Im currently in talks with a lad I work with theat recently had is 2005 cbr1000rr stolen from his driveway at 2 am in the morning. The bike was found in the morning by a dog walker who spotted its back end sticking up out of the canal. Who ever stole it knew nothing about it cut a few wires in an attempt to get it started and could'nt so hence they ditched it in the canal. It has been classed as a write off due to every body panel being damaged by being pushed in and draggedof the canal, cut wires and a crack in the main frame as a result of being pushed in. The rest of the bike is structually sound. But the engine has net been run due to the cut wires etc... My dilema is that with not hearing the engine run I cant vouch for its condition. I have been told that i can have the complete bike as is, minus the frame as the insurance require it to write the bike off, for £1000. This sounds like a pretty good deal to me, As im sure i can find a replacement frame with a v5, new panels off ebay and swap everthing over to make it a working bike again. My only concern is the engine, Seeing as it has been sat in a canal for 6 hours and than sat in his shed for a further 3 weeks. What would i need to look out for. (I should add the bike was not running when it entered the water so there should be no bent rods due to hydro lock etc...) I presume a full fuel flush, and engine oil flush, re wire everthing on the bike as is and then see if it will run before i commit to buy. What would you guys recomend i do?
Personally i wouldn't touch this one mate. But that's me, i'm a bit OCD and like to know everything is good on my bike. But others may have different opinions.
Not speaking about bikes in general but I think it would depend on your own mechanical competence. If you have the know how and time, then at least you would know every bit of the bike was good once sorted. On the other hand, also weighing up the costs though. Can you do it all the cost of an 05 bike? Tricky decision that.
My personal opinion would be give this one a pass. Regardless of your mechanical competence this is going to be a massive job. For a start. Even though the engine wasn’t running I personally would want to completely strip it to ensure no water got in before starting it to avoid serious damage. Given a work shop, a load of mechanical knowhow and talent and a good few days off work with no other commitments this could be done quickly (ish) however in reality stripping and rebuilding an engine takes an age when combined with life, a garage with other stuff in it and work commitments. That was the case for me anyway when I had to strip an R6 engine (twice). It took ages as I’m no mechanic even with the help of my uncle, it’s a big job. Second. If this has been in the canal then I would have thought the entire ecu etc. would be done for? Not sure if the fact it wasn’t running would even save it I would have thought the boards etc. would be damaged. Third. No bike project (or any project DIY related project) goes according to plan times wise due to other commitments. The biking season is almost here and with the above to do you would almost certainly miss it. Personally I would give this one a miss as I wouldn't be wanting to miss the season and I don’t think I could commit to that level of work on a bike time wise. However that’s just me, you may be in a completely different position skill wise to me and have this thing purring again in a couple of months. Also worth noting, my mate wrote off his 2011 GSXR750 last summer, bought it back from the insurance for £50 quid. Front end was goosed and all fairings were hammered but mechanically then engine and frame were sound. not sure if that helps.
Excuse the pun but I wouldn't touch that with a bargepole. If you absolutely have to have it then get your mate to put in an offer to the insurance company, £300-£400 would make it worth a punt IMHO.
I reckon it's going to cost a minimum of £1500 to put right it's surprising how it all adds up so that's £2500 for not much more you could probably get a early 04 personally I'd give it a miss
It could end up costing the same as a decent runner of the same age. Even if you do get it going you could run into problems further down the line i.e. electrics could become a major headache after been immersed in water.
Got to agree with all of the above - sounds like a really bad idea. Sure you could get a better bike for far less money and certainly far less work.
I had same thing years ago with an RRY....was nicked and thrown in river near my home. I costed it up to an amount like the other members have stated....mate it's not worth it...honest.
Cool cheers for the advice guys, I enjoy building bikes up as a hobby so time constraints arent an issue with regards to getting one on the road this season so im not pushed for time. Im going to have a look on sunday as he litterally lives a 2 minute walk around the corner from me, Im going to drop the oil and if a load of water comes out with the oil then im going to walk away and forget about it.
