I don't have a lot of money; would building or restoring a bike be an option for a beginner?

Question

I have my test soon (UK), and want to get a motorcycle ready for when I pass, but I simply cannot afford one. I am a novice both as far as 'big' bikes and mechanics go, but I am willing to give anything a shot!

Basically I've been looking around and almost everything is out of my proce range of £600ish. The only bikes I can find that might be suitable in this range (and of suitable power for a new rider) are older and a little scruffy, mostly from the late 70s- early 80s.

Would it be worth me getting a bike in this category, and 'restoring' it to good condition in my own time, on a shoe-string budget, learning as I go? I have literally held a spanner about twice in my 20 years.

If so, a gesture in the direction of the sorts of bikes I should be looking at would be much appreciated. My budget is around £600, and I would like something in the 300-600cc range.

Cheers!

Answer 1

Going old and trying to restore on a budget will cost you more in the long run plus if your not mechanically minded you will find you will take them apart very easily but putting back together is a different story. But you can pick up good solid bike for that sort of money you just need to look hard I managed to pick up a 1990 DR350 for £700 and has been solid and reliable for the past 18 Months other good solid bikes to look out for in this budget are GS500 CB500 these will probably be the same bike as you learn on the test centres use them because they don't go wrong or if you can stretch you budget abit you can pick up a Suzuki Bandit for around the £1000-£1200 mark they have a Bulletproof engine fairly cheap to run and enough power that you won't be bored after a month.

Answer 2

From experience I would suggest that you get the older machine be it scruffy or not and learn how to repair and maintain that. Plenty of books in library You are bound to have scrapes when you start, we all have,  get these out of the way on an older machine.   When you have a greater knowledge of the bikes then look for something a bit nicer.  It is very tough financially when you first start with insurance etc and getting older machine will  leave you more cash for insurance etc. There is always someone who will give you their benefit in repairs etc.

Good luck, and be SAFE

Answer 3

take a 200 lb bike,,,put 600 lb into it and u get a 200 lb bike...I've restored some things... whatever you think it will cost,,,triple it.... save up and by a bike in good running condition

Answer 4

Good for you, I think you mean "tidy up " rather than restore, best thing to do is to get a tatty bike and tidy it up, I did this with all my 3 sons, I thought if they put some effort into fixing it then they would be better riders when they got them on the road, and it worked, one of them now has a passion for restoring old Honda's.

If you can try to get a bike with at least an M.O.T if you are a novice there are plenty around for £400, I suggest you look at a Honda CB400N Superdream as they had pretty indestructable engines and are relatively simple to work on, also they shared a lot of parts with the CB250N so there are plenty of spares about, however if you go for one of these stay away from the Automatic version.

Also there is the Honda CX 500 vee twin, plenty around and plenty of parts, there is also the Cx 650 version but stay away from the supercharged version, I know these are all Honda's but they are pretty simple and rugged and I have experience of them having worked on them all, ony real problem is that on the CX models you need some special tools to strip the engine [special pullers] never gave me a problem as I always make my own but if you are not mechanically minded it may be problematic. Anyway the engines are pretty bullet proof and I only stripped my sons to show him how it was constructed. Don't worry about the odd dented tank or ripped seat these are easily fixed but be aware that the plasics on more modern bikes costs a fortune to replace. If the basics work [ engine, wheel bearings, swinging arm bushes and brakes] everything else is easily fixed- electrics cause a lot of people problems but wit a little effort can easily be understood.

First course is to make a list of bikes you cosider suitable then do a study of how much spares cost, ebay is the easiest way to do this also most importantly make a list of people who can help you [mates]- having somebody who can weld is a great help and somebody who can spray is worth their weight in gold- as you are only 20 you may have some of your mates dads in various trades that can help.

However the positive thing is if you are tidying up a tatty bike you can look at it as a blank canvas and do some moderate customisation.

Whatever you do work within your limits and budget, good luck, when you can build and fix your own bike you can call yourselfe a biker.

However stay away from RESTORING, this costs an absolute fortune  to properly restore a vehicle, as an example I have a Norton that I've spent over £4000 on over the years getting it as I want it however this has lots of specialist parts fitted from the 70s that I had to source from around the world.

But on a restoration project I spent £3,500 restoring a Royal Enfield to show condition which is over £1000 more than it's worth.

I also restored a Morris Minor to brand new condition and spent over £3,000 on it, however it was beautiful but took 2 years and I did everything myself except the Chrome plating.

