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Which road to take?

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Matty`s sunk cost fallacy (Bashan street quad)

15K views 109 replies 12 participants last post by  Mattson 
#1 ·


So yea I bought a quad and now trying to decide what to do with it. My original plan was to do a no-fucks-given burnout reverse trike out of this to hoon around the SMASH fighter festival next summer, BUT as I realized upon pickup, this thing has a valid street registration, albeit the inspection has run cold a long time ago.



The reason I got this quad for peanuts is that it has suffered some fire damage due to a flooding carb conveniently positioned right next to the exhaust. It`s not extensive almost only concentrating on the electrics but should keep me busy for a couple nights to rebuild the main harness (or get a new one) But why oh why did they paint the engine green...

Oh, I managed to find the model shield, this quadbike is as I suspected a "Chongqing Astronautic Bashan Motorcycle Manufacturing Ltd" model BS200s-7 from the year 2002.





The CDi is totally fried but as far as I can tell all other damage is wiring only so shouldn`t get too expensive to fix. There`s of course an arm`s length worth of list of other stuff to swap including but not limited to the chain/sprocket combo, at least one ball joint up front, all fluids etc. I should have one battery still in decent enough condition to use in this.



The rear frame loop is bolted on so not considered a part of the frame = ditchable!

So what I`m thinking is:

OPTION 1: Quick tidy-up, flip and turn a profit

Pros: shouldn`t take TOO long, possible chance to profit, open to do sth else afterwards

Cons: Eats build time/motivation of the sth else, profit margin slim so would have to keep an extremely tight budget

OPTION 2: Full ground-up custom rebuild with possibly custom self made alu sheet fairings

Pros: To own a unique street legal quad, have a proper long-term project

Cons: Might get costly, insurances are sky high, it`s only a 200cc so not a whole lot of umph, no SMASH hoontrike.

OPTION 3: give zero fucks, return plates, trike it.

Pros: To have a project with zero limitations, do whatever the fuck you please, have an absolute blast at SMASH

Cons: Expected lifetime/use of finished product from Friday evening to Sunday morning with very little use after that. No hope of getting it re-plated after that due to extensive frame modifications.

As a side note I could always either have two sections of metal pipe cut that will fit over the rear tires, or have spacers made to temporarily fit car tires and rims at back.

Taking into account the last statement I`m personally heavily leaning towards option number 2. What do you think?
 
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#3 ·
Re: Matty`s China Street Quad

The fact alone that the foot brake operates all four corners and the hand lever brakes only at the back does point heavily towards that even though you can ride these things on the street, their natural habitat is more on the gravel roads than black top. Gotta crunch some numbers to see what these go for when inspected and how much would it cost me to get it there, if there's enough of a margin probly gonna flip it, if not then all the same to go trike.
 
#5 ·
Re: Matty`s China Street Quad





I don't believe whoever rattlebombed this thing bothered so much as key the surface let alone apply any basecoat as the paint chips off when sanded. Took me about two short youtube videos worth to get completely white. Probly gonna paint it first then apply some vinyl decals to select areas, SFT makes some pretty cool graphics, they just cost quite a bit... Last pic is of a lego-glued crack I wanted to try to fix, the missing chunk however could prove a bit more problematic.. might cut off a similar piece from the other side and slap on some bullet type tail lights or sth as the old tail light has melted so need to renew that too.
 
#7 ·
Re: Matty`s China Street Quad

Not a whole lotta love for quads here eh? :D yea probly gonna go sth like a little more than half-ass fix, you know to make it proper but not mint, ride around for a while and decide whether or not I like to ride it, no one's gonna buy it til spring anyway so I got plenty of time to wait and look for the cheapest options for any particular problem. The most labor-intense vs money draining dilemma right now is try to fix them fairings or just get a fresh set, they can still be bought but they'd set me back 280€ and that's a bit much considering I paid 350€ for the whole thing.
 
