Revere - Revamped

[kardankungen]

Hi everybody!

Let me introduce my self since I'm a new member and also quite a new owner of my very first Honda NTV 650 Revere.

I'm a Swedish guy that used to love riding my Honda MT50 at the age around 14-16, well that was 15 years ago and somehow I never got to it and got a motorcycle license.. Until now.

I got the Revere after searching for a suitable and easy to handle "practicing motorcycle" that also met the Swedish requirement for the final driving exam.

Turned out it was perfect for the job as I used it at my exam and I got my license in only three weeks without any classes at a driving school.

The day after I got my license my dear neighbor accidentally backed into it and it felt over, breaking the rear turn lightl, the left mirror got bad and wouldn't stay in position and some minor dents/scratches caught the rear "wing" and plastic spoiler.

I should also mention that this wasn't any where near a mint condition even before the accident, since it had rust here and there, the seat was "fixed" with tape, the black plastic details where grey if not even almost white, and all other things that 26 years on the road has give it. Not to even mention the hideous orange stripes on the forks and mirrors, hinting that it probably served at a driving school many years ago.


So, with the license in my hand and a motorcycle that needed to get fixed I was at a cross road, having to decide if I should simply sell it and get something more "modern" and maybe a bit sportier, or if I should simply give it time, love and money. After all, it's really fun and cheap to drive!
.... Needles to say since I'm writing here now, I choose the latter.

So here it is, when I first got it: (The last picture is taken after the accident, as you can see the turn light is quite tired..)

[seastate]

Hi
Good luck with your project. NTV's are great, cheap, easy and reliable. I'm on my third and in total done about 1/4 million miles on them without ever having a problem. Your only problem might be parts now as there aren't so many being broken but when I redid my bike I just bought another one as a donor.

Lets see some pictures of your bike....

[kardankungen]

Thanks a lot!

I did add some pictures to the first post, as it was when I first got it, but actually I´ve already gotten pretty far in the process and i´ll be posting updates of the things i´ve done to it.

The first thing I did when I got it, since it has no service book, was to change the oil, oil filter, air filter, spark plugs and also the shaft drive liquid. Since the brake fluid looks fresh and at level I´m waiting maybe until after summer changing it.

Another bike would be a great thing to keep in spare, but I don´t really have any place to store it and also it would take away a bit of the economic advantage buying a whole other bike (unless of course i´ll find one very cheap).
I´ll hope it runs good and smooth with out any major fixes needed to be done and many parts can still be found at the stores if needed.

[kardankungen]

Bored of waiting an answer from the insurance company (of my neighbor) I took the decision to start fixing the Revere by my self.
I went out to buy new mirrors and new turn lights and I would not be able to find any better occasion to at the same time update the look of them and get rid of the screamy orange color.

Said and done, I got 2 pairs of small dark toned turn lights and a pair of chromed bar mounted mirrors that I love since they give me better vision backwards, at front (being lower than the original) and also they look cool and special.

While I was mounting the new goodies my beloved wife helped me get rid of the orange stickers on the forks. ( 00:30 in the morning while the kids were at sleep)



With some brute force I eventually managed to get rid of the lower part of the rear fender.



New turn lights and mirrors mounted. The turn lights in the front was mounted to a holder mounted on the forks.

[kardankungen]

I got rid of the un-readable tank sticker.



I took some cheap aluminum folie and started working around the rusted bolt heads, bar, and other parts with rust on them such as the foot pegs etc.  Good result for basically free!



Obviously something had to be done to the seat cover...



I was looking around in shops and online for some fairly cheap elastic vinyl to put on but finally ordered a tailor made from ebay.



Mounted..



Quite some more things have been done but the sun is shining and frankly, I´m gonna take "El Toro Blanco" for a nice long ride..!
-Will be posting more in the coming days. Thanks for watching