I think it was an Aermacchi design from Italy and Harley bought them out to offer starter small-capacity bikes - They made it in 250 & 350 sizes and were popular on the European club man circuits racing back in the day

Q-tip works great for the seat and if you get a stubborn one you can use a dab of tooth paste on the end and use it as a grind compound. Not aggressive enough to hurt anything but just enough to clean up the surface.

Sounds real healthy for sitting 30 years. I still think the engine crankcase looks very funky

Keep doing what you love to do and you will never work a day in your life. Awesome job pleasure watching you turn your hobby into a career.

Best thing I’ve found for carb cleaning is guitar string, works amazing! Been using them for 30-40 years! G,B and High E strings are the best!! 👍👍✌️✌️

The q tip trick is a great way to clean up those seats I'm glad a viewer mentioned that and you tried it !!! nice job !!

That was me that suggested the q-tip trick. It's a Musty1 trick. He used a little valve grinding compound on the q-tip to polish up the surface.

That button on top of the float chamber is a "tickler". It is used to prime the carburettor before cold starting. It pushes the float down a bit opening the needle and allowing fuel to flow. If it sticks down and the engine isn't burning the fuel in the carb, you get a leak from the overflow vent.

Great job on the old HD Sprint. I had an HD Sprint 350 in 1971, fast and reliable however there was lots of vibration. Had to stop about every 45 mins to get the feeling back in my hands. She was the same color as yours. Lots of fun times on her. Thank you for all your hard work on you videos.

On Rust- My son bought a 1982 DR125 in great shape for $140 (barn find) and the tank was terribly rusty- I use apple cider vinegar for these and it typically works great! same on an old boat tank. Just fill it up and let it sit for a few days. Rinse well after and put gas in it so rust doesn't start again. Not sure what the rust remover costs, but cider is like $3-4 :) I also soaked the carb in the same vinegar and it cleaned up really good.

Im an old man and Ive worked on lots of different things like this. Its a shame we cant advise you on the slight nuances of these old rickety things in real time and warn you about the inherant flaws in these gizmos, like that carb tickler, etc. Also, the cable installation of the twist grip. Love your videos. Keep up the good work .

I bought a REALLY ugly 1965 Spring in the early 90's. (I'd had a 67 Spring SS when I was 16) I got it running, then took it all apart, with the idea to get it painted and restore it. Found a beautiful NOS seat and a number of other parts. Long story short, life got busy, I moved to Russia to work, and the project sat. Finally, I gave it to a buddy who finished it, had it repainted in the original 1965 color (orange) and he had me come down to try it out. After all the years of not riding one, the 'upside-down' shift pattern on the right side was REALLY confusing. The Sprint was the first real motorcycle in my life after having had a little 65cc Honda. So cool to see this one get rescued and on the road again. Thanks for the video.

My very first motorcycle was an old Wards Riverside 125 which had a similar shift pattern with a rocker style shifter on the right. Took it trail riding with some friends on their Honda 90s one evening and later that night rode it back home with one buddy in front and the other riding behind because I crashed and busted the lights out. That started my motorcycle journey for the next 5 decades.

Take the gas tank off pour small nuts and bolts in and shake tnaks for a few minutes and then empty out all the rust dust. Then put the solution in.

I had two slides stuck in carbs the other day. I soaked them, tried heating them with a propane torch, tried lightly prying with a plastic tool. No movement. I boiled them for a minute or so and the slides came right out. If I had tried this first, I wouldn't have broken one of the throttle shafts.

Those little bikes are awesome! I like the right side shifter. 1st bike I ever owned, back in 1971, was a Norton 650 Nomad (Twin Scrambler), my uncle bought new in Texas in 1958. It had right side shifter, 1 up, 3 down, and rear brake on left side. It has twin Amals, similar to those Delorto's, side bowl with tickler primers. They always leaked gas until the bike started up. Brits located the magneto directly under the carbs. Brit bikes leak everything... oil, gas, electricity (thank you Lucas). The magneto cap looked like a mini light show at night when it was running. Starting it was always an adventure, as gas would drip down where the spark escaped the mag cap, so I had to always have a thick rag with me to put the fire out, which happened pretty frequently. I still have that bike. Starting out and learning on that, then having to re-learn left side shifter and right side brakes was a new experience on my later bikes when I started moto-crossing, and trials riding.

Hey joe just want to say since watching your videos I have become so much more confident doing engine work. I have just made a gs125 head, piston, cylinder and cylinder head, plus cam and chain from one engine fit onto a newer fuel injected dr125 engine and without your videos and the knowledge I have gained from you I wouldn’t have succeeded. So thank you, keep up the great videos ❤

I always wanted a Sprint 250 but as a kid it was way too expensive, I think they ran about $425.00 new. I bought a 67 Honda 305 Superhawk for $395.00 brand new.

Maybe you should invest in a new parts washer or make one. Love your work.👍

This is such a great build. Love seeing old bikes fire up after a long time of sitting.

