Definition of CHEAP!

[BS Mechanic]

Hoping to see additional responses, this is just a starter:

You're really cheap when you take leaking seals apart and cut off 1/8 inch of the spring to eliminate a leak rather than spend the money for a new seal.

You're really cheap when you ream out a jet to enlarge the size instead of buying a new one.

You're really cheap when you fix a worn out spline by filling it with epoxy and hoping for the best instead of buying new parts.

You're really cheap when you con your mom into sewing a piece of fabric shop vinyl into your seat instead of buying a new cover!

[coxy]

Cheap is also using black gasket goo for cylinder base gaskets

[moonpup]

You mean to tell me there's a CHEAP way to restore these bikes? Please... tell me more! 

[RayK]

Don't forget the essential tools for a cheap resto.
1. Angle grinder
2. Oxy torch
3.Welder
4. 5lb hammer
5. Hacksaw
I have seen some beauties.

The last one from a farm 200Km away. Bike kept in shed for 40 years with leaky roof directly under the leak with no fuel cap and tap so the water could run through tank into the head with no plug in it. Result tank nbg, crankshaft rusty and piston seized completely. Iron cylinder stuffed.

Pure genius.

Rayk

[BRT-GTR]

       Add a big screwdriver and chisel, essential for splitting stuck side covers, cylinder barrels and crankcase halves.
       What about the 18 inch socket wrench for winding down the cylinder head nuts when they don't want to go any further.
       Then ya need the pressure washer to clean the engine internals after taking the side covers off, similar result to the leaky shed with the bonus of taking the carbs out as well.

      Once saw a pot mender (two washers and a nut and bolt ) used to repair a holed piston on a 350 Gold Star. Wouldn't mind but it ran !!

  Remember, Even duct tape can't fix stupid but it can muffle the sound. 

   Brian. 

[BS Mechanic]

Pot mender for a holed piston, now THAT'S cheap!!!!

Haven't run into that one before!  You see some strange stuff on older bikes that have survived many years of use by very creative people.

[OldSwartout]

I've used several of those over the years, never the holed piston fix, though.    

Don't forget baling wire to hold on various parts that have missing fasteners or broken brackets, especially if you lived in farm country. This has been replaced with more modern duct tape, safety wire and zip ties.

[srpackrat49]

Baling wire?    boy do i remember that one   was on a date one nite dam muffler feel off my car... pulled over and got out my tools   went over to the fence...  fixed the car... all the time the girl just satt there and i got back in.... this was all on an old gravle road    WHAT...... she said no to me haveen any fun that nite?  took her rite on home!!!    

[Mopar392]

Menard's has a nice selection of air pipes in there plumbing aisle, cheap and all you have to do is cut them to length...

[dcr]

Lets not confuse CHEAP for CREATIVE.

I grew up on a farm - bailing twine was our duct tape. It fixed just about anything and there was always an old spool crammed behind the seat of the farm truck.

Coxy - what's wrong with that??

[coxy]

dcr I dindt start the post so i cant make a comment on that one though i had a rd250g once that broke a mounting bolt for the muffler when I pulled over there was a coat hanger and that was used to securer it for the next 400km. but cheap this is on the triumph the black goo saga .this stuff was used everywhere not only for the base gaskets(which took two hours to tap the pots off)) but head gaskets around oil pump gearbox,push rod tubes  oil filter etc etc .I could not figure out my oil pressure problem until I found black goo in it. this goo set hard as a rock .also why would someone go to the expense of powder coating a frame then reusing old steering head bearings and swing arm bushes?  a new chain and rear sprocket but not the front ? the list goes on its only taken about six years to sort out.

[coxy]

Just thought I would add cheap as in quality .every triumph after market part made in India everything made in china including the plastic soap box to make this winge

[farmerdl]

Well there is tight, cheap and so on. Then there is frugal.  Then again there is what we used to call a field expedient!

[BRT-GTR]

    Got to agree with dcr and farmerdl................ I grew up in post war Britain, late fifties/early sixties, the country was broke, come to think of it we still are  .
      Not much money about so we had to 'make do and mend'. New stuff just wasn't available, most of it got exported to the colonies and US.  You soon learned to be creative and repair things at low cost but gained skills that would last a lifetime. It's now a very difficult habit to break and still get a kick out of fixing something most people would send to the tip!! Should be worth millions with all the money saved over the years.   CHEAP?...................maybe?   

[slawsonb]

Very little goes to the "tip" (except horse manure) around here. You never know when those parts in the scrap bin or hardware jars will save the day. I guess "keeping" is the ultimate form of cheap. 
...bert