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#9 ·
Re: Matty`s China Street Quad

Yea after one full night of sanding the fairings it`s pretty obvious the cheapest route is to just cough up and get a fresh set as these ones are beyond salvage... That however will have to wait til I get the thing to run and drive first which means not a whole helluva lot happening here for at least a couple weeks since we got a mail strike going on so can`t really order stuff right now and I got a holiday trip with the missus coming so need to save some dosh for that too.
 
#11 ·
Re: Matty`s China Street Quad

That stuff is super rare and hellishly expensive here. Never seen it sold in a spray can either
 
#12 ·
Re: Matty`s China Street Quad



A little shopping spree later. Made an impulse buy with that handlebar forgetting one tiny but quite an important thing...



Yea... So either gotta relocate or replace the gauge cluster, the latter being the more tempting option as IMO that fugly box thing looks like a multimeter on a mount...
 
#13 ·
Re: Matty`s China Street Quad



Dammit I didn`t flatten my ass for three years in a trade school to study for an El-Tech degree to fold upon the first challenge and order a new wiring harness especially when there`s a mail strike going on here so nothing is moving in or rout of the country starting tomorrow... I`ll admit it was a bit daunting to try decoding a wiring harness that was not only discolored and brittled from the heat, but also fused together into a solid clump for about 10cm or so but once I got a few wires sorted it all suddenly started making perfect sense. Lighting relay completely wired in last night, the rest is basically just replacing damaged wires but I happened to run out of the correct size heatshrink so can`t continue ATM lest I manage to find some more from the boxes. The CDI I have to replace (and try to figure out where I can get a new plug for it) and the lightng relay plug was completely melted so I decided to delete that instead of sourcing a nine-pin plug somewhere) I`ll tell you everything here says done as cheaply as possible as a lot of the wires that have a plug at both ends are ridiculously too long so they`re clearly repurposed from some other model, especially the starter relay-starter motor cable was about twice as long as needed and of questionable gauge. I`ll suspect by just replacing the power cables I can make this thing start a lot quicker than originally (doubly so by fitting in the old battery left over from the Daytona which is way overkill for this). The weird thing about the wiring harness is there`s precisely ONE fuse in the entire machine! Thinking if I should wire in some more but gotta have a bit of a think where to put em as pretty much everything other than engine management is controlled by a single relay box.



got the headlight cowl painted, was putting in some final passes and of course managed to fumble and dropped it to the floor! I`m using acrylic paint so the finish is like rock hard so gonna be a hoot trying to sand out all the crap I managed to gather on the still tacky surface. Pissed doesn`t beging to touch, woulda been cheaper to get a new one than the paint already used but everyone`s out of stock locally and ordering abroad is not a viable option ATM.
 
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#14 ·
Re: Matty`s China Street Quad



Dammit I didn`t flatten my ass for three years in a trade school to study for an El-Tech degree to fold upon the first challenge and order a new wiring harness especially when there`s a mail strike going on here so nothing is moving in or rout of the country starting tomorrow... I`ll admit it was a bit daunting to try decoding a wiring harness that was not only discolored and brittled from the heat, but also fused together into a solid clump for about 10cm or so but once I got a few wires sorted it all suddenly started making perfect sense. Lighting relay completely wired in last night, the rest is basically just replacing damaged wires but I happened to run out of the correct size heatshrink so can`t continue ATM lest I manage to find some more from the boxes. The CDI I have to replace (and try to figure out where I can get a new plug for it) and the lightng relay plug was completely melted so I decided to delete that instead of sourcing a nine-pin plug somewhere) I`ll tell you everything here says done as cheaply as possible as a lot of the wires that have a plug at both ends are ridiculously too long so they`re clearly repurposed from some other model, especially the starter relay-starter motor cable was about twice as long as needed and of questionable gauge. I`ll suspect by just replacing the power cables I can make this thing start a lot quicker than originally (doubly so by fitting in the old battery left over from the Daytona which is way overkill for this). The weird thing about the wiring harness is there`s precisely ONE fuse in the entire machine! Thinking if I should wire in some more but gotta have a bit of a think where to put em as pretty much everything other than engine management is controlled by a single relay box.



got the headlight cowl painted, was putting in some final passes and of course managed to fumble and dropped it to the floor! I`m using acrylic paint so the finish is like rock hard so gonna be a hoot trying to sand out all the crap I managed to gather on the still tacky surface. Pissed doesn`t beging to touch, woulda been cheaper to get a new one than the paint already used but everyone`s out of stock locally and ordering abroad is not a viable option ATM.
single fuse seem to be common on the pitbikes and ill put money on the loom is just a standard chinese pitbike loom.
 
