[Daks]

So, like the title says, I blew a head gasket (steam out the back and everything). Bike has 33k on it and I called a local shop that said the best bet is probably buying a new bike. They could swap the engine but that would cost half of a decent newer ninjette alone, whereas I could just swap plastics in that case if I really wanted to. Their other option was a complete rebuild and that'd be like 2k, which is like $500 more than I paid for the bike 15k miles ago.

I don't exactly have new bike money right now and it's my only (previously) running vehicle until at least august 15th when I go drive my also old, high-mileage car 1500 miles back to austin.


What I do have is some time, hand tools, tenacity and an uncle who is a bike mechanic but also lives 1500 miles away. Is it worth trying to fix myself? I've done valves but this is a whole other animal. At this point I'm wondering what I have to lose other than time anyway.