go too crazy with it either...just ride it and have fun.

[Brute]

What a fun little bike! I have now had two 'working tricks' I tried this year that I have heard about but discounted because I could not imagine they would work good. First was electrically removing rust from the tank, which worked like magic. The newest one was yesterday...
I got a new tire on the front rim of the KE100. I did not clean all the rust (a fair amount) off before taking it in but did hit one spot with SemiChrome. Looked like it would be a lot of work and elbow grease. Remembered hearing about using a small piece of aluminum foil with just a bit of water to rub the rust off and polish. Does not scratch the chrome like steel wool or scotchbrite pads. Thought "What the heck, the other thing worked". Well, it works AMAZING!
I probably have YEARS of rubbing rust off of chrome over the years with all the time I have spent rubbing, scratching, scraping the stuff off.
With the aluminum foil it just,,, rubs off. Crazy. It actually works. Just a touch of water. I used heavy duty foil and folded up a piece to make a 'finger' square's worth then dipped it in water and went to work. The process involves transfer of electrons and aluminum oxide but all I care about is that it works. Science IS cool though! 

[Foxx4Beaver]

now I'm gonna have to get some foil and try it out on something myself...that's good to know, if it really does work that good

[Brute]

Just cleaned up the rear wheel with aluminum foil and while I will still say it works 'good' and does not scratch up the chrome it will not replace chrome on places where there is deep rust. 
I put on a 46 tooth (stock is 40) and so far it feels much better. I will ride it to work and have a better idea after that. sure is fun! Spun the rear tire in my gravel driveway! WooHoo!