A100 Restoration: DMV Hell

Alberta registries are a racket.

The chap who sold me the bike claimed it had never been registered and I hoped this would mean it would not need an Out Of Province Inspection (OOP inspection). When I've bought bikes in the past I always:

1. Bought insurance
2. Went to the registry with said insurance and registered the bike

In that order. So that is what I tried to do. I contacted my insurance company (big shoutout to Touchstone Insurance for the best rates/service I've come across in YYC) and got hooked up. 

VIN History with Tom

Ok, so I had to take a guess at what the VIN of the bike was. You see, VINs were not actually standardized in Canada until 1980. Obviously the guy who sold me the bike had no documentation as he didn't even think the bike had ever been registered. The number stamped on the frame went something like: A100-XXXXXX. Obviously the first part is the model and I learnt that the second part was likely just a serial number indicating which number off the line this bike was. Modern VINs have 17 characters which tell you all kinds of things about the vehicle. I provided the whole 10 digits to the insurance company, who issued me a temporary insurance doc and told me they needed the registration ASAP to keep the policy going. The Alberta Registry I went to (our version of the DMV I guess) was unable to enter the full 10 digits as their computer system rejected the format. They just went with the 6 digits and left it at that. Oddly, they told me that the bike had been registered in Quebec. I suspect the number they found was actually some other poor chap's bike (as it is possible with these old VINs that you will have a duplicate VIN belonging to a different make and model). But I was exhausted from arguing with the registry people so I decided to just take what they were offering. 

OOPs

Annoyingly they did say I'd need an OOP. 

Damn. 

Now I actually have to get this bike road ready before I can register it. The permit to get the OOP was about $20. The OOP is a thing you need to get done if you have bought a vehicle from out of Alberta. It involves getting a professional mechanic to look over the bike and deem it safe or unsafe for use on AB roads. I have heard a lot of horror stories of mechanics nitpicking tiny windshield chips or body rust on these thing when people have got their cars inspected. 

The trouble is, the mechanic can charge whatever they want for the inspection knowing full well if they find something you probably will just pay them to fix it to pass the inspection. Talk about a conflict if interest. I asked a friend for some advice on where to go and he recommended a shop here in town which he reckoned would be fair with their evaluation. I chose this shop over other (cheaper) shops based on his recommendation. I booked myself in for the end of the month to give myself a bit of time for some maintenance.

I did manage to find a document which says what they will check. Click here if you are interested. The good stuff starts on page 35.

Teaser

Clip of the ol' girl gurgling away in the garage - at least the engine seems to be in good nick. She's obviously lacking in the electrical department hence the lack of headlight.

P.S. Also bought some parts, an owners manual and a service manual. Will update when stuff starts coming in!