Planet Minis

ty_gto

hey guys! i have been a member on the site for a good while now and have just bought a new project bike. I have had 2 CRFs and they were a blast to ride and work on... i hadn't been on the site for the longest time, so just the other day i hopped on here and started checking out some of the older Z50s. after seeing some of the awesome rides members have built, I got on craigslist just messing around and searched for Z50 and I found a 1974 Candy Saphire blue bike just a few miles away. the guy wanted $450 for it. i called him up tonight and offered him $300 and he said SOLD! it runs and rides very nice for as rough as it looks. here are some pics of it. just planning on fixing it up a little.

mexicanyella

Nice! That one looks like it's at a good level of usable scruffiness. I like that kind of thing. Stay in touch as you work on it...

weekendwarrior

that tanks looks like it is in mint shape, and everything seems to all be there except front headlight.... great buy

sanigene

Nice find!

Man, I had a '74 once....but when I was 16 I got pissed at it and sold it for $50, proly for beer and smokes. What a dumbass.

sani

zeeman

Very nice starter bike. Let me know what you are going to do to it. If you want to replace parts and would like to sell original ones, let me know. I am working on a 78 with a Lifan 125, and I'm going to restore my 74 model to original (I think). Zeeman

boz

I can relate. I still have my '72, albeit in a bin in the basement at the moment. When I was in 7th or 8th grade, the other guys would laugh at me, and would purposely mis-call my bike a Q50.

A couple of them kept pestering me to sell my Z50 to them for $50 and I never did. They had Yamahas, Bultacos, Husqvarnas and Honda Elsinores, and would tease me for my "crappy motor" (Motorcycles were called "motors" back then). I've no doubt all their bikes are long gone. God, willing, mine will be running in the spring.


BTW. This bike is missing a chain guard also. Still, having a mostly complete bike is cool. Are you going to try to refit the headlight?

ty_gto

thanks for the comments guys! i started tearing the bike down after riding it for a bit this morning. such a blast to ride! i plan on basically fixing the bike up by getting a lot of the pieces sand blasted, powder coated and painted. i will also rebuild the motor. here are some pics of the tear down so far.

ty_gto

i am not sure what i am going to do about the headlight. some one bent the tabs all the way against the forks and one ear is missing. i tried bending the tabs back, but the started to crack. thought about just fabbing up a couple tabs and welding them on the fork tubes like stock.

mexicanyella

Can't hurt at this point; it's not like you'll be trashing a set of mint forks. If it doesn't work out you can hunt around for an intact set of fork uppers, but I can't see why it wouldn't work out as long as you can lay a decent bead on there.

Pull the guts out of the forks and clean the grease out first, though...grease-smoking fire action is more fun on someone else's bike than your own, for sure.

There was one guy in my group of long-ago riding buddies who had a '78 Z50 years after the rest of us had moved on to an assortment of Japanese MX and enduro and playbike 100s, 125s, one 250 and one old twin-shock KX80. Despite this the Z50 guy was a valued member of the riding group; also, everyone always pestered him to let them take a spin on the 50. Even the guy with the KTM 250 motocrosser.

RobbMeex

In to follow this one. I am in the same situation You are, I just don't have a start yet.

ty_gto

time for a little bit of an update... after getting the bike completely tore down i took the frame, swinger, hubs, and handlebars to the powder coater. today i order a bit over $1,000 worth of parts for the Z. new wheels, seat, tires, fenders, fork legs, misc. stuff and the list goes on. hopefully i get everything sooner rather than later! i will keep updating as i get stuff done.