Not just first time buyers, I have got in at the moment, an ES2 that the owner has had for approx 60+years, in bits for 50+ of those yrs and decided to get it restored. He rode it around for 800 miles or so. We saw it at a club run out and from a few feet away it looked good. Up close it was a different matter, we pointed out the oil leaks, loose bolts etc
A week later he brought it to me to sort out. Christ what a mess, nothing was tight, oil pissing out from everywhere, petrol leaks, no oil in the forks, headstock loose, fork top nuts finger tight, No lights working, not charging and that was just looking at it.... The internals.... The inlet valve guide fell out of the head when relaxing the spring compressor. (no wonder it burnt oil) Spark plug almost the same, it had been inserted at some point and the insert came out with the plug, looking in the hole there was hardly 20% of the thread showing. Little end bush fell out of the conrod when removing the piston (it could be rocked sideways quite a few degrees) Gudgeon pin (Piston pin) had been battered to the extent that it had burred the end of the pin, i had to make a saddle puller to extract it. Gearbox leaking oil from everywhere, it had munched a shim, what was left of it was in the bottom of the box. Oil tank leaking (it was cracked behind the mounting bracket). Wrong nuts on bolts, The most alarming was a 5/8" whitworth nut screwed onto the 9/16 cycle thread rear axle, it had been chromed though....
