G'day All,

I may be opening a Can of Worms here but...............have any of you good people who have done rebuilds, restorations or, like myself 'resurrections' sat down and costed the job from go to whoa? Running my own business I'm always concious of operating costs and I'm just curious

I realise that rejuvenating these older machines are for many[me included]a labour of love and we wouldn't have it any other way. I've started a list of costs, excluding my own time that includes parts prices, and freight where applicable. It also includes any labour charged by others, that for me at least will be substantial as I do not have access to a workshop or even a garage!

I think such a list may make interesting reading for the 'old hands' and be a good resource for potential bike restorers?

What do ya's reckon?

For my TT 600:
I kept all the bills ....
I aproximatly invested 3500 Euro alltogether. ( Bike included)
BUT!
I had a very bad bike to start with.
I nearly changed all parts !!! Evem bought a new engine, but that was for saving money.
Remaining parts were just: frame, footpegs, aircleanerhousing, cdi, switches, seatpan, engineprotector.
The rest is bought afterwards.
I even killed that nice swingarm.
I should have started with a better bike and I shouldn´t have done the 34L tank-conversion, the cushdriveconversion and the better frontend.
These three changes to the bike made it costly and did the restauration (?) last very much longer.
But now as it is over... I´m very pleased with it .
As you said: It´s a labour of love.
3500 anybody?
No?

Olli

The next restauration would be much cheaper, as I learn some lessons.
Would I do it again?
For sure!

Good one Olli! Has anyone noticed how rare the older Tenere's and their ilk come up for sale in very good condition? One does wonder. I guess maybe it's because when an Enthusiast gets hold of one, it's rebuilt/restored/rejuvenated and not sold again. I'm still compiling a list of what's on order, what already have, and what I still need to buy or have done. I'll post the list here when it's complete. No doubt some will be horrified, others not.

I did this to a lesser extent on a '74 RD250A e few years ago, that wasn't a resto or a few rebuild either and it ended up four times the price I paid for the original machine. I only sold it due to health issues at a huge loss. I'm sure most of us have been there at some stage Would I do it again, hell I'm doing it now

Well my first one cost me in excess of $5000

It all depends how thrifty you are & what type of job you want at the end? a tidy up will cost you $2000 easy.

They key to saving money is buying one cheap thats 'all there' meaning it's got most of the correct parts in serviceable condition & buying it at a the right price. A lot of people said to me "you should be doing this for a living" & theres the problem,,you wouldn't make a living if you added your labour hours, not just time working on the bike but time involved in finding parts.

Eric & Geoff are good at buying stuff at the right price, don't be tempted to get in to bidding war on a part, set your price remembering the exchange rate & including postage & thats your limit, after all there will be another part come along sooner or later.

Mezo.

Both my bikes probably owe me around $5000 each,maybe less as I did not keep tabs on the costs but what I have is 2 basically brand new rare bikes To put it in perspective wander into ya local Yammy shop and price a new 660 Tenere at $13-14 grand.I am sure mine won't depreciate plus I got the enjoyment of the rebuild and now thrashing it through the bush.Costs can get away quickly but believe it or not I am "Tighter then a cats arse at a dog show" when it comes to spending,I have spent hundreds of hours searching the internet for parts and contacts and suggest using Ebay.
Regards Eric

Thanks Guys

I'm lucky with what I do for a living that I often have a lot of time to research parts etc. And it's also because of what I do for a living that I decided my next bike would be an older, reliable dual purpose machine capable of being roadside repaired if needed, not being immobilised by a simple fall, and it had to have 'soul' I'm also very fond of Yamaha's ever since I was a lanky impressionable 15 year old when a mate's older mate bought a a new 1977 XT500, one of the first sold in Newcastle. I fell in lust there and then

Anyway, did some bookwork last night since my sleep patterns are all screwed up and this is what I discovered so far



Hope the files are big enough to read my handwriting

I hear what you say Mark about buying the most complete machine to start with, and that's what I did with the RD250. In the RD's case it had spent most of it's life indoors where my poor Tenere did not. A lot of what I have to replace is simply because it wasn't looked after cosmetically...I'd lay money that you guys that have been down the restoration or rebuild path certainly use your bikes as intended but I bet you give a wash after a play as well

When I was over at my local Yamaha dealer the other day I had a sit on a new Tenere.........but it wasn't comfortable at all for me and I couldn't see myself getting 'attached' to one like I have with the old 34L. I had that affinity with the RD as well, rode it HARD but looked after it too and despite it's age it never let me down. I could have bought a late model Hyowhatever for what the RD cost in total, but it wouldn't have been the same........I'm sure you guys understand

In my work I see a lot of this great country, and if things work out I'll see a lot more from behind the 'bars of an old Tenere

Eric66 wrote:Both my bikes probably owe me around $5000 each,maybe less as I did not keep tabs on the costs but what I have is 2 basically brand new rare bikes To put it in perspective wander into ya local Yammy shop and price a new 660 Tenere at $13-14 grand.I am sure mine won't depreciate plus I got the enjoyment of the rebuild and now thrashing it through the bush.Costs can get away quickly but believe it or not I am "Tighter then a cats arse at a dog show" when it comes to spending,I have spent hundreds of hours searching the internet for parts and contacts and suggest using Ebay.
Regards Eric

Depreciation I bought a TDM900 new in 2007. Optioned up with Yamaha goodies. About $15K on road from memory. Then I had a workplace accident that basically stuffed my lower back, left knee and left ankle on April Fools day 2008. FFS. The TDM sat in my shed in storage for over a year, I put it back on the road in October 2009 ready for Summer then on the 27th December 2009 I had a stroke. The usual left side weakness etc which meant I couldn't hold the heavy TDM up at a standstill, and because of the injuries I already had I couldn't pick it up either if it fell over so the decision was made to give bikes away for a year or two and see how my body recovered. I put the TDM on consignment at my local Yamaha STEALER, so I could sell it to pay the loan out. I got $5,500. The new owner contacted me about the stock screen, and he said he paid $10K for it and commented how clean and well looked after it was. So yeah Eric, in my case about 66 percent depreciation I no longer deal with that Yamaha dealer. Robbing thieving prick. I reckon I'll end up with a reliable, presentable classic Yamaha on the road for under $5K, and I won't lose 66 percent of the value IF I ever need to sell it

Tenere 1 cost me about 3400 quid in total, but I went overboard with Excel rims & lots of other new parts I probably didn't need.... & I never touched the engine on that one...





Tenere 2 was a lot less & I did the engine, new 5th gear & shaft, rings, etc... spent about 1700 quid





Tenere 3 had about 600 spent on the engine & in total cost about 2500... all these cost include the original cost of the bike & don't include my time... which has been a LOT of hours....

It's amazing how quickly these costs can blow out eh! I looked for a looong time to find any model Tenere I could afford, as a starting point. I'm sure we've all seen the ads, 'nothing to spend! Some great looking machines there GeoffD. Especially the red and white one