I'm definitely going to get it running before dumping major time into the bodywork. That should be the easy part, if the guy was shooting straight with me. And it was my friend's dad that gave me this thing, so I fear incompetence far more than malice in this case.
Even before that I need to get the title changed over. It hasn't been registered in a looong time. Hate to register something that might never see the road. On the other hand, I'd hate to put a bunch of work into it and find out there's a problem with the paperwork.
I like where your head's at for sure. Unfortunately, as much as I can do myself, welding is not in my wheelhouse. I can fab up some brackets and odds and ends, but I won't be messing with the frame. At least, not before I have to ride it. I am considering making it a rat bike, but I can't picture that until I get everything ripped off of it. And as boring as it is, fixing up the boxes and everything would make it fun to ride with the wife. Plus, my last bike was a 2011 Stryker with hardly anything left stock on it. I put 50k miles on that bike, and found out that it was about as raked out as I'd like to get.
And I totally agree - if I can't get it running well with (relatively) little hassle I'll be writing this one off.
So far I'm reckoning spending less than $500 on this project, and right now is more about the project than the ride. There's a thousand ways that can get blown out of the water fast, but that more than accounts for the stuff I already know I'll need. I enjoy the challenge taking on new things. I've been focused on woodworking for a couple years, time to change it up for a bit.
I'm in Dallas, more or less. With this cold snap we got last week, it looks like I don't need to be in a great hurry on this one.
Thanks for the welcome, everyone. I'll be around.