Engine quit on me, heard bad metal-on-metal sounds. Here are my spark plugs

[bertreynalds]

I'm not familiar with 'the recycler' so I don't know.

As beaten-down as I am by this albatross of a machine, I've decided to push onwards. After all, my primary objective of purchasing this poor neglected $1500 bike was to learn as much as I can, both about how to ride motorcycles and how to own them. Disassembling an engine and inspecting a new one would be thoroughly educational. And besides, I know you guys would love to see just what the hell killed the current one.

It'll be a while, but if I can find a decent quality engine for $500 I'll pull the trigger.

If anybody has insight on where to look for replacement engines in SoCal, I'd love to hear it. Thanks