Honda Gold Wing free to good home: Clearlake, CA

[Elliot]

All right, I posted this last year and there was no interest. And I agree this Thing is hardly ideal for the sort of Mutant Vehicles I tend to think of. But I sometimes make good use of Stuff that people have tossed aside, so here we go:

1978 Honda GL1000 Gold Wing motorcycle. This is a water-cooled opposed-four-cylinder with manual transmission and shaft drive. It must have the carburetors (four of them!) overhauled or replaced. An option is to convert to single carburetor -- a kit is available, but not cheap. A home-made conversion good enough for MV duty seems realistic.

This motorcycle has been sitting in a dry garage (and now my dry barn) for 17 years. So hydraulic stuff like brakes are kaput. But it was a fine running motorcycle when the owner became to old to ride it, so I expect the inner mechanicals are good. It cranks fine, and I even changed the oil, expecting to start it. But those carburetors are daunting.

Free to good home -- and by that I mean a burner who has the ability to make good use of it for Burning Man purposes -- like maybe a 50 gallon margarita mixer.

Located in Clearlake, Lake County, Northern California.

[edit: modified subject to reflect location & that it's free - Eric]

[lemur]

i bet recycle camp could crush cans really fast with one of those things.

the bikes they use roll at a much more pedestrian speed.

[Elliot]

Cadillac engine firing two-by-fours at 200 MPH:

http://srl.org/machines/pitching/

[Simon of the Playa]

why are you torturing me?


showing me free shit i can't get to?


sadist.

if it's still there by the end of march/april i have a burner friend moving to Grass Valley from Rochester who can pick it up for me, since his new place is going to be our staging area / workspace / burner storage for 2013.

[ygmir]

why are you torturing me?


showing me free shit i can't get to?


sadist.

if it's still there by the end of march/april i have a burner friend moving to Grass Valley from Rochester who can pick it up for me, since his new place is going to be our staging area / workspace / burner storage for 2013.

hey!! I'm in Grass Valley! details.....................

and, I have a Yamaha Virago, also free.

[Elliot]

Simon, keep me posted. I will be gone 14 April to 7 May; otherwise I'm mostly here. Clearlake and Grass Valley are about 100 miles apart, on slow roads.
I just put the Gold Wing on Craigslist, but I'm not being overrun with interest.

As for your Virago, Ygmir.... Have you ever noticed how, if you set a piece of second-hand furniture at the curb with a "free" sign on it, the next morning there is more furniture there?

[ygmir]

Simon, keep me posted. I will be gone 14 April to 7 May; otherwise I'm mostly here. Clearlake and Grass Valley are about 100 miles apart, on slow roads.
I just put the Gold Wing on Craigslist, but I'm not being overrun with interest.

As for your Virago, Ygmir.... Have you ever noticed how, if you set a piece of second-hand furniture at the curb with a "free" sign on it, the next morning there is more furniture there?

ha, Elliot, yes I have.
I found a method, though:
Don't put "free" put, "for sale" and leave a phone number.
then it seems to have value, and someone will steal it.

That Virago is pretty low miles, and, was taken very good care of, untill sitting in my shed for15 years now. But, I'd think other than dust and dried out rubber, it's probably just fine.

Those old Goldwings are beautiful, really.

[Elliot]

...then it seems to have value, and someone will steal it.

Oh yes, how true -- and tragic.

[theCryptofishist]

(blah, blah, blah...) since his new place is going to be our staging area / workspace / burner storage for 2013.

So, Simon, you have plans for this year. Can you favor us with a preview?

[Elliot]

Well, the Gold Wing took flight, and I feel guilty.

I offered it for free here, for MV purposes, but after a few days I got tired of tripping over it so I listed it on Craigslist also. Then Simon piped up -- if it would still be available in late March – early April.

Alas, it will not be available in late March, because a fellow from Craigslist who inquired somewhat tentatively earlier suddenly came running and bought it this morning.

So now I sort’a owe Simon a Gold Wing.

Simon, I hope you will settle for beer. I figure this motorcycle money is my beer budget for BM, and you may go straight to the head of the line anytime.

[gyre]

Just so everyone knows, guns have become a defacto currency since the speculation dried up the supply.
I found over a hundred posts on craigslist locally and it wasn't a complete search.

Bang is the only consistent search term, but usually you have to open posts to see any information.
Anything people can't get enough cash for is being offered for guns and ammunition.

[9ah]

So are you looking to acquire or get rid of guns?

[junglesmacks]

Thanks for that on-the-spot reporting, gyre. We can all sleep better now.

