[Anonymous]

Hi.
I am looking to buy a very old bike to learn on. One of my friends who is a fairly experienced rider (as much as a 23 year old can be) knew I was in the market for a bike, and he offered to pay half for a “junker” so we can learn to work on it and I can learn how to ride. I’ve been on a dirt bike and rode it around for 20 minutes before..

Now, what to look for in such an old bike? The bike I am looking at is a 1980 Suzuki GN400E. New motor with 9000 miles on it with recent carb work. Apparently the bike is still being ridden regularly. I’d like to ride it for a few months before I have to do any major work on it. How long do the transmissions last on these things? Does the fact that it is air-cooled create any problems?

I’m an “okay” mechanic, I learned how to work on things when I started racing cars and karts. I’ve never done any internal work on a motor or taken a transmission out before though. Is a bike hard to tackle?

Any inputs on my decision? My friend is probably going to end up buying the bike from me and riding it for a long time. I’m hoping to move up to something like an SV650 after I figure out this whole riding thing of course, I’m planning to take an MSF course too.

-Jerry

[Spool]

I just bought an ’81 Honda CM400E as my first bike. It’s in great shape for being 27 years old and only has 18k on it. Runs awesome and has plenty of power for a first bike. As long as it was maintained well I don’t see a problem with buying something old. I also wouldn’t worry about it being air cooled. Tons of bikes are air cooled and I look at it as one less thing to go wrong in the long run.

If you guys really want to learn to work on bikes in addition to getting a bike to learn ride on I’d recommend picking up an old “basket case” that is saveable but needs a lot of work. If you completely restore/rebuild an old bike you’ll know it inside and out and learn a ton about working on bikes in the process. This way working on the bike won’t interfere with your riding.

[Author]

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