$850 per hour

[OTB]

That's how much I made today!!

A little background.

A couple weeks ago, I spotted another 99 GSXR600 on CL for asking around wholesale money, owned adevertised in 'excellent" condition with under 10K miles....piqued my interest as I had moved another one in January so easy even tho it was so cold at the time; thought it was worth a look.

Called the guy, made an appointment for the next afternoon and showed up as planned. Guy takes me 'round back, pulls a decrepit cover off this thing.....the bike was filthy, nasty and had a birds nest built on the swingarm pivot..........and of course would not start. Owner got a charger, finally got it to turn over, but ran like crappola......opened up the gascap and the gas was like goo......

He smiled and said, "Well, waddaya think?"

Now, I don't normally walk away from most good deals, but this one was looking like a major pain in the hindquarters to get right, so, most unlike me, I said "Thanks but no thanks" and started to walk back to my truck. He said "Why?" and most unlike me, I blew up. I yelled at him for making me drive 45 minutes to look at a piece of crap that wouldn't run; I had a copy of his CL ad in my pocket, pulled it out and yelled that if this POS was his idea of EXCELLENT CONDITION, I'd HATE to see what his idea of "needs a lot of work" looked like, turned on my heel and stomped away. He chased me back to my truck, and as I was getting in , asked me how much I WOULD give him for it.

I shook my head and said I'd give him a grand and not a dime more (less than !/2 his asking price). He signed the title and handed it to me through the driver's window of the truck. I gave him the money, loaded the bike and drove home, cursing myself for taking this POS that I KNEW was going to be a money pit. Got home, rolled it off the truck, stuck it back into the "corner of shame" where I park and cover up mymistakes, turned off the light and slammed down the garage door, and tried hard over the next few weeks to forget about this red-headed stepchild I'd brought home.

Had acouple spare hours on Thursday, so I yanked this poor bike out from the back, sat down with brushes, rags, Purple Power and hot soapy water and began removing the patina brought on by years of neglect...........and found out it looked pretty good under all that crud.

Emboldened by at least presentable cosmetics, I ambled (us olde guys amble, as we're not so hot at running ) on down to the Battery Warehouse, and made a stop at the Auto Zone for a new sealed battery, some carb cleaner and a can of Seafoam.

Another hour and and an emptied and rinsed and flushed gastank and floatbowls, and ther Yosh sytem was purring out that low buzzy bark of an on-choke fast idle high-revving four. Waiting till the water temp was showing 150, I eased off the choke, snicked it into first and went blasting round the lot behind us, laughing all the way.

Put it on CL yesterday, sold it about an hour ago for $2700............

Now THAT"S what I'm TALKIN' about.......