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My wife and I got back yesterday from bringing home a 48. I know the veterans probably have trouble remembering the excitement of the first one so pardon me if sound a little too enthusiastic and get too wordy. I just wanted to share the story.
I found the bike on the Arkansas craigslist in early August and it looked like a possible candidate. I knew I did not have the knowledge to hand over hard earned money so I joined AMCA, went to Jefferson, then met several local Chapter members and viewed their bikes a week later. After cramming for the test so to speak, we still felt the bike was worth pursuing but the seller said bike was sold. Then, the seller contacted me late last week and said the buyer (a close friend) couldn't come up with money.
The biggest concern for me and my newly found "advisors" was the bike did not run and the seller did not have ambition to get it to run and it was priced about where a running bike would be. After assessing the character of the sellers, we decided to bite so scraped up some cash and headed to AR for the 1000 mile trek. The sellers were great folks as we anticipated. When we went into the garage, there was a huge plastic storage bin filled with parts. The seller said that goes with it. I almost fell over because he hadn't said anything about that many extra parts. I haven't had time to try and figure what all is there but did find a couple Roadmaster emblems to my delight! Also found a cover in the box that someone made for the opening in the rear fender that was supected in a previous thread as being for a siren.
The seller used the bike as a prop in a business and never rode it. He acquired it in 07 from the widow of the man who owned it since 1953 in Rogers AR. The seller told me the widow thought she may be able to find saddle bags that went with bike but he hadn't pursued it. I will be contacting her.
We drove straight through and escaped rain on the drive home despite various storms through the mid west. Despite little sleep in 32 hours I could not resist the urge trying to get it to run as soon as I unloaded it. I wasn’t sure if it was a good idea or not since I have never worked on an antique motorcycle but had studied up a bit. Experience said I should sleep first but that was over ridden by excitement. I would sleep a whole lot better once I knew it would run.
I flushed the tanks which looked pretty good. Found a clogged line between carb and petcocks. Noticed the distributor did not look positioned properly vs pictures of other bikes. After a little investigation I realized the rear cylinder was firing on the small distributor cam when the front cylinder was on its compression stroke. No wonder it wouldn't run. The advance retard mechanism wasn't connected properly so fixed that too. With timing set the bike started in two kicks and sounded beautiful. You can imagine my relief. Never having ridden a foot clutch side shift bike, after insuring oil was returning to the tank I put it in gear and away I went through the field for a maiden voyage. There is so much power the rear wheel was spinning easily so I had to be careful. Ad to that the throttle cable wasn't returning properly and its a wonder I kept it upright but oh what fun!
In a nutshell we are thrilled with the bike. Its matching numbers with original sheet metal. The paint is a nice 10 footer and shows well but does have some issues up close specifically behind the muffler where it bubbled from the excess heat when it was ran lean (note blue pipe). I found receipts with some documentation from the previous owner indicating the engine was rebuilt not too long before this seller bought it in 07. I'll have to go through that in detail to get an idea what all was done. I was looking for a presentable unmolested solid rider and "so far" it fits the bill perfectly. I'll go over it with a fine tooth comb but also want to have an experienced owner look it over before putting it on the road. These bikes are amazing machines and the wife and I have no regrets we spent the money.
One question - Are the handlebars supposed to be setup in front or behind the round adjuster knob. I've seen pics both ways.
I found the bike on the Arkansas craigslist in early August and it looked like a possible candidate. I knew I did not have the knowledge to hand over hard earned money so I joined AMCA, went to Jefferson, then met several local Chapter members and viewed their bikes a week later. After cramming for the test so to speak, we still felt the bike was worth pursuing but the seller said bike was sold. Then, the seller contacted me late last week and said the buyer (a close friend) couldn't come up with money.
The biggest concern for me and my newly found "advisors" was the bike did not run and the seller did not have ambition to get it to run and it was priced about where a running bike would be. After assessing the character of the sellers, we decided to bite so scraped up some cash and headed to AR for the 1000 mile trek. The sellers were great folks as we anticipated. When we went into the garage, there was a huge plastic storage bin filled with parts. The seller said that goes with it. I almost fell over because he hadn't said anything about that many extra parts. I haven't had time to try and figure what all is there but did find a couple Roadmaster emblems to my delight! Also found a cover in the box that someone made for the opening in the rear fender that was supected in a previous thread as being for a siren.
The seller used the bike as a prop in a business and never rode it. He acquired it in 07 from the widow of the man who owned it since 1953 in Rogers AR. The seller told me the widow thought she may be able to find saddle bags that went with bike but he hadn't pursued it. I will be contacting her.
We drove straight through and escaped rain on the drive home despite various storms through the mid west. Despite little sleep in 32 hours I could not resist the urge trying to get it to run as soon as I unloaded it. I wasn’t sure if it was a good idea or not since I have never worked on an antique motorcycle but had studied up a bit. Experience said I should sleep first but that was over ridden by excitement. I would sleep a whole lot better once I knew it would run.
I flushed the tanks which looked pretty good. Found a clogged line between carb and petcocks. Noticed the distributor did not look positioned properly vs pictures of other bikes. After a little investigation I realized the rear cylinder was firing on the small distributor cam when the front cylinder was on its compression stroke. No wonder it wouldn't run. The advance retard mechanism wasn't connected properly so fixed that too. With timing set the bike started in two kicks and sounded beautiful. You can imagine my relief. Never having ridden a foot clutch side shift bike, after insuring oil was returning to the tank I put it in gear and away I went through the field for a maiden voyage. There is so much power the rear wheel was spinning easily so I had to be careful. Ad to that the throttle cable wasn't returning properly and its a wonder I kept it upright but oh what fun!
In a nutshell we are thrilled with the bike. Its matching numbers with original sheet metal. The paint is a nice 10 footer and shows well but does have some issues up close specifically behind the muffler where it bubbled from the excess heat when it was ran lean (note blue pipe). I found receipts with some documentation from the previous owner indicating the engine was rebuilt not too long before this seller bought it in 07. I'll have to go through that in detail to get an idea what all was done. I was looking for a presentable unmolested solid rider and "so far" it fits the bill perfectly. I'll go over it with a fine tooth comb but also want to have an experienced owner look it over before putting it on the road. These bikes are amazing machines and the wife and I have no regrets we spent the money.
One question - Are the handlebars supposed to be setup in front or behind the round adjuster knob. I've seen pics both ways.
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