Death of an SF2

pf1

pf1

Hero member
Location
Portsmouth UK
Well I took the SF2 project I paid far too much for to Ged at GCS and he started stripping the engine. In his opinion it is completely Donald Ducked. It's a shame because it has done very few km and it's the first time the engine has been opened but he estimated the rectification cost to be very high. It isn't economically viable to fix it so it's probably had its chips. Condensation inside the engine has devoured it. The castings are good but that's about it, although the starter motor still works :)
I have a couple of choices, selling isn't an option because I won't get my money back so I am thinking of taking everything from the bike that is compatible with a 3C making myself another wire wheeled triple and selling the UK registered SF2 rump for what I can get or scrounging up some SF2 engine parts and restoring it. It seems to be no decent crank, no dice.
Has anyone got anything I could use at a price that would be viable?
Cheers Pat.
 

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It sure is, it's a shame because apart from the crap brown paint it's very original and unmodified. Anyway, no use crying over spilt milk.
 
chrisk said:
Jesus Pat, it must be a mess inside.
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They invariably are... :rolleyes:

Bloke dropped off a SF1 engine 2 weeks ago, looked a bit like it had sat at the bottom of the village pond for a decade. Actually didn't find anything major broken, just worn out, bill will run to at least 6G nevertheless. Bike supposedly had 20000km on the odo...

piet
 
What a bummer. It'd be a terrible shame to break that bike up - surely someone who has the knowhow to strip it and rebuild it could offer you a reasonable price for it? There's nothing about the motor that can't be repaired that isn't really on the list for a major overhaul. You're just adding oxidation treatment. Having to pay a professional to do the entire job is what makes it unaffordable. That's a lot to have paid for a basketcase.
 
piranha-bro2 said:
What a bummer. It'd be a terrible shame to break that bike up - surely someone who has the knowhow to strip it and rebuild it could offer you a reasonable price for it? There's nothing about the motor that can't be repaired that isn't really on the list for a major overhaul. You're just adding oxidation treatment. Having to pay a professional to do the entire job is what makes it unaffordable. That's a lot to have paid for a basketcase.
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A reasonable price will still involve mega bucks to get it right.
Restoring old bikes is a financial drain. All those shiny bikes at the dealers or in the auction rooms are potential money pits.
Better to buy a wreck like PF1's, but not at that price.
Restoring that makes it into a £ 10 or 12 000 Laverda 750. Market price is £ 7000 for a perfect bike.

Paul
 
With a start price of almost 3500, another 5-6000 for the motor alone and at least 3-4000 at professional rates for the rolling chassis, that would end up a VERY expensive SF2. Those costs would likely never be recouped, unless the market takes a sudden, steep incline! Not to be expected though... It certainly is a shame to break a nice basis such as this, but will almost as certain be very difficult to pass it on without a serious financial loss.

I've experienced similar over the last years over and over again. New aquisitions are proudly presented with pictures of gleaming bikes in the owners' imagination, but the owner quickly brought down to earth once he's realised he's bought a pile of shit and it's going to cost 4 times the buying price to get it even half-decent. A resto such as this only makes sense (a little at least, but not financially) if the bike is a keeper, forever, and the resto outlay won't restrict the restorer to surviving on bread and water alone.

As such project pitfalls are quite common, I'm often amazed why clean, tidy bikes offered at decent prices (not the shiny, dealer-offered ones) take so long to sell.

piet
 
Yes I took a punt on it and lost. I have had lots of engines with the pistons seized from standing for years but usually the bottom end and cams etc are fine, this is in a different league. We took the head off yesterday and even inside the head top cover it was bunged up with powdered rust. Ged is going to take the bottom end to bits next week but looking at the state of the main bearings he said it looks very bad.
I don't know where it was stored, maybe in a sauna.
I bought it because I fancied just getting it up and running, cleaning it up a bit and having a bit of fun on it, I didn't intend to restore it.
 
sfcpiet said:
With a start price of almost 3500, another 5-6000 for the motor alone and at least 3-4000 at professional rates for the rolling chassis, that would end up a VERY expensive SF2. Those costs would likely never be recouped, unless the market takes a sudden, steep incline! Not to be expected though... It certainly is a shame to break a nice basis such as this, but will almost as certain be very difficult to pass it on without a serious financial loss.

I've experienced similar over the last years over and over again. New aquisitions are proudly presented with pictures of gleaming bikes in the owners' imagination, but the owner quickly brought down to earth once he's realised he's bought a pile of shit and it's going to cost 4 times the buying price to get it even half-decent. A resto such as this only makes sense (a little at least, but not financially) if the bike is a keeper, forever, and the resto outlay won't restrict the restorer to surviving on bread and water alone.

As such project pitfalls are quite common, I'm often amazed why clean, tidy bikes offered at decent prices (not the shiny, dealer-offered ones) take so long to sell.

piet
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Exactly. I think that the average punter doesn't know what he's getting into and is for a lot of them, incapable of seeing a good bike when it turns up, because he's too busy with pictures of shiny showroom bikes in classic bike dealer's show rooms. There's unfortunately not enough room in prison for quite a few of those.
And with the fad of classic bikes, riding around locally when the weather's fair, with an open face helmet, a tight fitting short leather jacket and clean jeans, dubious dealers have their future assured.

