Meeting and old friend again

In early May last year, after I made serious plans of moving to the US, I advertised my motorbike and sold it. It was sold to a guy from Otta after only 2 days, but people kept on calling me for a long time afterward. And I was not surprised, as it was a really nice bike. It was repainted not long ago, it had some nice parts on it, and I had kept it very well.

The bike is a 1990 model Suzuki GSX-R 750, and it has a 112 hp engine that redlines at a screamin' 13 500 rpm. It already had a Vance & Hines exhaust system when I bought it and I fitted a steering damper and a two-way adjustable rear shock from a newer GSX-R 750. I also changed a lot of small parts that made the bike look very nice. After I sold it I realised I had some more parts for it, including the solo seat box and a set of spare keys, but I lost the new owners phone number, and I never got in touch with him again to offer to give him these parts.


The picture above is from my advertisement when I sold it.

So, earlier today a workmate called me and told me that he had seen my motorbike online for sale. I found the ad, and I decided to make a phone call in case the guy still had the bike and wanted the parts and tools I had for it. It turned out that the bike was not for sale after all, and I was invited over to him. So I drove down to Otta this afternoon, and I was really surprised when I got to see the bike again. It looked even better now than when I owned it. Spotless, and with a lot of new parts.

It turned out that the new owner had spent $10 000 (70 000 Nkr) on it! A friend of him had tested it and damaged the 2nd gear, so a complete new gearbox and the labour had cost him $3000. He also had the workshop fit sharper camshafts ($2000), bigger jets in the carburettors and a new $1500 Öhlins rear shock. And a LOT of other small things. So it was really nice to see my old bike being taken so well care of. The best thing is that he has decided to keep it. It is simply in a too good shape for him to sell it.. The picture below was taken today, and you can see the new custom sized license plate and the reservoir for the Öhlins shock.

The owner even allowed me to ride it today, and it was great fun. I already know how fast this bike is, so I had no intentions of exploring its limits. But once on the road I let it rev to 10 000 rpm on 2nd gear, a quick shift to 3rd, and further on til I hit almost 100mph. Then a quick brake back to 60. And the feeling was amazing.. :-) The new camshafts and the jets give an estimated output of 130 hp, and it was *definately* faster now. A lot more punch above 6-7000 rpm. And the new gearbox made the gearshifts better as well.

Before I left I was invited in for a coffee, and as a thanks for the parts I gave him, he gave me a framed picture of the bike. This is now hanging on my wall. As a memory of the most fun toy I have ever owned, and to remind me of the nice feeling I got when I got to see how well my old GSX-R has been taken care of. An insane amount of money has been spent on this bike during the years, but, well.. I guess that's what hobbies are for.. :-)