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ive been wanting to start a project bike myself soon(finally getting a garage to build it in). but man those prices are nuts for kit bikes, no way im up for dropping 20k on a bike that i need to build lol. my project bike will probally end up some crap run down japanese bike that needs minor work, or maybe a motor swap. but my budget would be under 2k. once i feel like im into the whole building a bike i might try another one later on ground up, finding a bare frame and piecing it together, but no way would i go with a kit just for money reasons.

iwannadie wrote:ive been wanting to start a project bike myself soon(finally getting a garage to build it in). but man those prices are nuts for kit bikes, no way im up for dropping 20k on a bike that i need to build lol. my project bike will probally end up some "crumb" run down japanese bike that needs minor work, or maybe a motor swap. but my budget would be under 2k. once i feel like im into the whole building a bike i might try another one later on ground up, finding a bare frame and piecing it together, but no way would i go with a kit just for money reasons.

Well, on some levels I agree and the Kits that I was looking at were only $10,000 but I think part of it is that not only buying it a piece at a time is the most practical. Frankly, in the time that I’ve been away from bikes I went to skool for computers and that’s how I do my computers as well. I buy things one part at a time, install it myself and then I can troubleshoot it when something goes wrong (of course once I get some experience).

But the thing that scares me is that a HOG is a lot more complicated then a computer…That’s why I’m trying to get a relative to help because I’m good learning something from a book but I’m not always the most astute just diving into a situation that I’m not familiar with…

the thing that scares me is that a HOG is a lot more complicated then a computer…

....ummm, which planet is this?

Fixing up an old UJM sounds like fun to me.

If I ever get the weird idea in my head to build an all out custom I would probably do somthing weird like build one using one of those old CBX 6 cilinders or maybe a V-max motor or heck even a valk motor.

My cage project is a 73 VW bug that is going to have a decidely modern look and the performance to match (plan is for an upgraded suspension, modernized look, 17" rims with sticky tires, and adding EFI and a turbo to the already built up engine). Definately not your everyday old VW project.

plus, dude, you sound like a buy-in...hardcore....
its admirable that you want to build it, but i would recomend you learn to ride before you take your thirty thousand dolllar turf-hogger out and about.
how 'bout a Beechcraft Bonanza instead?

bigswifty wrote:plus, dude, you sound like a buy-in...hardcore....

Well, honestly that's a part of my personality I guess. Most aren't like that but some are. I'm the type of person, if I wanted to learn French, I would move to Lyon and just take a bunch of books with me and just emerse myself in the subject. What I'm trying to say is that I feel better when I dive in head first. I don't know if it’s an inferiority complex or another mental defect but probably for awhile I will spend time just trying to learn the some detailed aspects until I’m comfortable and then move on. When I get bored, I generally quit looking. I’ve done that with other subjects so it is really a pattern for me.

bigswifty wrote:its admirable that you want to build it, but i would recomend you learn to ride before you take your thirty thousand dolllar turf-hogger out and about.
how 'bout a Beechcraft Bonanza instead?

Actually the riding is the least of my worries…I really only stopped riding after about a year because I was afraid that the bike I had wouldn’t restart if I went some where. When I was riding, I learned enough to know that it is a skill. Especially since I’m older and I’ve outgrown the stupidity jean, so I know not to bite off more then I can chew. Probably when it gets closer to time I’ll retake the safety courses and then if I can find a small bike just to ride I probably will. Right now I’m more concerned with the mechanics because I don’t know anything about them and there is so much to learn.

I know that Harleys are massively expensive. It’s not something that I came to lightly but it came to me more or less like a virus that didn’t go away. When I rode in highskool I lived, drank, ate and slept Harley Davidson but I could never even afford to wipe the dust off of one. Well, I can afford a little more now and it will be a struggle to afford one it’s now that virus has flared up again. When I first started thinking about riding again, my first thought was Honda. Then, almost like coming out of amnesia, the thought of Harley kept coming back up…

For me its kinda like having a fever……anyone have ice packs?

BeerSlinger wrote:

bigswifty wrote:plus, dude, you sound like a buy-in...hardcore....

Well, honestly that's a part of my personality I guess. Most aren't like that but some are. I'm the type of person, if I wanted to learn French, I would move to Lyon and just take a bunch of books with me and just emerse myself in the subject. What I'm trying to say is that I feel better when I dive in head first. I don't know if it’s an inferiority complex or another mental defect but probably for awhile I will spend time just trying to learn the some detailed aspects until I’m comfortable and then move on. When I get bored, I generally quit looking. I’ve done that with other subjects so it is really a pattern for me.

bigswifty wrote:its admirable that you want to build it, but i would recomend you learn to ride before you take your thirty thousand dolllar turf-hogger out and about.
how 'bout a Beechcraft Bonanza instead?

Actually the riding is the least of my worries…I really only stopped riding after about a year because I was afraid that the bike I had wouldn’t restart if I went some where. When I was riding, I learned enough to know that it is a skill. Especially since I’m older and I’ve outgrown the stupidity jean, so I know not to bite off more then I can chew. Probably when it gets closer to time I’ll retake the safety courses and then if I can find a small bike just to ride I probably will. Right now I’m more concerned with the mechanics because I don’t know anything about them and there is so much to learn.

