My Sport 90 found his daddy!!!!!

[Hap]

I did it! A new 350 now joins his son in my crowded garage! Thanks to Harry who helped check it out with me. I dont think I am going to do anything to it, just keep it in original unrestored mode. its in decent condition and it runs! I am sure I will have all kinds of questions on this one though. Now I need to come up with some names for the pair!
 

[moonpup]

SWEET!   How 'bout Big Red & Lil' Red 

[Bikenstein]

Congratulations! I would leave it original too. Very nice survivor. It's good to see someone has taken such care of it. I think my GTR needs to find it's kid. I think it's a 175DT:)

[old smokey]

That's in really good condition, and the right carb cover isn't damaged either!

[Steve S.]

Very nice original condition bike!  Where and how did you find it?  It would be great to hear the story behind your find.  Thanks.

[reed]

Hap,
Nice find, good luck with your GTR 350.
Thanks.
Steve.

[Hap]

Not much of a story but here goes....I was showing the Sport 90 at a car show (which the bike won a first place trophy!) and a fellow comes up and tells me he has a 350. I told him I never seen one before and he invites me over to see it after the show. He gives me directions and tells me its only two miles away. When I get there it looked better than I thought it would. I asked him if he would sell it and he agreed to. He said it developed an oil leak though and would need to be fixed. He said he had a friend that could fix it and then he would sell. I asked if he could start it and he agreed but did not want to drive it due to the oil leak. He put a battery in it and it started on the second kick but was only firing on the right cylinder. He said he would call me when he got it fixed. A couple of weeks later I get a call, so I went over with Sno Jet. We both test drove it and I got a thumbs up at the first light! Good sign! Sno Jet does a compression test and all seems good so I lay a deposit to pick it up later. The story from the seller was that he bought it in October 2010 from an older man at a yard sale in Salem, NH. He collects oil cans and asked the old man if he had any more oil cans for sale and the old man brings him out back to the back barn where he sees the 350 and a an old Yamaha. He bought both bikes from him as well as a bunch of oil cans. It wasnt running when he bought it. He sent the tank out to get lined and had the petcock rebuilt. I dont think it took much other than that, he did put two new tires on it. Said he drove it to bike week in Laconia last year and has put a total of about 1500 miles on it. It has 5,980 now. I have not had a chance to drive it yet other than the test drive until I get a plate. The bill of sale says its a 69 but the according to the serial number guide on here I think its a 68. The serial # 21F06109. Correct me if I am wrong because I want to get a title and make sure it is correct.

[Steve S.]

Great story!  Thanks for sharing.  I think the hunt is just as exciting as actual ownership. 

[BS Mechanic]

Inconsistency in model year vs build year was common in the 60's.  Especially the Japanese bikes didn't necessarily follow a yearly model change like the car companies.  A good example is the BS350.  A bike built in 1967 but sold in 1968 could be titled as a 1968, as there was nothing on the bike to indicate a date of manufacture. 

This situation is why in the early 70's there was a mandate that all bikes have a nameplate with the date of manufacture stamped along with the serial number.

[Hap]

I see what you are saying and I have heard before that a lot of bikes were titled when they were even sold a year later for the same reason. Correct me if I am wrong but seeing how the "F" stands for an even year means that it was built in 68 and not 69. I am going to see if I can get a title for the bike and have it say a 68 on the title to be consistent with the year it was built, and not a year later.

[Hap]

Success! The DMV changed the previous registration from a 1969 to my current 1968 and will go ahead and process a new title for the bike as a 1968. I printed out Grahams VIN ID explanation from this forum and presented it to the DMV clerk. She said she could not authorize the change and told me to wait while she went upstairs to the person who could authorize changes in the title department. When she came back she said your all set and will get a new title in the mail in three weeks and gave me a new registration for a 1968 and an antique plate. In NH, you only have to inspect an antique bike every other year, and since it had a 2012 inspection sticker, I am good to go!

[moonpup]

Hap.....

I recently went through the same process as you, only for a different problem! As you'll see in the picture I've attached, one of my GTO's had an incorrect "VIN" number on the title. Instead of the vin correctly starting with "21W", it had "2LW"!  

I too printed out Grahams VIN ID explanation and presented it to the DMV clerk and she also disappeared into the back room only later to reappear and tell me it would be corrected.  

So thanks Graham, That's at least 2 of us you've helped out.

[disc_valve]

Hi, folks,

I'm glad to see that my serial number post has helped solve a problem. Tkae your 350s out and lay some smoke for me!

I had a similar problem with my own GTR. A couple of years ago, the annual MOT (Ministry of Transport) Test inspection over here went computerised, and they started checking the frame numbers against their records every time. Previously vehicles were identified on the hand written MOT Test certificate by license plate only. The frame number was recorded if it was legible but it was not checked against the official records. In any case, the MOT inspector at my local bike shop knew me and knew the machine, so no questions were asked.

I have the original hand-written log book for the bike from 1968, and on that the frame number had been entered as "04916", but with a badly written "0". When the Vehicle licensing records were computerised back in 1974, that leading zero was read as a "6". The new format printed log book that they supplied after that showed the frame number as "64916". Not a problem, until the MOT Test data started being recorded on computer. A wrong frame number would have meant a failed test and all sorts of official questions.

Fortunately, I still had the evidence from the original log book of the badly written "0". I visted the local licensing office, and the computer records were corrected without question. Without the old log book, that could have been adifferent story. Moral -  never throw away any old official paperwork relating to your bike.

Graham