Resurrecting a Memory

So I've been working over the past few weeks trying to get my dad's metal construction building in order, throwing out the useless junk and organizing the less useless junk into some semblance of order. I finally got everything just about how I wanted it last Thursday, so my cousin Noah and I decided to pull out an old Yamaha SR500 I'd tinkered with before I left for college in 2008. It'd been over a year since I had cleaned the carburetor and at least six months since I last started it, so I had no expectations that we'd get it running. Engine starting fluid works miracles. About fifty unsuccessful kicks and half a can of starting fluid later, the thing roared to life. Needless to say, I was ecstatic. Of course, the fuel mixture was way off and it wouldn't idle for more than five seconds without a lot help from the choke, but my hopes were high.

I wasn't going to put a bike that looked as bad as this one did on the road, though, and I figured with the amount of rust and grease I was dealing with I'd probably have to go with completely taking the whole thing apart. I've never really done much mechanical work beyond cleaning carburetors, changing oil, or replacing brake fluid, so I figured this would be an opportunity for me to learn something new. It hasn't been that much of a challenge, but so far I've only been taking things off. My next step is to finish stripping it down, then sand and repaint the frame.