#15 ·
Re: Matty`s China Street Quad

Well probly not pitbike loom since it has lights and blinkers but it definitely is a some sort of a generic loom that`s what`s for sure.
 
#16 ·
Re: Matty`s China Street Quad



Apparently only the outer bits of the CDI connector (and one singed corner) were burned after all. Half tempted to slap on some crimp connectors at the wire ends and see if that thing is still alive.
 
#17 ·
Re: Matty`s China Street Quad



Wiring harness done (for the most part, still need starter wires etc) Added that spiral thingy under the tape for added protection, makes the bundle pretty stiff tho... Found one wire that clearly had been snapped before the fire, pity I don't have the diagram to find out what it's supposed to do but replaced it anyway. Plan is to get this smoking by the end of the week, which reminds me I should probly check that the engine actually turns and that the oil is still looking at least somewhat oily instead of milkshake.

Oh and found out a couple interesting details, the model year is not 2002 it's 2007, it has about 4.3k in the meter, and apparently this is a pushrod engine which explains the weird shaped valve cover!
 
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#20 ·
Re: Matty`s China Street Quad



Wiring harness done (for the most part, still need starter wires etc) Added that spiral thingy under the tape for added protection, makes the bundle pretty stiff tho... Found one wire that clearly had been snapped before the fire, pity I don't have the diagram to find out what it's supposed to do but replaced it anyway. Plan is to get this smoking by the end of the week, which reminds me I should probly check that the engine actually turns and that the oil is still looking at least somewhat oily instead of milkshake.

Oh and found out a couple interesting details, the model year is not 2002 it's 2007, it has about 4.3k in the meter, and apparently this is a pushrod engine which explains the weird shaped valve cover!

Dammitman, you dig right in to stuff :D

Did not expect apushrod motor. You gonna crack 'er open so we can get a good look at the innards??!
 
#18 ·
Re: Matty`s China Street Quad



Needed a break from the electrickery and tried my hand at vinyl taping. I suck at it, bad. But anyway a small sneak peek to the finished design. A big shout out to Uber tape, pricey as it may be, it comes with a matching sized clear sheet that you stick on your piece, draw out your design, then lay onto the graphic to cut out, makes it worlds easier.
 
#19 ·
Re: Matty`s China Street Quad

Hit a bit of a roadbump: the original carb boot will not fit to the keihin carb, and the keihin carb with the new boot clashes with the exhaust. Custom chimney time.
 
#21 ·
Re: Matty`s China Street Quad

Suppose I should check the tolerances if I find the specs somewhere. And yea I like to call it riding the inspiration, at some point it fades off and I go make a spontanious recurve bow or some other stupid shit I got absolutely zero use for but kinda want, then a single thought one day rekindles the spark to work on this and so on, kinda learnt over the years to not fight it and go with the flow.
 
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#23 ·
Re: Matty`s China Street Quad







Test fitting a six-hunnid gixxer kat-can. You know, for the lolz. Got one in the shelf and the shape seems to fit quite nicely, just need to cut a bit off the swing guard plastic thingy to get it to rise a bit higher. Not a hunnid per cent of it`s inspectability but if it bounces a new full original pipe is 60 european, problem is that and the accel pumped keihin won`t fit in the same space but I`ll figure sth out.
 
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#24 ·
Re: Matty`s China Street Quad



Did a jump-test, the gixxer can will not even clear a speedbump so off with that and some choppy choppy noise time with the original one.



Fo fux sake... They didn't even bother cleaning the weld seams from the end piece significantly reducing the cross section.



Marginally better.







