Ever Buy a Bike from a Neanderthal?

[Rick1956]

I went off to check out a guy's 85 ATC110 a month or so ago. He didn't seem like all that big of a guy... maybe average size. We talked about what he had and problems it had--the usual banter.

"It runs good, but it pops out of gear. I've got to move at the end of the month and I can't take it with me."

I looked it over, noticing plenty of 'Primitive Pete' indications of mechanical misdoings, but I was also keenly aware of how much seats, tanks, good original exhaust pipes, etc. were worth these days. He started it up and it sounded good and quiet, so I plunked down $400 and drove away. Oh, and he also included an another engine (always a good thing!)

As soon as I got home I tore into it. In no time I had the engine open on the bench. "Pops out of gear..." he said, haha. Donning my mechanical CSI hat, here's what I figure happened: Apparently, the shift drum roller broke, causing him to start hammering on the gearshift lever because he was pissed, causing him to break the gearshift spring stop off, causing him to get even more pissed. He probably stood on the gearshift or jumped on it, because at some point he ended up welding it onto the shaft.

Here are some pictures of the pain he inflicted on the poor transmission of the little 3-wheeler:

268446 268447 268448 268449 268450

The last picture shows a bit of a cobbled "pre-disaster" with JB Weld that I did to add a bit of life to the case. The final result of all of that gearshift manhandling was that poor pass-thru hole in the case. It had a crack (still visible) and the shaft opening was starting to elongate. I gently straightened it, cleaned it up the best I could for adhesion, and built a gusset of JB Weld to fill that empty area of the casting. Not that we have any Neanderthals here at this house, but it should at least extend the life of the case.

Just thought I'd share a little and see what kind of good battle stories y'all had!

[sledcrazyinCT]

Wow the carnage...Hopefully the spare engine has the parts you need to fix it

[El Camexican]

Never underestimate a sellers ability to look you square in the eye and lie about the condition of a used vehicle.

[TrikeKid]

My Neanderthal adventures are usually limited to things like welded on shift levers or kickstarters. I did buy a JR50 last year that had the bottom of the frame held on with tie wire, just barely but it was worth it for the tank and seat pan. Same bike did of course, have a kicker made out of two different levers before it was welded onto the engine.

The TRX200 I bought this summer had all kinds of neat little farm hack BS on it. Front wheel bearings are a pretty simple arrangement like any other drum front brake Honda utility machine. Someone had decided that you really only need one of those sealed bearings, just use the inner race from the other one and the seal spacer so the wheel sorta stays on. Other side was missing that neat little spacer that keeps the bearings squished and gives the seal a place to ride so they were all busted up, how the drum held together I don't know. Someone must have lost the key, so they went ahead and ripped all the key switch wiring out along with the reverse and neutral light wiring. In doing that they outsmarted themselves and the bike never ran again because you can't just delete the ignition switch and have spark. At least it came with four good tires and after a little TLC and a few minutes staring at a wiring diagram it runs pretty dang good.

[kb0nly]

Man i have seen that so many times... Whats funny is i always get them with a welded on shifter to. My thought is they think the shifter is stripped and so they weld it on, not knowing the damage is internal. Got to the point that i was buying every shift shaft i could find on eBay at one point, and even just welding some back on because i was giving up on fixing them all right. I don't bother with the horizontal motors, 90/110/125 anymore unless i really really get begged to fix one. How many times can you fix a shift drum stopper without getting sick of it.. LOL

[ATC King]

With Neanderthals, you can pretty much guess how bad it's going to be.

Tweakers, on the other hand, will do some things you never considered possible and are totally unprepared for.


Example:

Neanderthal - Duck tape over the aged seat cover and worn foam

Tweaker - Random ATV/motorcycle seat affixed to frame with as randomly placed, self taping sheet metal screws