Im lookin at a 79 shovel on ebay unfortunatly photobucket wont let me log on to show you guys

the item number is 280586894107 is there a problem with blowing head gaskets like he says

turning it into a tv stand has me a little worried, or am i worrying about nothing and it would be a great buy

this would be my first Harley and a learning curve, love tho old school cool. Thanks in advance.

I have the same kind of bike and have had great fun !! over the past 2 years getting my one running. All hear will tell you to do it your self as the only way to learn and I agree. The bike looks okay and if you get it for the right price and prepared to spend some $ you will have fun. I will leave it to the more capable to answer if it is a good buy, I paid over $10,000 for my bike and it was not going. However with a lot of learning and only about $1000 more I have a great bike that is a lot of fun to ride.

Again all I can say is it could be a $100 fix and a week end or $5000+ (to rebuild the motor) and lots of time. But that is the fun of owning a great bike.

Have fun.

Regards,
Troy

Ive got a 79 Shovel also mate, ground up rebuild ongoing as we speak. Great bikes IMHO. I would think this will go for heaps more than the current asking price, but its worth an inspection. I would stress about the head gaskets to much. She is tatty, but if you want a good base for a project then this isnt to far off the mark.

The heads on the bike are early heads, so be aware that the rest of the bike is probably a bitsa, if the guys capabilities don`t go as far as being able to torque the heads properly be very suspect of all work done, i`d say the heads are warped and need resurfacing and while your in there check the bores. Personally i`d go no more than $9000 because you could import one for heaps less than that and at the end of the day its going to need a lot of work and will end up costing you 20k by the time your finished. There is no such thing as a bargain shovelhead. I`m not trying to put you off just forewarning you of the pitfalls, but if youhave plenty time, money and patience you`ll love it.

Top Poped Head Gaskets ,,,,,,, FLOOGED

I agree with Houli, and if I'm not mistaken, there won't be many people with a shovel that would get any change from 20K. They're shit loads of fun, but they need alot of love.....

Rick.

 "I" rebuilt it, "I" blew the head gaskets, "I" would wheel it into the lounge room . . . . . . 

 

but . . . . 

 

PLEASE DO NOT EMAIL ME WITH QUESTIONS

AS I'M LISTING THE BIKE FOR A FRIEND

Buyer beware . . . . 

 

Philthy

+1 kiwidave,they love TLC but are fun rides,

Thanks for all the valuable info guys, The ad did seem a bit odd but i have a bit of money now and thought i might get a quick bargain,
now i realise i will just have to keep saving a few more pennies to purchase something a lot better, as i said its my first Harley and i would like to ride it before
i worked on it. (That hard anyway) So thanks heaps again guys i can see there is a lot of great knowledge here so i know im onto a great site, just hope you dont
mind me tagging along. Cheers boys.

I remember buying my shovel as a "CHEAP" bargain. paid 8k for it and rode it twice before I decided it needed something more, Now it owes me somewhere around the 20k mark but it is out to 107cui and when the electricals aren't letting me down it goes like a scalded cat.
 

BillyBob.. Billybob.. Billybob.....if you want to ride more than fix, then perhapes a well cared for evo might be worth lookin
into,, something in the 90's is the shot, plenty of well priced looked after models around that era, thats my thoughts anyways...

lol...shovelfever...gota love it!!!

I just had a quick look at the pics.
If I was to assume that there really is a bike for sale, that the right person is selling it...... etc etc, all of which is far from certain....
Then.........
I do not really think it would be a good idea for someone who is hoping to buy a bike, and ride it for a while, and then do little things to it(having no experience at all in that area, on HD anyway), to consider this one.
There is a lot of stuff missing, even allowing for non-originality.

It was said earlier that the good thing about shovels is that anyone can play with them.
I think the bad thing about shovels is that a lot of people play with them. Which is how pieces of junk like this one come about.

A better value buy might well be the good used evo route, unless there is some specific reason for wanting a shovel.

Ok guys i cant get away from this shovel business, I dont know what it is maybe watching to much chopperheads or something but i just cant get away from the old school cool ive found another shovel on bikepoint for 10 grand 5 weeks rego left and its a 77 fxe 1200 superglide he says reliable never given him any dramas, I know you fellas have said and ive heard you need to keep up the maintenance on them, What will i be getting myself into, changing oil a lot more often? What else to keep them running that you really dont have to do as often as an evo? Sorry about all the questions but very keen to start learning and hopefully the easy way by picking ya brains.

I have seen it it looks the goods but i would like to try and find one a little closer to me like Sydney or nsw just dont have the extra coin
I would hate to stuff people around. But thanks for keeping an eye out for us.

Kiwidave you lied to me, you told me god made japanese motorcycles to keep wankers off Harleys, that is simply untrue.