no good deed

[snydur]

good deeds by andrew snyder, on Flickr

well as the ad says there is a broken bike, and someone is mad at it. a young lady in fact. so after afew emails, a call, and a quick soda i was on my way. about a five mile ride with two wrenches, channel locks, allen wrenches, and a small hammer. got downtown and found the young lady, asked if her bike was broken. ended up being a popped chain link (due to chain being over tightened) a kind of bent sprocket, and a rear hub that was so loose the ball bearings were visible. :mrgreen: took maybe 15 minutes too get everything right and riding nice, all of maybe 10 words were exchanged, and then she was off, with a riding like new light blue kind of beat up huffy. so not saying to answer every odd craigslist ad, but occasionally it wouldnt hurt. plus your neighbor might just give you a blue canti schwinn frame when you get home

 

[Bloodyknuckles]

Sometimes you have a good feeling and go with it. Too bad more people don't do things like that. This country would be a much better place. Great job!

 

[outskirtscustoms]

Good job! I Did kind of a good deed myself this week. There was a scooter listed on C-list that someone said ran but wouldn't stay running. Chinese 4 stroke... the funny thing is at the end of the add it says "So and so's scooter repair" and a phone number....That's really good for buissness... :roll:
I e-mailed him and told him how to fix it and shared a little of my hard earned knowledge about scooters. I remember when I was the rookie scooter mechanic beating my head against the wall trying to figure out what was wrong with it.

 

[55ColumbiaBuilt]

Kudos to you for doing that!

The heck's Angels Motorcycle Club wanted to clean up their image with the general public (read about it in Hunter S. Thompson's book "A Strange & Terrible Tale). Years ago they tried pulling over and helping broke-down motorists. All they did was scare the ba-jee-bee's outta people!!

 

[outskirtscustoms]

Kudos to you for doing that!

The h***'s Angels Motorcycle Club wanted to clean up their image with the general public (read about it in Hunter S. Thompson's book "A Strange & Terrible Tale). Years ago they tried pulling over and helping broke-down motorists. All they did was scare the ba-jee-bee's outta people!!

I could see that :lol: . I have been doing scooter and motorcycle repair for some time and have gotten pretty good at it. I have made some good money buying up broken mopeds and getting them running reliably, throw a little paint at it if needed, and re-selling them. I've seen all kinds of backyard repairs, beaten down scooters, and pure out and out JUNK! But I have gotten so good that last year I ran an add on craigslist that I could fix ANY scooter or moped in less than one week as long as it was complete. And if I couldn't I'd pay them $100 for it regardless.

I had a really smug guy bring me a 1980's Yamaha Chappy, beaten up, muddy, smelled bad, motor locked up, and had a few gallons of swamp water where oil was supposed to be, but complete. I spent all night working on it, took a wood hammer handle and beat the piston out of the head, hand sanded the jug smooth, cleaned the piston and rings, had the case apart, and after several hours had it running and riding down the road! I called the guy back and told him I had it running and he couldn't believe it. He said he found it in a creek where it had sat half submerged for at least 5 years that he knew of. He came over to see it for himself and took it for a test ride then came back and threw me the keys and said you earned it....Keep it.

 

[Craiggo]

Awesome story outskirtscustoms!!! I like how he almost knew you wouldn't be able to fix it. It's like he TRIED to stump you

 

[outskirtscustoms]

Awesome story outskirtscustoms!!! I like how he almost knew you wouldn't be able to fix it. It's like he TRIED to stump you

He tried and let me tell you he ALMOST got me. That is one good thing about Yamahas though, They will run on a ring and a prayer. I have worked on worse though. One was designed from the factory to be a pain in the backside every step of the way. If you've ever had one or worked on one you already know. The Honda Urban Express.

The kick start is a huge pain and if one gear is missing a tooth or worn the whole mess doesn't work.

Then there is the vacuum choke system, routing all the cables through the frame (Easy part), and the oil pump which is a pain in the but too. They look really cool but are a nightmare to work on be warned.