Thread: Greetings from a new member

Hello to All,
I am a new member, just wanted to say hello, and introduce myself to the forum.
I am an old guy, trying to relive my youth!
When I was a young lad, I wanted to buy a minitrail.
My Dad wouldn't buy me one, and I didn't have any money, so never got that bike I wanted.
Now, 45 years later, or so... I'm back looking to get that bike I never got when I was young.
I started looking on craigslist, and Ebay. The Ebay bikes are way too expensive for me, and they almost never have bikes here in the NH area.
I picked up a 76 CT70 from an old guy in the next town for
$650, it runs and rides pretty nice, but that was only start of what I want for my collection.
The other day my friend calls me, and says look at craigslist, they have an old CT70 on there for $1650. I thought it was too much, but after looking at the bike's picture, man was I wrong. It was like a dream come true. An early 70's model with only 129 original miles, and the thing looked like it came out of a museum. Of course, me bing a little late on the emails, lost out on the bike. The owner said it sold in less that one hour after it was listed. I just about cried over that bike . It even had a windshield on it. Loosing out on that bike, made look even more for a nice old model, that I could ride right away, without much work needed. The bike with 129 miles wouldn't be very good for me, except to look at, it was WAY too nice to ride!
So, I put up a wanted ad in Craigslist, and 10 minute later a guy from the next town over called me, and said come on over, I have close to 100 old trail bikes, mostly rare collector stuff, so I immediately dropped what I was doing, and went to his house to meet him. This guy has his entire house, cellar, garage, and yard filled up with old trail bikes, and street bikes, or every make model, and condition.
I forgot to take my camera, but you guys will freak, when I get some pictures on tues, when I am going back.
I got talking to the guy, and he bought just about all of his bikes online, and had them all restored by a certified Honda tech, at a tech school, where the kids did a lot of the work, except for the engine work,a nd the paint work.
This guy must have over 100K in bikes in his house.
He GAVE me a early CT70 chassis, just for coming over to look at his bikes! Now, this is the type of guy you dream about meeting. A lot of his bikes were barn finds, since his boss does cleanouts, he finds a lot of stuff hidden away over the years. I'm looking at a few of his bikes for my collection.
The ones I want to start with are a couple of 1970+1970 CT70's pretty much all restored with genuine Honda parts, that's one thing I like about the guy, he doesn't want any crap parts on his bikes, just wants to keep them as original as he can. He also has a primo CT90, I think that's the model, it looks like a CT70 but larger, all ready for the road for $1200, does that sound like a good deal?
He also has many, many other rare bikes, some of them I had never even heard of. I will take pics this wee, and hopefully some of you guys can help me with the prices that I should be paying. That's the thing, he just keeps saying make me an offer, he wants me to figure out the prices!
I know it may sound too good to be true, but it is!
I'm getting a 71 Harley sprint 250, and another sprint 150, I think. A couple of early 50 mini-trails, and a few old Honda scooters. I like his Bultaco, an early model, setup for street or trails, beautiful bike for about $1500.
I was amazed that this guy gave me the CT70 chassis for free, and it's in real nice shape too. I will probably make that one into a 125 to use as a rider, so I don't ruin the nice bikes using them on the trails.
Anyway, sorry for the long winded post, but wanted to say
HI to all you people on this site.
Peace
Rags in NH.
Anyone who knows of any NH area deals, let me know
Thanks!

I think you meant an ST90. They didn't sell well, probably because the minibike market was already in decline by the time of it's introduction and Honda pulled the plug after three years. That said, nice running examples generally change hands in the $1200-1500 range, pretty reasonable for what it is. The only drawback is the relative lack of parts. Even though it looks like a CT70 on steroids, it is a very different machine, right down to the frame and engine.

welcome! I would love to see some of those bikes!

Welcome, there's always room for more. I sure wish I had an old mini guy near by like the one you've found. The pickins are a lot slimmer around these parts, though I did grab a '74 that's been parked for 20 years off craigslist for $50, which wasn't too bad. Of course, everything that's rubber has rotted and everyplace that could collect water has rusted, . . . but it's all there.

Good to have you.

-kevin

Originally Posted by Ragtop

Hello to All,
The other day my friend calls me, and says look at craigslist, they have an old CT70 on there for $1650. I thought it was too much, but after looking at the bike's picture, man was I wrong. It was like a dream come true. An early 70's model with only 129 original miles, and the thing looked like it came out of a museum. Of course, me bing a little late on the emails, lost out on the bike. The owner said it sold in less that one hour after it was listed. I just about cried over that bike . It even had a windshield on it.
Thanks!

Welcome!

BTW - this the find you're describing from Craigslist?

Thanks for all the welcome guys!

RacerX, thanks for the model number and pricing guide.
He said he would take 1200 for it, and it is very very nice.
I might just buy that one.

Hey Flash, I thought I knew of all the bikes on Ebay, I usually look at it every couple of days or so.
YOU ARE CORRECT, that IS the bike I was looking at on craigslist. I just emailed the guy trying to find out his reserve. I would still buy it, but not of he wants a stupid price for it. Funny that you found that.
Thanks

I'll try to get some pics tomorrow when I go back to Ben's house.

Thanks to all, and have fun out there!
Rags

I got to take some pics of Ben's collection, well maybe
1/2 of them, then my battery died.
I loaded them to photobucket, take a look
Rag64top/Bensbikes - Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting

He has some nice bikes, some I had never heard of.
I'm going back Tues, to pickup the bikes I talked him out of so far. The red CT70, an early Z50 minitrail, and the 2 Harley sprints, along with another early CT70 frame.

I'm also going to look at a 1978 DAX, are those things worth good money? its a ST70, I think, and in real nice shape.

I'm looking forward to getting started on the red CT70 as soon as I can clear off my lift

I thought he was going to sell me the ST90, but he changed his mind on that one, but I will keep working on him!

This site has been a great resource to me so far.
I have to get the carb sorted out on my 76 CT70.
It was running, but now won't start, time to see if I can really work on these things, not just buy them

Ben's bikes are mostly not runners, he has them rebuilt, then puts them back in the cellar. I like nice looking bikes, but I want to ride my bikes, not just wipe them down.
Nothing against Ben, he is a great guy, it's just we have a different outlook on these old bikes. They were made to ride,
so I want to get these running soon.

Peace
Rags

Second to Emerald Green, Ruby Red is my favorite.

The seat looks good. I'm sure you can find a used skid plate on Ebay for 20-40 bucks. The frame stickers are easy to replace too. A good looking bike that will look fantastic for less than 100 bucks.

I have been looking for a good skid plate for some time but all I see on ebay are junk ones.

WOW!!!! Those Honda SL's bring back memories as well. Wish I had one in my stable.