Motorcyclists on the other hand are assured of a plentiful supply of used parts because a lot of bikes are going to be broken when the owners understand that they've bitten off more than they can chew.

Paul
 
pf1 said:
Yes I took a punt on it and lost. I have had lots of engines with the pistons seized from standing for years but usually the bottom end and cams etc are fine, this is in a different league. We took the head off yesterday and even inside the head top cover it was bunged up with powdered rust. Ged is going to take the bottom end to bits next week but looking at the state of the main bearings he said it looks very bad.
I don't know where it was stored, maybe in a sauna.
I bought it because I fancied just getting it up and running, cleaning it up a bit and having a bit of fun on it, I didn't intend to restore it.
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In view of the fact that in a few years time, there won't be anybody around any more with experience of Laverda cranks, nowadays a bottom end rebuild should be considered mandatory for any serious restoration.
It's an insurance for the future.

Paul
 
I don't agree that you have a lemon,
You seem to have the ability to have been able to strip it.
Therefore strip the rest, clean and inspect the gears, if they only have surface rust etc then you are ok,
Same with the crank, get it split or split it yourself, clean it up, Pins are replaceable in fact I have a set you can have for free. In fact I may have a crank that you can have for free, However if you get all the parts shot peened it will matter not one bit that they had surface rust on them.
Do it your self and it will be ok.
Restore it and enjoy a wonderful bike!

Jules,

PS.
I have some spare bits, how can I help.
 
I don't have the facilities Julian, I'm in a flat with a communal car park for a workshop. I will see what Ged says when he strips the bottom end next week and if we can get a crank and other parts from somewhere at a reasonable price I will put it back together it. Thanks for your kind offer.
 
I feel realy sorry for you because the cost of refurbishment will be horrendous, although definitely in the "do-able category", the parts that you will need are in good supply, but at £3300 you will not get your money back by breaking it up, so you are in a catch 22 situation, I would take the project on because I regret selling my SF3 and really wanted an SF2 at the time of that bikes arrival, it would work for me, because I have parts on the shelf that would go into the money pit that it will be (200 mile old crank, good gearbox, clutch kit, new pistons etc etc) all of the parts bought years ago when no one wanted them, and a few from an engine unit that became a display stand, (on loan to Slaters for his showroom for a good few years) I too would have paid money for that bike, maybe not as much as you did, but certainly higher than it is worth now that you have had it opened up, the picture of the assembled bike doent make it out to be that bad, but the picture of the opened engine defies my belief, was it assembled without pistons? because, ther is no way that those gudgeon pins have been out in the recent past!

The only (quickly) saleable parts on the bike are the wheels, with brakes, forks, instruments and the starter motor, the rest will not be easy sellers

are you prepared to state who from and where you bought the bike, have you tried to redress the financial situation with the seller, if that person is making a habit of this, then that should be made public, so as to aid any future buyers. If the seller was genuinly unaware and bought the bike in the same vein as you did, then ???????

My best wishes and the very best of good luck to you

CLEM
 
The opened up engine pic isn't my bike Clem. No blame attached to the seller either, I snatched his hand off.
Ged has my engine in his workshop at the moment.
 
CLEMTOG said:
I feel realy sorry for you because the cost of refurbishment will be horrendous, although definitely in the "do-able category", the parts that you will need are in good supply, but at £3300 you will not get your money back by breaking it up, so you are in a catch 22 situation, I would take the project on because I regret selling my SF3 and really wanted an SF2 at the time of that bikes arrival, it would work for me, because I have parts on the shelf that would go into the money pit that it will be (200 mile old crank, good gearbox, clutch kit, new pistons etc etc) all of the parts bought years ago when no one wanted them, and a few from an engine unit that became a display stand, (on loan to Slaters for his showroom for a good few years) I too would have paid money for that bike, maybe not as much as you did, but certainly higher than it is worth now that you have had it opened up, the picture of the assembled bike doent make it out to be that bad, but the picture of the opened engine defies my belief, was it assembled without pistons? because, ther is no way that those gudgeon pins have been out in the recent past!

The only (quickly) saleable parts on the bike are the wheels, with brakes, forks, instruments and the starter motor, the rest will not be easy sellers

are you prepared to state who from and where you bought the bike, have you tried to redress the financial situation with the seller, if that person is making a habit of this, then that should be made public, so as to aid any future buyers. If the seller was genuinly unaware and bought the bike in the same vein as you did, then ???????

My best wishes and the very best of good luck to you

CLEM
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Wasn't the bike advertised as coming from Italy, ex Piero Laverda?
A few of those in the UK.

Paul
 
pf1 said:
I don't have the facilities Julian, I'm in a flat with a communal car park for a workshop. I will see what Ged says when he strips the bottom end next week and if we can get a crank and other parts from somewhere at a reasonable price I will put it back together it. Thanks for your kind offer.
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Quite understandable in a flat if you have family. But if solo, the kitchen sink is a great workbench. The joy of watching a basket case come together :D
 
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