If you want to get into restoring beware you will never ake any money on it and it is going to cost a fortune- the only thing you ever get back is the satisfaction of knowing that you did a good job and seeing the crowds gather around it at the shows.

Good luck to you build your own bike, learn something useful and enjoy your biking.

By the way I'm not an old fogey I have some modern bikes and often ride around at x*x mph [70 officer]

Answer 5

That is a great way to get on a bike and really learn what makes them work. I sold my '71 Honda 350 Street Scrambler to my neighbor kid and then helped him work on it. He is graduating in a few months from a motorcycle mechanic's school now. Sorting through that old bike got him started on what is going to be his career.

Wrenching on old bikes was exactly how I started riding.

For some reason the UK has a ton of people with a passion for older bikes. I used to get some English magazines that were totally devoted to the hobby.

I also know there is a big streetfighter and cafe racer scene in your country.

I would look for a Honda 350 twin for a first project. They are reliable at a level that is almost scary, and there are hundreds of thousands of them sitting around waiting to be brought back to life. There are even tons of sources for brand new parts for them.

As far a riding is conserned, a Honda 350 will run on the highway all day long at 75mph and get you over 50mpg doing it. In the USA you can find them not running bit in outstanding condition for just a few hundred dollars, and even a really nice one that looks nearly new and runs perfectly is usually not more thatn $1,500.00.

Good luck with your project. I bet you will have a great time, and once you are confident fixing bikes, you can deals on nearly anything you want as long as it's broken when you find it!

I got an 1100 Katana when it was only 5 years old for $1,900.00 because it didn't run. I fixed it and rode the bike for seveal years and sold it back to the guy I bought it from for $2,000.00.

THAT is cheap motorcycling!

Edit: Add one vote for TROLLs idea of the CX500. I had one and it was a great bike. I also loved my '74 Suzuki TC185. Even though it could barely hold highway speeds, it was still a fun bike.

There can be lots of times that it is a lot more rewarding to ride a slow bike fast than to ride a fast bike slow. Ringing the neck of that little Suzuki on a twisty country road was outstanding fun.

Answer 6

If it is in pretty good running order and you only need cosmetic restoration it would be fine. But you could very easily end up with major mechanical problems that would cost you more to repair than if you would have just bought a nicer bike in good shape. I have seen this scenario more than once.

Answer 7

What you suggest is a cheap way to get a bike. It is also potentially a cheap way to the local hospital. It is almost impossible to get an old bike and restore it to a safe and cosmetically decent condition without spending loads of cash. Bikes that have been restored get sold for a high price for that very reason. Cheap ones are not really cheap, they are a money sponge.

I give you my word that the following is a true recount of past events.

A friend of mine bought a 'restored' 1988 CBR 600F for £800, from a qualified mechanic. The bike was MOT tested the day before he bought it. He had no insurance so he accepted the bike and paid for it because of the seller being a mechanic, the seller being a friend and the bike having a brand new MOT. He rode it home the following day when his insurance had started and nearly had a fatal accident because the brakes didn't work. He asked me to take a look at the bike. I found that of the 4 front brake pistons 3 of them were seized off. Both of the 2 rear brake pistons were seized off. The fork oil in one fork had no air gap, the fork oil in the other fork had a 2cm air gap. The front tyre's sidewall was perished. The rear tyre was fitted the wrong way round. The chain and sprockets were lethally worn. The cush-drive was absolutely shot to pieces. The swing arm bearing was seized. The rear wheel was out of alignment. The regulator had failed. The thermostat was stuck shut resulting in the head being visibly warped (there was a head bolt missing too). The cut-out switch for the ignition was intermittent. The body panels looked fine on the outside but inside they had many repairs where the bike had been dropped a few times. Because of this the bike was set up on a laser alignment jig and it was found that the chassis was so twisted that the bike should have been a write off. Initially the bike looked great, but after all of these faults were found it was easily decided that the cost of repairs was at least 2 to 3 times the value of the bike when the repairs would be completed. The seller refused to give back the money (sold as seen) nor to take any responsibility for ripping off the purchaser. As the bike had not been kept at the MOT station then it could not be proven that it had had a 'bent' MOT as the damage could have been done after the test and the faulty parts may have been fitted afterwards. We subsequently found out that the seller had done this many times before with bikes and cars and had a reputation for doing so. If only my friend knew this before purchase. The net result of this is that the bike was scrapped. The purchaser was down by £800 and he got time inside for GBH on the seller.

So you can buy a 'cheap' bike, but please, please, please don't.

Answer 8

don't do any bike up unless you have £1500 at least if you want a nice good clean bike i would say save up buy the best you can in your budget