Yamaha TT600R renovation - Part 1

As I bought it, AFTER we'd cleaned it up....

I thought I'd write up my experience getting a basket case bike into running order - from the perspective of someone who mostly knows how bikes work, but doesn't have a great deal of experience fixing them up beyond general maintenance and rebuilding calipers etc. Hopefully my lessons and experiences will be useful for someone in a similar position - I've learnt a lot in the last few months. So last summer I finally managed to persuade my mate who runs the local dealership to part with an 03 Yamaha TT600R that had been sat in the corner of his yard, outside, for about six years. Previously he'd told me I didn't want it because it was knackered, but he eventually relented. It had originally come in with a presumed electrical fault but then had been abandoned. It had a decent supermoto conversion; talon hubs, excel rims, Maxxis supermoto tyres and a full titanium Remus system. But it had been out uncovered with the instrument binnacle hanging off and a rag in place of the spark plug. We dragged it out, pumped the tyres up, confirmed the engine wasn't (too), seized and sprayed some WD40 in the cylinder for good measure.

He suggested a new CDI or kill switch which didn't seem to bad, as far as they could remember they'd already fitted a new loom, ignition switch and coil. So I loaded it up and took it away...