Time to go for a ride... Painful lesson learned

[dale_gribble]

Well, the 96 RM250 was my first bike, and as such, I made a pretty bad choice- not in terms of the RM itself, but the condition it was in under the surface.

I have benn working hardcore on cars and trucks for almost 10 years now, and you think that knowledge transcends to bikes, but it doesn't. I picked a bike I THOUGHT was in good shape.

A broken fork cap, mismatched hardware, worn out cables, levers, brakes, bearings, stripped upper fork clamp, bolts and other various missing parts later, she is about ready to ride. Fortunately, my dad offered to do the work for me since he is nearing retirement and has WAY more time then I do, so he has been at the brunt of this. I get a parts list from him, mail order the stuff and ship it to him.

If I didn't pass the point of no return before I knew what I was getting into, I would have turned right around and sold this bike without a single hesitation.

Ah well, live and learn. I hope I can get my money back out of this thing. If it holds together for another 2-3 years with just the regular upkeep, my investment will be worth it to me.