AERMACCHI ..one of the Best “ Italian Motorcycles “ ever made…..👍🏻 I had a 350, it ran fantastic…!

for the spokes, place a few drops of oil on each spoke. i used to use 3-in-one, but i suppose a more solvent-based may work. spin the wheel so centrifugal force makes the oil move to the nipple and drag a metal object accross the spokes to set up vibration. obviously you can do this more than once and wait a while - day by day even. most things will free up with penetrating oil time and vibration. if you are not impatient time is on your side.

I had a 1973 Harley -Davidson SS350 Sprint. Made in Italy by Aermacchi. I purchased it new and I think it was about $795.00 plus tax. Harley had two different versions of the 350 Sprint. The SS350 had chrome fenders and though it's a single cylinder thumper, it had dual chrome exhaust. They also made a SX350 Sprint. It was made like a trail bike. The SX had high fenders, I don't recall them being chrome, knoby tires, single upswept black exhaust with a heat shield, I think on the right side of the bike and it had a larger rear sprocket. The SS350 had rubber mounted handle bars. The SS also had an electric starter plus the kick starter. The SX probably had a different set of shocks for off road riding. I enjoyed the Sprint while I had it, which was only for one riding season. Unfortunately for the bike, it all ended one cold day in November of 73 when a guy made a left turn in front of me. Fortunately for me no broken bones that day. I don't know if Harley imported two different versions of the 250 Sprint in 1968. Looking at the 250 Sprint in this video kind of looks like at one time it may have been setup for off road riding, with the high rear fender and upswept chain guard to accommodate a larger rear sprocket.

I rode one of these back in 1968 when I was 18. Ran the heck out of it. Didn't think I would ever see one again. Great job!!!

Another cool trick is use some 3m polishing compound on the q-tip to help cut the grime. Super fine lapping compound works as well! Great video man

I found an old review of the Harley Sprint - apparently the lack of a throttle return spring is an intentional feature borrowed from the larger Harleys of the day, to allow steady cruising without keeping a hand on the throttle.

Tidied up a bit that look nice sitting next to my iron barrel Royal Enfield 500.😊

That would throw me out big time with everything being back to front, you did well really.

Man Im really loving the frequency of your videos 🙌🏻‼️

I’m diggin the couple of old school bikes here lately. Awesome job brother keep it up!! Where is Chuck it’s been a minute?

Change the crush washers on that oil line don't forget 👍

I had a 71 SX 350 that I bought new in high school. I rode it all over the Los Angeles area. It had Pirelli knobby tires standard which made for interesting riding when it rained on the freeways, I did a lot of dirt riding with it too. It was hard to get parts for when it was new, Harley wasn't great about supporting them.

You can get forks for your skid steer then you can get your hovercraft out of your out of your field

You should have one of those ultrasonic parts cleaners. Get all the grime from all those carbs you rebuild.

I had the very same bike in the early 70's took all the street stuff off of it and turned it into a dirt bike knobby tires and all. what a blast!! for a first bike

Thank you, Classic Cycle. You are living every young man's dream. Great video, informative and entertaining - Vinny

The oil leak is the return to the case from the head. Tighten. The carb is a gas dump not a air restriction. Theres a O ring on that little shaft on the dump lever Buy a Maconie carb. Big performance change.

The Q tip trick works with lapping compound

My very first motorcycle, a 250 scrambler. Thanks for the memories!

Another brilliant episode 😎Thank you 👊❤️🇬🇧

Another gem of a bike that you resurrected congratulations and Bravo.

Yes I have been waiting for this!!!!!!

What a great sound out of a 1968 Harley Davidson , remember Harley was not bought out by AMF until 1969

Jackie Earle Haley as "Kelly Leak" in The Bad News Bears had a '76 SS125.

The King of "Will it Run?". Thank you, Mr. 2vintage.

What an exhilarating experience. Great job my mam

You are giving me inspiration to complete my 1974 Kawasaki Z1A 900 "revival" that sat in my garage for 15+ years. I only need to pull the trigger on a new tank (the old one is in really bad shape), new tires and get the carbs synched. Nice jobs, I really enjoy your videos!

If all else fails, you might apply a little silver solder to the petcock to hold it together. Just use an acid flux.

I don’t know where in WI you live I live in north western WI 50 miles north of Eau Claire, I have a 1974 Honda CB360 with 6th overdrive, it hasn’t been run since 1984, it’s been shedded all that time and their was oil put in the cylinders when it was parked, I’ve been following you and watching you get these 30+ year old machines running and am impressed, it would be fun to sit here in my recliner and watch you get it running.

Very underrated motorcycles mainly because they looked different

He did it again. It's sounds awesome.

If anybody can bring life after death to these old machines it would be you you got some mad skills my friend

3:40 should’ve taken the tank off, strapped it to one of your many atv tires on a jack and let it spin.

First off all I watch your daily post look forward to them when I get home from work . I just wanted to mention that when I used to work on old bikes a hand full of 1/4" nuts and the rustolium would take care of all the big chunks of rust and I had pretty good luck with the cap getting cleaned of rust cap the tank insert ear plugs and shake ..

