DJ - you have captured what it means to me in what you have said. I spend hours looking at my resto plotting what to do next, learning how top use a spray gun again etc etc and on it goes. Possibly a mid life crisis for me, but I make no excuses for that.
There are a few aspects to it for me (in no particular order).
1) Bringing an absolute heap of crap back from the dead to as good as or better (noguchi) than new.
2) The thrill of opening up the big 465.
3) Learning to ride a gain after 20 years off dirt bikes.
4) The anticipation of what the current resto is going to be like to ride.
5) The hunt for that special part, especially the last 30 seconds on ebay (curses on you E74 and chubbs 69 whoever you are
- we are both going to have half an NOS YZ80H
) and
6) Learning all the skills required to do the resto.
I have imensely enjoyed my journey so far. I look forward to starting racing and honing skills that are undoubtedly limited on a dirt bike.
The saddest part for me is that we can't save them all from the dump :'(
The best part about the whole thing for me though is the friends I have made on here that love the same silly old bikes as me. I look forward to catching up with those blokes and a few new friends at CD6.