New pipe taking shape. Left it there for now cause I need to make a joint there or the finished pipe will be impossible to remove, and I don't yet have the end muffler (as I haven't decided on which to use)



Threw the front plastics on to see if the lights work. Apparently either some of the boxes are busted or I made a mistake with the wiring harness as the whole quad is as dead as a stone...



Also noticed at least the intake valve having some rust on it after sitting outside. Really not feeling popping the head and lapping the valves but we'll see...

Probly not a whole lot happening for a while as I need to order this that and the other to get forward and got zero loose funds ATM.
 
#25 ·
Re: Matty`s China Street Quad





Even though the main plastics are still the wrong color it`s starting to resemble a little more of what I envision in my head a street quad should look like. More avid followers might recognize the pair of mirrors that got a certain Daytona through inspection. With this thing you can actually see behind you through thema instead of admiring your massive biceps.
 
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#26 ·
Re: Matty`s China Street Quad



Man I`ll tell you this little fucker has kept me running in circles for weeks, been a ridiculous uphill battle to get it to this state. At first I sort of figured to just hush about it but figured what the hell if someone else avoids doing the same mistakes then it`s worth it to share...

So anyway whoever painted, or more precisely spraybombed, the part black at first didn`t apparently bother with keying the surface or doing any prep work what so fukken ever so the paint pretty much fell off when I started sanding it. Then when I applied the first coat of paint all past sins were showing through so bad I ended up watersanding and painting it three times to get the finish I wanted, applied the fourth layer of paint, looked at it quite pleased and dropped the wet part onto the cruddy garage floor mat. I then had to wait for weeks as the acrylic paint I used seemed to cure for fukken ages and started to "roll" whenever I tried sanding it again. Finally got the part smooth again, sprayed it to near perfection, waited a couple days to be sure then started applying the graphics. I don`t remember exactly what went wrong with the left side sticker but I had to get it off, which is when I discovered if you pull this tape, ALL of the glue gets left behind. No biggie I got this spray that`s spesificly made to remove sticker glue from painted surfaces, spray on a layer, wait the two minutes it says in the tin, started wiping it and hey the fucking paint is coming off along with the glue!!! Waited another week letting the part dangle over a wall radiator to properly cure, spent two nights to watersand it to perfection again, mask as well as I could, painted the left side again after fetching another can of the same paint from the city, looks good, go lay a log, come back and whaddayaknow the paint is boiling like the surface has silicone it in! At this point I was quite ready to jump on it but got too much money invested so let it cure yet again, watersanded the scabby part down no matter as it was left under the sticker, apply the graphics and here we are all ready for the clearcoat. Wanna take guesses on what I fuck up with that?! It still has a few minor shadows from the paint spray but I`m sort of hoping the clearcoat will fade those away (and yes I made a test piece to make sure the print will not dissolve onto the lacquer)
 
#28 ·
Re: Matty`s China Street Quad

Dammit in for a penny in for a pound... Just ordered pretty much the entire new electrical system while they`re still available, parts for these are so dirt cheap it doesn`t make any sense not to replace anything even slightly suspicious before they become a problem... The general emergency flasher/lighting relay was not available where I ordered so hoping that`s still a runner, just need to replace the 9-pin plug as it`s currently hardwired as the original plug had melted.



My new battery box arrived today, I believe some of you might have seen one of these before. Cheap, durable and waterproof, what`s not to like. Might give if a round of matte black though, not too keen on the green.



Snug as a bug... With extra space for tools, spare plug etc. Just need to figure out how to mount it.
 
#29 ·
Re: Matty`s China Street Quad

Parts are so cheap because they’re made cheap. Do yourself a favor and CHECK all the electrical stuff before installing. Give an eye over the soldering and connections, make sure everythings tight etc etc.
 
#30 ·
Re: Matty`s China Street Quad

That goes without saying. The other reason is the parts aren't model, or even make spesific as a wide variety of quads from different manufacturers (Comanche, Fude, Bashan, Tyscon, Rally, Helkama...) used the exact same parts. The only parts NOT available anymore are the model spesific ones, namely the plastics and seat.
 
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