Julian's YPVS money pit

[moth]

They call the Suzook a barn find. More like dredged off the seabed find.

Could be a perverse kind of fun,wading through the seized and sheared fasteners.

Your idea of perverse fun is miles away from mine...

[Yorick]

If yer gonna get an old ratter, then why not a classic ratter ? That bike may the classic engine, but nothing else about it is cool.

This is the first YPVS and was a classic




And I did quite well on this one

trophies.jpg (92.09 KiB) Viewed 1464 times

[Bigjawa]

If yer gonna get an old ratter, then why not a classic ratter ? That bike may the classic engine, but nothing else about it is cool.

This is the first YPVS and was a classic




And I did quite well on this one

trophies.jpg

I bought one of those in 1995 for the princely sum of £400 quid.

Wonder what it would be worth now?

[Bigyin]

And I did quite well on this one

trophies.jpg

Did you race in the past ?

[KungFooBob]

And I did quite well on this one

trophies.jpg

Did you race in the past ?

He was West Yorkshire's premier trophy shop cat burglar.

[Yorick]

And I did quite well on this one

trophies.jpg

Did you race in the past ?

I don't like to mention it

[Nobby]

If yer gonna get an old ratter, then why not a classic ratter ? That bike may the classic engine, but nothing else about it is cool.

This is the first YPVS and was a classic




And I did quite well on this one

trophies.jpg

Been there done that.
The Four Pound Trophy.
I can see 31 there. So that's 31 x £4 = 6 Grand *

* that's the mid 80's price.

[Skub]

They call the Suzook a barn find. More like dredged off the seabed find.

Could be a perverse kind of fun,wading through the seized and sheared fasteners.

Your idea of perverse fun is miles away from mine...

Or most people,to be fair.

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

The 1983 YPVS is what mine looked like when it was new, or at least that's what the frame is from, an 83 white YPVS, the engine is a little newer, by about 400 numbers, all the running gear is 83, it's just suffering from having been "customised" in the 1990s, it's going to look like an 83 bike again, though I'm not paying out the £800 people are asking for the original instruments, it'll get Koso instruments.

Anyway I've had a very pleasant evening fiddling with a two stroke and now it runs a treat, doing exactly what it should do, so it's time to pull it apart, chop the weird frame additions off and send the frame and swing arm off to be painted.

[weeksy]

Been there done that.
The Four Pound Trophy.
I can see 31 there. So that's 31 x £4 = 6 Grand *

* that's the mid 80's price.

#metoo

Spent a lot more than £6k to get a third place overall trophy that probably cost less than a tenner.
At the time I was chuffed mind.

I know that pain.... 1 trophy, countless thousands. Weirdly, i still have the timesheets, but not the trophy.

[KungFooBob]

I've got 5 Trophies, one is a 2nd in championship!

In total there is probably a good 20k worth.

[cheb]

I was lucky that my racing was cheap, the driver was happy he'd found someone stupid enough to hang off his grasstrack outfit. He refused any money I offered him.

Cheb, Southern Region Novice 1000cc Sidecars Championship, Runners Up. That netted me a small trophy and £2.50.

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

I spent a small fortune (for me at the time) on racing and never got any trophies, a serious lack of talent saw to that.

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

There's worse than the one I bought...
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Yamaha-RD350 ... ondition=4

Here is my prediction.
Someone without a clue will buy that bike at a silly price, they'll assume a couple of grand will fix it up, but once they've burned through £2-3k on an engine rebuild, frame finish, suspension rebuild, etc, they'll run out of energy and money.

Then they'll advertise it at what it's cost them (hence the silly prices on ebay) but eventually sell it at a considerable loss.

TDR's are the worst for it, people pay £3-4k for a shitter, then come onto the FB group complaining that they're £2k+ in and it's still not finished. A couple of grand will just about pay for a set of wheels to be made up on the old hubs and a spray job, then they've got a grand in the engine and easily a grand in frame, switchgear, and odds & sods.

This is true, I do know someone who has spent £9K on rebuilding a power valve, he didn't do any of the work himself, he now has a YPVS that looks like a new one, but I don't think it's worth £9K.

