Would you ride a dead man's bike?

[krypto35]

Recently bought a 1983 Suzuki GSX 550 ES for $40 from a buddy.  Hasn't run in 8 years - was sitting in his basement for a decade now.  He purchased it at Police auction for next to nothing.  Original owner ran from cops and was killed after sliding out on the bike.  Many missing parts (plastic) - and old enough to assume it would take a fortune to restore correctly.... what would you do!?

[dgyver]

I would not have a problem riding it.

I do agree restoring to original will be costly. I would build it with more modern parts, like 17" wheels. Plus add better suspension & brakes.

Also, check ebay for past auctions. If the parts bring good money, that may be a good way to fund another project.

[TheTazZ]

Fresh start!
Nice new project with endless possibilities?
Id go for it

[plurpimpin]

i'd take a look and try to figure out what was wrong with it. if its fixable go for it and make that puppy run. if its too much money and trouble to fix it part it out.

as for the being a dead guy's part. i wouldn't really care. i'd ride that thing

[DoD#i]

Unless you have a yen for a restored 1983 GSX550 ES, part it out (or find another fool) and get it OUT of your basement/garage.  

I speak as someone with an emotional attachment (I really like this bike, and rode it for quite a while, and it always worked for me)  to a 1982 boat anchor - without the "connection" I'd do better to get it out of my life and move on, but I'll probably end up fixing it up, if I can find time, or leave my wife another mess to clean up if I die first. If it was a $40 buddy buy that I'd never ridden, I'd part it out and get it out of my life to make room for something I cared about. Well, I hope I would.   I try to keep the packrat tendencies the heck under control.  

[simoniz]

I'd ride it! If you really must part it out, do what the PO did to my GS, and put the GSX forks on your GS at least, they are miles better than the stock ones. I would take it off you if I was closer, I always liked the GSX55O's.

[arbakken]

i rode the bike of a friend's dad's friend who died while riding it, but didn't remember it until I was doing 100 

[jp]

The 83 GS550ES is one of the nicer old Suzukis. It might be hard to find the plastic to do a full restore, but it'd be a really sweet old ride if you did. I would sit on it through the winter, looking for a parts bike donor on eBay. In the meantime, clean the carbs and see if it runs OK. If you can get it running at all for minimal cost, you'll get more for it if you decide to sell. It's late enough in the year that some really good deals should be showing up in the next few months. Come springtime, you can either finish a nice restore, make a running bike out of it, or part it out. Whichever way you go, you'll probably get more for it in 7-8 months than you will now.