Well, I finally got her home....

[BrianM]

After 1 false start (made it 130 miles before running into a Bunch of closed roads due to weather), and some generally Nasty weather, I got her home.



This was an ebay find (Click me), with the biggest issue being that Lincoln, NE is about 750 miles away from me...  one way.  Well, I left the day after the auction closed only to run into closed interstates (the entire SE corner of Wyoming was shut down)..  so I turned arround and went home.  Plans were then made to meet Monday morning, and I left Sunday morning at 11am....  of course, this is what I woke up to:



and driving...



All nasty slush that turned to ice on anything it hit...  like the truck



Anyway, 27 hours later (22 of those driving, 4 sleeping in the drivers seat and 1 fueling up/loading the bike) I came home to this view..



(Yes, this is just a couple miles from my door).  Anyway, the Bandit crammed in the back of the truck (too long to fit in straight):



It must of gotten motion sick...



Cause it puked up a LOT of fork oil...  It needs some work, but ALL the bikes I buy need some work before I get ahold of them.  I like resurecting neglected bikes and giving them a new lease on life.  I get the sneaky suspicion that this bike will stick arround for awhile though.  More pics here:

click for image gallery (with some comments)

I've got a lot of work ahead of me, but I should end up with a completely unique bike...  and since I'm a fan of 'naked' and 'streetfighter' styles ~ I'm already most of the way to my perfered styling.  

Brian

[dpgasser]

Congratulations on the new purchase!  Looks like you got a good platform to start from.  I look forward to seeing the transformation...good luck!

Dave.

[PitterB4]

Glad to have you aboard, here!  Keep us posted on her progress.

Nice pics, too.  

[400runner]

Now that is dedication. The bike looks good. Keep us posted on the resurection. I live in southern Cal. and I wont go out if we get a heavy sprinkle. It sure looks pretty.

[BrianM]

Well, there are some down sides to the bike..  like, it apparently sat outside with the sun hitting the Same spots, for a LONG time....



This is more white than pink IRL...



And you can easily see the clear coat pealing off the tank (happens with lots of sun, and little care at high elevations like we have in Wyoming and Colorado).

But it's just cosmetic and paint's cheap.  For this season, I'll likely just rough everything up and rattle can some flat black onto everything.  Then over next winter, I'll tear Everything down and make it all look pretty (new powdercoating on the frame, swingarm, wheels, and maybe fork leg lowers ~ new paint on the fender, tank, carb covers and tail...  and I'm undecided on the clutch/stator cover like someone else has done )blue bike, I think they're in Phoenix?)).  

I'm very much a function before form kinda guy, so it'll be mechanically sound and reliable before it gets pretty... but since it'll be Primarily the wifes bike (heh, unless I fallm in love too much) and she's decidedly more form than function, it can't stay ugly for too long.  :D

Anyway, glad to be here ~ glad there's a "here" for Bandt 400's in the first place and I look forward to posting lots more pics, asking some really stupid questions and providing all the beer any person could want to drink to anyone who wants to trek into Wyoming (I'm a homebrewer too).    

[erik]

Those pics were neat. We don't get snow here where I live.

The paint on my bike is a bit faded and damaged too, not quite as much as yours though. Both my bar ends were missing also.

I just need to get a new cooling fan motor, the old one is rusted out inside, then I can start riding it.

Make sure you download the manual, it's a great help.

[BrianM]

Those pics were neat. We don't get snow here where I live.

Thanks, there's Tons more in my gallery (just go up a couple levels)...  you might like the Skiing in MT 2003 album, lots of snoy mountain shots in there.  :D  And I feel the same way about pictures and video I see of New Zealand ~ always astounding.  I Really want to get down there for a month visit some time, rent a bike and ride arround the islands.

Make sure you download the manual, it's a great help.

Yup, did that when I first started looking into the bike.  Thankfully I also got a 'real' copy with the bike (helps my conscious with the copyright stuff).

[Nacho2059]

Hey Brian what part of wyoming are you from, closest city/town

[BrianM]

Hey Brian what part of wyoming are you from, closest city/town

Lander is my home town, Riverton is the next largest...  2.5 hours south of Jackson Hole on the east side of the rockies...  Wind River range, Sinks Canyon, One Shot Antelope Hunt, NOLS is based here too.  Lander WAS the capitol of the WY territory (before WY was a state, and before it was lost in a poker match).    I grew up here from '76 till '93 when I left for Bozeman and 3 years of ditching school to go skiing or fly fishing.  

Oh, and go put yourself on the B4 Frapper map...  damnit.  Here I though I had WY and every state arround me to myself when it came to the B4.

[duane]

What?  You're in Lander?  I'm a big fan of the Big Horn Mountains and Thermopolis is a regular stop of mine.  This summer I'm heading out to Vermont again and the Big Horns were on my itenerary.  We should meet up.

Everyone else, Brian and I go back a few years on the Ninja250 board.  http://www.ninja250.org/BrianM  He bought an old-heap-Ninja, cleaned it up in his bathtub and made it run well.  I may still have the video of him, somewhere, riding that bike.  I also have a VFR800 that Brian has railed against, mistakenly thinking his 750 was much better.  

Ok Brian, fix that thing so you can ride it.   Congrats