Hows it going guys? I'm an old new rider (43 years old).

I bought my first actual street bike 22 yrs ago, an early 80's yamaha seca 400 and was hooked on that feeling of absolute freedom immediately.

21 years ago , I got my first son. With great responsibility , comes great sacrifice lol so the first thing sacrificed was my bike. I only had the one short season on a bike but the feeling has never left or faded. About 11 years later when I figured my son was older and everything was pretty much on track, I started getting the itch and figured why not get a bike again. Well my wife informed me of another little miracle which would be son number 2. So to the back burner went my riding itch again.

Well here I am another 11 years later, and after glancing at the wife's chest and seeing no signs of swelling, I figured I was golden so went to pick out a bike. About 10 years ago I happened to notice an F4i and instantly fell in love with it , so I knew what I was looking for from the beginning.
I was looking for a bit of a project bike , considering my budget. I figured I would find a bike that needed some tlc and nurse it back to health and glory. What I ended up buying was something that needed an entire team of surgeons and a psychiatrist.

I bought a 2001 F4i that had been spray bombed white. Ive seen many varying degrees of spray bomb quality over the years but Im not sure that this job would have reached the bottom of the scale. Anyway the list of things that were wrong with this thing is a thread in itself , I'll post pics in that thread when I sort them all out.

You know they say not to do grocery shopping when your hungry? well that goes for buying a bike when you REALLY want to ride as well.

The engine runs great even with 60,000K , it pulls hard, tranny seems strong the frame and forks are good, so its a solid base to work from , just a little bit more work needed than I initially expected.
But this bike WILL shine again when I'm done. Just not by the end of this season. I'll get her looking good again to get through this season, then over the winter I'll give her the attention she deserves.

Have a good group of guys here from what Ive been reading over the past couple of weeks, I may end up picking your brains from time to time as this project gets rolling.
Take care , and I'll see ya around the board.
Mike

 

Welcome to seebarf Mike!

 

Thanks demon, and thanks for getting my account straightened out for me. Really appreciate it.

 

Welcome to the CBR Forum Mike,

It's an itch I've had since I was a wee child, I'm now 55 and it still has to be scratched on a very regular basis!

I'm looking forward to photos on the refurbishment thread. Good luck with it all.

Cheers, SB

 

Thanks Sebastionbear
55 ? man respect for that alone lol
If the effect of the last 10 years of aging Ive experienced is exponential, I'd be glad to be on a bike in another 10 years.

I threw up a few shots of what I'm working with in the f4i forum. Like I say over there , Ive only started.
But when its a labor of love , it doesn't really feel like labor at all

 

hello and welcome, im 50 now, have been riding since I was 11 and haven't been without a bike since I was 17, couldn't see myself with out a ride, enjoy your time with your machine

 

Welcome F4i4ever. I also been scratching that itch for a very long time. Started operating a Honda XL70 when I was 7. Rode with Dad before that. Now Im 48, got 08 1000, 06 600 and 2 F2's. Been doing a steady diet of track days since 2011.