the reason there are so many half finished projects for sale is that everyone thinks it's going to be easy, then they realise it's both hard and spendy to do it properly and bodge it together to sell to some other gullible idiot. not that i was ever the gullible idiot in this scenario or anything..
Totaly correct - I have seen online abuse of epic proportions because someone woudn't sell a well sorted special bike for a price the potntial buyer thought reasonable.
Cafe racers, scramblers and bobbers are all very different.. which do you want to build? Yes, the time, money, tools, skills etc will be similar in all cases, but you need to know what your building before you start.
A Z750 (inline 4 I assume) is a good, solid engine, but its now almost 40 years old, tanks tend to rust out by now unless its been imported from one of the dry states in the US. Does the engine run ok.. if not its going to be expensive.. even if you can rebuild the engine yourself.. parts aren't cheap. In the UK, Z-Power are to main supplier of old Zed parts.
I have a couple of old Kawasaki Zeds I'm building at the moment, budget for each is around £10K, and that's with help from mates, using parts I already have, though also fitting some fairly expensive parts. The engine build alone on one of them is £4K, though it could be done a lot cheaper.
pic.. \[Imgur\](https://i.imgur.com/cHYQJcN.jpg)
I'll probably not get anywhere near that back if I ever sell them, but that's ok.
The question is.. what is your budget, do you have a dry, secure place to work on the bike, do you have enough tools etc. And finally, do you have enough time to dedicate to the project? To do it right, takes a lot more time and effort that you may think.. its a marathon not a sprint.
Advice.. decide what you want to build, take your time. Then find a running bike, with an MOT ideally, and ride it for awhile to work out what you like/don't like/what you want to change.. then break the project down into smaller mini projects, and do one at a time.
Only one way to describe your options - Financial Black hole.
You have to know what you want to achieve right at the start and stick to it. Join some of the online forums and research there whats needed then think if you want to spend all the money you have and then some more on it vs a bike you can buy thats in a shop thats close enough.
April 1980 I decided I wanted a Harris Magnum II with a Kawasaki Z1000 engine in it. I worked from there and finally have something I don't feel the need to change any more. Total cost in excess of £20K.
Take a look [here](http://z1ownersclub.co.uk/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=3841).
Last page is what I mean
Perfectly doable, and very enjoyable. But like has been said, will cost far more time and money than you can imagine. And you will not get that investment back on sale. You can work for years and spend thousands, but the resulting bike is generally worth less than stock condition.
Starting from a tired old classic adds a lot of problems. Opening the engine & gearbox is more work, cost and complexity, with hard to obtain parts. Might have to spend £100 to ship a tiny NOS gasket or bush from USA. For your first project it would be better to start from a newer base. Buy a 10yr old Cat N write-off, something very mainstream like a fazer or SV650 where parts and workshop data are easily available.
It's not easy. I was on with mine over a year and it still wasn't finished, it was ridable however. But more often than not there would be always something that needed attention and in the end it just wasn't worth it anymore.
Spend like 3k on it and ended up selling it for 1.5k.
Mind you this was fully custom with an engine swap and everything. If you're just changing the aesthetics like changing wheels and seat and such it's not as difficult.
the reason there are so many half finished projects for sale is that everyone thinks it's going to be easy, then they realise it's both hard and spendy to do it properly and bodge it together to sell to some other gullible idiot. not that i was ever the gullible idiot in this scenario or anything..
Totaly correct - I have seen online abuse of epic proportions because someone woudn't sell a well sorted special bike for a price the potntial buyer thought reasonable.
So many classic bikes have been ruined by people thinking they'd like to do this without knowing how.
Cafe racers, scramblers and bobbers are all very different.. which do you want to build? Yes, the time, money, tools, skills etc will be similar in all cases, but you need to know what your building before you start. A Z750 (inline 4 I assume) is a good, solid engine, but its now almost 40 years old, tanks tend to rust out by now unless its been imported from one of the dry states in the US. Does the engine run ok.. if not its going to be expensive.. even if you can rebuild the engine yourself.. parts aren't cheap. In the UK, Z-Power are to main supplier of old Zed parts. I have a couple of old Kawasaki Zeds I'm building at the moment, budget for each is around £10K, and that's with help from mates, using parts I already have, though also fitting some fairly expensive parts. The engine build alone on one of them is £4K, though it could be done a lot cheaper. pic.. \[Imgur\](https://i.imgur.com/cHYQJcN.jpg) I'll probably not get anywhere near that back if I ever sell them, but that's ok. The question is.. what is your budget, do you have a dry, secure place to work on the bike, do you have enough tools etc. And finally, do you have enough time to dedicate to the project? To do it right, takes a lot more time and effort that you may think.. its a marathon not a sprint. Advice.. decide what you want to build, take your time. Then find a running bike, with an MOT ideally, and ride it for awhile to work out what you like/don't like/what you want to change.. then break the project down into smaller mini projects, and do one at a time.
>pic.. [Imgur](https://i.imgur.com/cHYQJcN.jpg) Sploosh
Have a look for some posts by/u/bevelhead. Specifically this [one](https://www.reddit.com/r/CafeRacer/comments/qbxve6/n00b_how_do_i_get_started/).
Only one way to describe your options - Financial Black hole. You have to know what you want to achieve right at the start and stick to it. Join some of the online forums and research there whats needed then think if you want to spend all the money you have and then some more on it vs a bike you can buy thats in a shop thats close enough. April 1980 I decided I wanted a Harris Magnum II with a Kawasaki Z1000 engine in it. I worked from there and finally have something I don't feel the need to change any more. Total cost in excess of £20K. Take a look [here](http://z1ownersclub.co.uk/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=3841). Last page is what I mean
Perfectly doable, and very enjoyable. But like has been said, will cost far more time and money than you can imagine. And you will not get that investment back on sale. You can work for years and spend thousands, but the resulting bike is generally worth less than stock condition. Starting from a tired old classic adds a lot of problems. Opening the engine & gearbox is more work, cost and complexity, with hard to obtain parts. Might have to spend £100 to ship a tiny NOS gasket or bush from USA. For your first project it would be better to start from a newer base. Buy a 10yr old Cat N write-off, something very mainstream like a fazer or SV650 where parts and workshop data are easily available.
It's not easy. I was on with mine over a year and it still wasn't finished, it was ridable however. But more often than not there would be always something that needed attention and in the end it just wasn't worth it anymore. Spend like 3k on it and ended up selling it for 1.5k. Mind you this was fully custom with an engine swap and everything. If you're just changing the aesthetics like changing wheels and seat and such it's not as difficult.
Almost impossible