I know that Harleys are massively expensive. It’s not something that I came to lightly but it came to me more or less like a virus that didn’t go away. When I rode in highskool I lived, drank, ate and slept Harley Davidson but I could never even afford to wipe the dust off of one. Well, I can afford a little more now and it will be a struggle to afford one it’s now that virus has flared up again. When I first started thinking about riding again, my first thought was Honda. Then, almost like coming out of amnesia, the thought of Harley kept coming back up…

For me its kinda like having a fever……anyone have ice packs?

not to step on your dreams or anything but i can seriously see this whole project bike sitting in your basement 10 years from now covered in dust after only being started and given up on. i know a guy that sounds alot like you just did and his project is in his garage under a tarp wasting away because he hit a snag.

you gave up riding because your bike might not have started up again? didnt think to try and fix a simple problem like that instead you just gave up riding altogether, not a good sign. seriously id start small get a dirt cheap japanese bike just to get the basics of how a bike works. makes little sense to try and learn on an advance/expensive project that can be screwed up to easy because of a simple mistake.

or if anything watch an episode of Build or Bust, people are doing the same thing your trying, building their first bike and starting with a custom chopper, i havent seen on actually do it yet.

iwannadie wrote:

BeerSlinger wrote:

bigswifty wrote:plus, dude, you sound like a buy-in...hardcore....

Well, honestly that's a part of my personality I guess. Most aren't like that but some are. I'm the type of person, if I wanted to learn French, I would move to Lyon and just take a bunch of books with me and just emerse myself in the subject. What I'm trying to say is that I feel better when I dive in head first. I don't know if it’s an inferiority complex or another mental defect but probably for awhile I will spend time just trying to learn the some detailed aspects until I’m comfortable and then move on. When I get bored, I generally quit looking. I’ve done that with other subjects so it is really a pattern for me.

bigswifty wrote:its admirable that you want to build it, but i would recomend you learn to ride before you take your thirty thousand dolllar turf-hogger out and about.
how 'bout a Beechcraft Bonanza instead?

Actually the riding is the least of my worries…I really only stopped riding after about a year because I was afraid that the bike I had wouldn’t restart if I went some where. When I was riding, I learned enough to know that it is a skill. Especially since I’m older and I’ve outgrown the stupidity jean, so I know not to bite off more then I can chew. Probably when it gets closer to time I’ll retake the safety courses and then if I can find a small bike just to ride I probably will. Right now I’m more concerned with the mechanics because I don’t know anything about them and there is so much to learn.

I know that Harleys are massively expensive. It’s not something that I came to lightly but it came to me more or less like a virus that didn’t go away. When I rode in highskool I lived, drank, ate and slept Harley Davidson but I could never even afford to wipe the dust off of one. Well, I can afford a little more now and it will be a struggle to afford one it’s now that virus has flared up again. When I first started thinking about riding again, my first thought was Honda. Then, almost like coming out of amnesia, the thought of Harley kept coming back up…

For me its kinda like having a fever……anyone have ice packs?

not to step on your dreams or anything but i can seriously see this whole project bike sitting in your basement 10 years from now covered in dust after only being started and given up on. i know a guy that sounds alot like you just did and his project is in his garage under a tarp wasting away because he hit a snag.

you gave up riding because your bike might not have started up again? didnt think to try and fix a simple problem like that instead you just gave up riding altogether, not a good sign. seriously id start small get a dirt cheap japanese bike just to get the basics of how a bike works. makes little sense to try and learn on an advance/expensive project that can be screwed up to easy because of a simple mistake.

or if anything watch an episode of Build or Bust, people are doing the same thing your trying, building their first bike and starting with a custom chopper, i havent seen on actually do it yet.

Actually, this is the first thing that came to mind. I know that things seem fast and furious right now but in a few days I'll probably shut-up and most will forget about me after I ask a few stupid questions that I have in store.

I struggled for a time to figure out how to avoid this very senario and the answer to me seems simple. For the first year, If I buy anything its gonna be books........no hardware or anything else........If still after a year's time I'm still ready to jump in, then I think it will be the correct time. Also if and ready to jump in, probaibly taking the safty course again wouldn't be a bad idea to see if I still like riding. In that time I'm just trying to read as much as I can and going around to the Harley shops that we have in the area......Other then that, I just plan to clean my basement, maybe organize the few tools that I do have and that's as far as it will probabily go....

But to say that I quit riding just because my bike was screwed up is over simplifiying it a little. I just didn't want to regail most of you with a whiny story of that sorted tail. The short version is something like this:

At that time I worked at mcdonalds and had a car that quite litterally got the gas milage of a bad hummer. It took everything I had to afford the bike. The insurance wasn't much but I really had a hard time affording it. When it started screwing up (plugs fouling), no one had metric tools in my family and I knew that I didn't have the cash to buy them. So after a short time the bike sit and insurance lapsed. Shortly after I was in a serious car wreck and all of my keys were lost.....including my bike key.....well after two locksmiths we never could get a key to fit the ignition....so without the key, the tools or the money.....I had to give it up....and even moreso by that time, I was absolutly discussed with the bike......and even more yet with the dealer that sold it to me where I took it that strapped me with a big bill for going over the bike just to have it not run right after complaining about the results from the fouling problem (I didn't know that at the time, I leared that from a small engine troubleshooting book for motorcycles)...

that's part of the reason why i'm insisting on putting it together because I would like to have some idea whats wrong if it breaks down and maybe have the ability to fix it....because I've found a harley shop that will sell me a front fork or a whole front end.......I will have to evaluate how comfortable I am when it gets closer to time do something.......how much I will build and how much I will have to have built for me.......because in the end, if i'm not comfortable touching it, I probabily won't...

Hey, anyone read these?

hey beerslinger...thanks for being a good sport about my somewhat abusive post. I apprecitate the succint reply.

you can prolby pull it off if you persevere.