Anyway I just scored a pair of standard exhausts for £50, obviously for that price they're not perfect, but they're as good as the ones we used to ride round with in the 80s, and the standard pipes work well, it's only pipes like Lomas that give a big increase over them, and they make the bike all top end power.

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

I'm in no hurry to do mine and can everything apart from painting, welding and machining myself (my welding and spraying are shit and I haven't done any machining for 33 years) so I shouldn't have any big labour bills, also I'm not trying to build a bike that looks like a new one.

[Nobby]

I spent a small fortune (for me at the time) on racing and never got any trophies, a serious lack of talent saw to that.

But the fact is you did it. If you hadn't had a go , you would never have found out just how shit you were.
When and what did you race ? I got lucky one year when a load of slackers turned up and I won by a Gnats Cock

[IOU0]

I know JB is an 80s/90s boy, but I've found that trying to recapture your youth through the bikes of yesteryear is often a fruitless and expensive hobby.
Having said that i do miss the smell of silkolene in the mornings

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

I spent a small fortune (for me at the time) on racing and never got any trophies, a serious lack of talent saw to that.

But the fact is you did it. If you hadn't had a go , you would never have found out just how shit you were.
When and what did you race ? I got lucky one year when a load of slackers turned up and I won by a Gnats Cock

I raced with the now defunct Newmarket club at West Raynham and Snetterton, also raced with another club at Cadwell so that I'd done the required 3 tracks to get rid of my novice bib, did only one season in 1988, used a 250LC in 250 production, rode to all my meetings on the bike I raced and I wasn't the only person doing this, I knew I was never going to win but I was surprised by how slow round corners I was, I did get quicker, but the entry fees were financially crippling me and I had no social life as I was either racing or preparing to race, I was 21 and wanted to be shagging birds and getting drunk with my mates, so the road racing got knocked on the head and I bought a motocross bike and got my track kicks in my local practice track, I even had the sense to buy a car to get the bike to the track with one of those tow hitch racks, but I only lived 20 minutes drive from the practice track (I now live in the same village as that track). I fell off a lot at motocross leading my employer to ask me to stop doing it because I was having too much time off sick. So in 1990 I bought a 350 YPVS and went drag racing, it was really good fun in a I've destroyed a clutch, piston rings and a back tyre in 4 miles kind of way. I also met my wife in 1990, the following year I bought a 1985 GSXR 750 and returned to Santa Pod, but it wasn't as much fun as the power valve, and I couldn't afford regular 4 stroke engine rebuilds, so I have up motorsport for 10 years, in the meantime I'd taken up trail riding, then in 2001 along came Foot and Mouth and the trails were closed, so I bought a GSXR400 and did some trackdays, in 2002 I felt the urge to compete again and did some trail bike rallies (but like an enduro) but I then broke an arm in Dalby forest so also have that up. Then came children in 2004 and 2006.
I then lost interest in motorcycles for a few years but returned to the fold in 2015 with the purchase of a mighty CB400SF, followed by my first money pit, my Z1100R, this then led to me doing classic bike trackdays, which is where I am now with motorsport, I'm happy with my pace - top end of novice, bottom end of inters on a 30 year old 60bhp bike (note that I'm blaming the bike for some of my slowness)

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

I know JB is an 80s/90s boy, but I've found that trying to recapture your youth through the bikes of yesteryear is often a fruitless and expensive hobby.
Having said that i do miss the smell of silkolene in the mornings

I'm surprised at how much pleasure two stroke ownership is giving me

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

It's running as smooth as a smooth thing, shame I'm going to change the exhausts to a set of standard pipes, the spannies seriously compromise ground clearance and with standard pipes it'll be back to it's proddie racing past.
Lots of bits ordered, some arrived, standard tailpiece is on the bike, waiting for a seat to come up at the right price, airbox bought from Germany, engine casings on their way and some other little bits are coming.

Got the V5 back yesterday, 4 days after I bought the bike, I'm the 3rd owner, it was first registered in June 1988, indicating it's first 5 years were spent racing, everything is drilled for lockwire, caliper bolts, oil filler, drain plugs etc.