My old Harley MT350

**MagicJoey** Thu Apr 15 2010, 19:22

Okay... don't laugh... I owned a Harley (well, a "sort of" Harley)!

Few years ago my mate started a business buying bikes from the Ministry of Defence, fixing them up and selling them on. He gets them in various states of repair.

As I am a bit of a bike addict and like to think I'm handy with a spanner I bought one that I could fix up myself. What I got was an engine, a frame, a couple of wheels and a big green box of parts. Great fun to do for a month or so during thye early spring.

I ended up doing a full "nut and bolt" rebuild (pics below). While it was fun to build and really satisfying to complete these bikes are like pigs to ride (imho). I did a bit of touring in the UK fully loaded with large front mounted hard panniers but it's not an exciting ride and can get a bit tiring too. Don't get me wrong, these are good, solid bikes... they had to be for for what they were used for and you can have some fun on them. They're great around town with massive hand guards for knocking off wing mirrors, but that Rotax air-cooled motor does get a little hot in the traffic. The bike spent most of its life in my garage as I much preferred my other rides - until last year when I waved it goodbye and sent it off on a trailer to a buyer in Scotland. He was very excited... not sure how long that excitement lasted after he rode it!

Oh my god... what have I gotten myself into? Where do I start?

[img] My old Harley MT350 14m6kn8

[/img]

As if by magic...

[img] My old Harley MT350 S5d8wn

[/img]

I wish it was that easy! Many, many hours spent on my knees...

[img] My old Harley MT350 Xdi4ip

[/img]

The finished result...

[img] My old Harley MT350 Ay643q

[/img]

[img] My old Harley MT350 Jb0j8p

[/img]

[img] My old Harley MT350 16iusyp

[/img]

[img] My old Harley MT350 24uw3lw

[/img]

**yamahamad** Thu Apr 15 2010, 20:07

Excellent work how long to complete?

**Rosco** Thu Apr 15 2010, 20:14

Fantastic pics and story mate.

Love how the expression and hands in the air were the same for both empty frame and bits as it was for the finished article.

Cheers
Rosco

**MagicJoey** Thu Apr 15 2010, 20:23

yamahamad wrote:Excellent work how long to complete?

Started mid March and had it painted, polished, registered and on the road at the start of May... That was like 12 hour days almost every day! stars

I'd taken voluntary redundancy and had loads of time on my hands.

Hard work, but great fun and it tought me loads about bike engineering.

**MagicJoey** Thu Apr 15 2010, 20:25

Rosco wrote:Fantastic pics and story mate.

Love how the expression and hands in the air were the same for both empty frame and bits as it was for the finished article.

Cheers
Rosco

Cheers Rosco....

I really wish it had been as easy as that... went home in tears some nights and the skin is only just growing back on my knuckles! Laughing