[gyre]

I understand you don't give a fuck about anyone else, but it might help someone trying to sell something.
Some people are affected by the economy.

[9ah]

I'm trying to understand this thread drift.... Is gyre telling folks to give away stuff if the person that was planning to buy it doesn't have cash. Instead they would accept a gun, from unknown history, to serve as collateral? I don't think that would fly in NY.... Especially offering guns to college kids for an iPod or couch they are trying to get rid of at the end of the semester...

[junglesmacks]

Oh gyre, my friend. It's not helping anyone do anything if you don't speak a little clearer as to what it is that you're trying to convey. Although.. I do give you props for finally using a complete sentence even using punctuation and more than 6 words at a time.

[gyre]

Well then, my life is complete.

[gyre]

I'm trying to understand this thread drift.... Is gyre telling folks to give away stuff if the person that was planning to buy it doesn't have cash. Instead they would accept a gun, from unknown history, to serve as collateral? I don't think that would fly in NY.... Especially offering guns to college kids for an iPod or couch they are trying to get rid of at the end of the semester...

Elliot sold a bike that no one seemed to want, in spite of being somewhat valuable.
This is pretty common, for many reasons.
A lot of us give away things that should have value, but for various reasons, may not be marketable.
No one has money where I live, for instance.
Some things you can't afford to do this with, depending again, on circumstance.

This new market is quite sudden and due to two things.
I only became aware of it by accident myself, so thought it might be useful.

I don't know the laws of new york, beyond that they are unusual and peculiar.
In most places, any legal gun ( for instance, not an assault rifle - all regulated since 1968 ) may be bought and sold by the owner with anyone that may legally own a gun.
There are plenty of people that will trade too much, or pay too much for the gun they want right now.
(Assault rifles, that is, select fire rifles, may be bought, sold and traded, but different rules apply.)

I'm not criticizing giving away things.

And I would sincerely appreciate anything you can tell me that will help me stop reading your name as '9 amp/hours'.

[9ah]

Maybe the reason I'm not understanding this is because I don't know many folks that have a bunch of extra guns laying around to barter. I've never heard of it. Why guns? Why not their flat screen tv or sell that stuff to a shop and buy things with cash. Maybe you're in an area where guns are common. I'd likely hear someone barter an iPhone 5 for a Galaxy S2 or 3 (plus a little cash). I guess if all you own is guns then it works out...

Nine-uh

[gyre]

Guns hold their value better than most things.
Currently most guns and ammunition are unavailable through stores, due to speculators and panic buying.
High demand items are bringing two to four times their normal value.

Even before this, the demand for carry weapons as laws allow that in state after state, and the increased use by women had the supply low.
The government continues buying ammunition and guns at an increasing rate too (because guns are useless, according to Bloomberg).

There have always been people offering to trade for guns here, especially hunting rifles, but this current market is very new.
The attempt to ban all modern guns is the driving force behind it.

Obama and Blooomberg have now made an illegal black market acceptable to a very large number of people.
The backlash to the anti-defense movement has begun.
Nothing illegal here, but all bets are off now.

[junglesmacks]

This has to be a geographical thing, gyre..

[gyre]

The craigslist thing, possibly.
I haven't checked anywhere else.
The reaction to the attempted ban is the same everywhere, just fewer gullible people in some places.
As usual, the high gun use states are still florida, california and texas.

The market craziness though is nationwide.
We saw this with ammunition during government buys, but that should not be the case now.
US contracts amount to billions currently.
The surge in the carry market was already keeping many companies at capacity.
Prices are high on the in demand rifles, but still selling.

The only modern rifles I find now are VEPRs at $600-1200.
Companies holding prices are selling out.
Yugo underfolder at $900, up from $400-500, sold out fast.
These aren't local stores, but national.

All this will stabilize unless they succeed in the ban.
The big problem is the "assault rifle" ban never ended on imported rifles, so the market is still artificial.
That props up prices.
It amounts to a huge tax on modern rifles.
I expect things will settle down.
The unkown factor is the large number of people brought into the gun market by the propaganda.

The market reaction answers any questions about compliance with a ban.
Canada's compliance rate is estimated at 50%, in some rural provinces 0%.
Any ban will have the same effect the war on drugs had on marijuana.
Very predictable.

[Elliot]

Folks, the Gold Wing has flown, so let's close this thread now. Please take the gun talk back to the gun thread. Thanks!

[Savannah]

Glad to hear it, Elliot! I thought this was a really nice offer.

Locking this thread, since the Gold Wing has found a home.