Hello SOHC4 community, Been using this site for about 5 years now and finally joined. I don't know what took me so long. Anyway, got a '72 350 twin back in 06' for $200 that was sitting in an auto mechanic's shop for 15 years; bought the clymer manual, dove in and just started tinkering, learning, and pretty much getting hooked on these fascinating machines. Jump to fall of 2011, twin's good, riding is fun, but now I need something else to tear down and build back up. Got my good friend to sell me his wife's '71 500/4 that was wasting away untouched on a philly sidewalk next to his '76 550 for a few years. Stripped the whole thing down, blasted frame, full engine rebuild, cleaned and polished as much as I could, found some missing stock parts online and had it fully functional by May of 2012. Will post pics eventually, but that bike is also my avatar. As much as I would like to own a hundred of these bikes and fix them up, my rowhome lifestyle with offsite rented 15'x15' garage only allows me to do but so much. However that didn't stop me from purchasing a '74 550 last September from the original owner, 19k miles, ton of extra parts for a whopping $500; and, yes it's the purple one -- kinda more of a plum, really. I mean, how could I pass on that deal? But that's it, no more!...(for now). What else can I say, these bikes are addicting. Never before have I had as much fun working on something as I've had using it. Looking forward to being a member here.
Thanks,
Ken
Philadelphia, PA
