Recent Posts  By   (Read times)

Thanks for the kind words Rich,
I found this on CL in Pittsburgh. As soon as I saw it, I sent an e-mail and followed that with a phone call leaving a message. The kid called me back about two hours later and I was thinking, "It's gone". The kid told me he still had it but had many phone calls about it. I told him I would be working about 45 miutes from him the next day and asked if I could see it. He told me as long as he was there. I sent him an e-mail first thing in the morning and told him to call me when he was home to set up a time. I was literally 15 minutes from finishing work and still had not received a call yet. The he called and said it was still there and I was welcome to see it. I am surprised I did not get it a ticket getting there. He was a student in Pittsburgh and used it for class. He was originally from Texas and was moving home soon as he was graduating. He left it outside over the winter and could not get it to start. Lots of rust but it looked complete. He laid it down once so there were scratches on the one side. I kicked it over so I knew it was not siezed but the battery was dead. I gave him $50 and told him it was sold and I would be back down in a few days with the wife's minivan. Went down three days later, paid him the balance. He brought out the new trunk which was never used. I also bought the matching helmet for $20. Stuffed in the back of the Honda Odyssey and brought it home. Charged the battery and cleaned out the carb. Still could not get it to idle although it would fire up. My dad helped me with the old gas in the spray bottle trick. I took the carb off again and found the prime jet plugged solid. Broke it free with a sewing needle and pair of pliers, put it back together and it fired right up. Been cleaning, scrubbing and tweaking since.

Two funny things about the purchase are:
1. About three days before this bike, I went to look at another. It was a 2008 Wildfire that was advertised for $350. Me and my son went to look at it and it was a mess. It was originally orange but they painted it flat black. It was laid down and the plastic was cracked, and they taped together the plastic and painted over it. It started right up and ran right along but looked like a$$. I walked away telling him I would think about it. I thought about trying to strip off the black paint down to the orange (too much work). I thought about buying replacement plastics (too much money) so I decided against it. Thought about how I would never find one cheaper. Three days later...Bingo found the Roketa.

2. About a month before, I sold a Tomos moped for $350. I bought it for $70, and put $80 into it for parts to fix up. Cleaned, scrubbed, fixed and got it running. Sold it for $350, made $200 profit, exactly the price of the Roketa.

Must have been fate.