Love the look of that style of bike, add to the fact its a Harley and WOW!

That engine sounds great! What an interesting bike (made by Aermacchi for HD) They did a 350 version, too.

Love your videos man!

Add some pasta sauce to the gas tank and a little wine for octane boost

Joe is much better at editing then mechanic's

Great video as always

Put some gravel in your tank and shake it like a Polaroid picture.

Wasn't the bike an Italian Aermacchi design which Harley acquired to fill their small bike gap?

Nothing like a fresh bag of Pistachios and a 2Vintage night fix video

Great vid. I have a 1973 SS 350 Sprint, professionally rebuilt SX, date correct motor, somewhat rare 5 speed. Fun bike. The kick in the ass is that 100% of the electric starters failed, including mine which never worked. The small planetary gears in the starter fail. Fortunately, mine usually starts in 2 kicks.

love it, dont forget, one up three down with the right foot !

I had the same exact model and year. It was a great bike and lots of low gear torque. I could cut doughnuts all day in low gear. Glad to see you find one .

love the videos made my week

H.D. Humpty Dumpty , Alls Well after 30 Years + Thanks to Joe @ 2Vintage. Enjoyed that segment Joe, AWSOME MAN.

toothbrush is what you use to clean small parts or hard to reach spaces. you can actually now buy a cheap electric. i got one and was suprised the battery - alkaline i guess - was still working after a year of sitting. also, use paint-brushes of different sizes in the cleaning. what you are actually doing is " restoration " which results in a bike worth more money if original.

You can buy racing heads for this bike,Amerettie…..my friend worked at Harley test facility and had every bike harley made in 1969… he said it was Harley’s best year..

Reminds me of my youth, bopping around NM on Yamaha Enduro DTs. Simple bike, great fun.

When I saw the petcock tap unit not gripping, my first thought was plumber's tape on the threads. Looked like 3-5mm of usable thread there. Any hardware shop would have a roll, and that stuff isn't used for short-term fixes but permanent fixtures.

Lol, even the shift pattern is bassackwards. I had the AMF/Harley version of this bike. If memory serves me it had a bigger motor. I never got it running but I’m sure you could have!

In 1977 I was 10 years old and my brother was 14. We shared a honda 125 that we bought together. Got tired of having 1 bike and pulled a sprint out of a junkyard for $25. Being a 10 year old mechanic I couldn't keep it running and we pushed it back to the junkyard. I waited another 20 years before I bought another Harley

When those old rickety tires disintegrate, you're gonna have a very bad day. Wise up buddy. Nice work anyway.

You swap those handles over to the opposite sides to accommodate your way of operations of riding to Joe. It just switches what hands does what is all on the bike. Most likely A left handed rider owned that motorcycle once before you got it. They usually change.,or have it swapped over to the left handle bar for shifting.& Etc.

I think I am almost ready to start a new project with an old junked yamaha. I will watch again and again your videos. 😂😂😂

I was racing flat track when these came out,they were very fast and the the first 4 stroke flat track 250,more torque where my suzuki was high rpm,they beat on the corners and I would fly by on the straights.

I had a 1968 305 Yamaha 2 cylinder two-stroke first bike with the oil injection. Did 140 mph on Memorial Drive in Boston with that thing and broke the speedometer. Very good bike if you come across one grab it.😎

All he needs is the leather cap and googles to get that vintage look. Lol. And a scarf😂. Great job. Hats off to the guy with the patience of a lifetime.

Glad to see you used the Q-tip trick for cleaning the needle seat that i suggested a while back. Use toothpaste as a polish instead of wd-40.

That thing is worth big money as a historical vehicle collector specially now that it's running you just need to polish it up real good get that baby shining

I had a 1969. I miss it now.

Iv'e seen people use a tiny dab of lapping compound on the q-tip to clean the needle seat on those old carbs.

i find high pressure washing is the quick way for rusty tanks shake with marbles works to sand blasting with rubber media

cool bike. I like your street bike rescues better than the dirt bikes. It's all good though. Nice to see your co-worker there too.

great bike for a full restoration .

Great job!! My order brother had 73 Sprint. Good bike even thought was AMF SPRINT 350 FROM Cerini Harley was oldest shop eeast if the Mississippi. They should build them again

Early love watching you work on bikes

I've always wanted to ride one of those little Harleys.

The guy at Wheels thru time would maybe be interested in this bike.

The little press button on the carb is to purge air out of it Alot of the british bikes from the 40s 50s 60s had them , Just a heads up Always reffered to give it a tickle

beautiful classik sound

So how well did you nuke the rust inside the tank? Would've liked to see the end result.

I’d brakekleen the petcock threads and superglue it together. The glue will break free with heat and a little force if you need to take it apart later. Also, you can get 90 degree fuel filters to help clean up the fuel lines.

Odd that the gear shift and brake are on the opposite sides. That’d take me a minute to get used to.

Joe never disappoints👍👍👍

She sounds good boy like to find an 250 dritbike soon

Runs good!

Q tip on drill is a Mustie1 trick as well