I don't know what I'm doing

[alastairuk]

I'm new to this forum, and hoping to start learning to ride bikes soon.
So Hello, and nice to meet you.

I was looking at craigslist and other sites for cheap bikes to learn on, and came across an XS400, well two actually. According to the offer one engine is broken, and it seems like he was planning to do an engine swap. Less useful for learning on, but more interesting to "play" with.

I was considering contacting the seller and seeing if its still available, because the idea of trying to fix a bike sounds fun, even if it takes me a long time. (I have no training or experience with engines, other than everything I have managed to read or watch in the last couple weeks).

Anyway, I was wondering if I could get some advice, firstly buying a bike off a private seller. Is there any questions I need answers to before I drop money on this? I have some questions I want to ask, like why he chose to sell it, and why he isn't repairing it. I also was wondering what is involved in an engine swap, and if there are any online resources that would help with that?

Any help at all would be appreciated, and I apologize if this is the wrong place to be asking.

 

[Requiem]

When buying a bike always look at the standard things like the general state of the bike... How is the engine (broken in this case), chain, tires, frame, suspension etc etc...
If you're doing an engine swap most of the work will be disassembling everything, taking the engine of the mounts, putting the new engine in place and then remembering how to reassemble i've never done it personally, but it really can't be that hard if the other engine is complete and working. If you've finished the engine swap you may need to rejet your carbs

If the rest of the bike is good that might be all the work you need to put into it. Otherwise it's probably general work like cleaning carbs etc

And above all, welcome to the forum!

 

[levdir]

http://www.clarity.net/adam/buying-bike.html this article is comprehensive and will give you a bunch of things to watch out for. It's written around buying a used but running bike so not everything will be relevant and some of the things it warns against can be fixed pretty easily, especially on our bikes.