Trackbike, Wreck or Bare Frame????

[Wafer_Thin_Ham]

I was thinking about building a track bike. So naturally had a look at damaged bikes on the bay and such like. They were all 1000+ for newish 2000 onwards sports 600's so had the idea about building one from a bare frame.

Which do you think the better method and why??
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[yambabe]

My worry with building a track bike (or any bike come to that) from a crashed bike would always be that you couldn't be 100% sure that there wasn't damage to the frame.

Even a hairline fracture which you might find difficult to see could be a serious threat to integrity, I'd want to know the full history of the bike and get the frame checked out thoroughly by someone who knew what they were looking for before I parted with any cash, problem being of course that you can't really strip a bike down to the frame before you buy it!
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[0ddball]

From a bare frame. You'll know the bike intimately, always useful on a bike you could be fixing quite often. And you'll know that everything is bolted together right with no hidden gremlins.

On the down side it would be considerably more expensive than repairing a crashed bike.
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ZXR750L

[MarkJ]

I'd probably go for a wreck, and kind of streetfighter it. As long as it was in reasonable working order (straight frame, engine works) I'd strip all the plastics off, clocks, etc. add a single aftermarket tacho, perhaps get some rear plastics if they're knackered and buy a nose cone and leave it at that . If you bought new fairings, as it's a track bike it's likely you could crash it yourself and break the fairings again.

I don't know what i'm doing enough to build one from the ground up.

[Wafer_Thin_Ham]

That was what I thought. With front enders you have headstock issues, rear enders issues with the swingarm pivot point etc.

But surely you would get similar issues with blank frames. I guess they must come from crashed bike too?? If not where do blank frames come from?? I mean ones off the bay and that.
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[0ddball]

Sometimes people will break a perfectly good bike simply because it's worth more in bits.
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ZXR750L

[Wafer_Thin_Ham]

The only thing I'm worried about if I was to build a bike from the frame up would be electrics, I have no idea how the electrics work on a bike.

On the other hand building a bike from a frame up you could get a better selection of trick bits.
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[MarkJ]

Surely with the electrics you'd just buy a new loom? if the engine had all the right connectors you'll just have to clip them together (I swear my Hornet has different coloured connectors). If not just buy a Haynes manual and spend a few hours finding out what connector goes where

[Ste]

Errrr... bare frames.... how did they come to be bare frames? Probably crashed, damaged and the owner has realised that a bike is worth more in parts than it is as a whole.

With a bit of care you should be able to get a category A or B write off that hasn't got frame damage. If you're getting the bike as a whole then at least you can then see what's damaged and so have a better idea of if the headstock is likely to be bent, rather than if just getting a frame then you've no idea what it's history is. With buying just a frame you're mostly paying for the V5 which you don't need.

[yambabe]

[G]

I wouldn't be as worried as babyyam - I'd be expecting to crash the bike myself if it was a race bike .

Generally, I'd advise just getting a ready prepped track bike and spending the time and possibly money saved riding it . It's generally not that cost effective to build or convert bikes to track bikes compared to the price of getting a cheap ready converted track bike in the first place.

Even a couple of years ago there was J model ZX6 track bikes going for £1500 or so, with the G model a bit less.

Keep an eye on the www.motoforum.net for sale section.
A bit more money, but £1850 asking price gets you a 2002 zx6 with Hagon suspension and masses of spares including 3 sets of spare wheels, lots of tyres and other useful bits that would probably cost a load more to buy seperately.
Also a sorted late steelie CBR for £1250 or early r6 for £1750 - should be able to batter these down a bit as well.

[Wafer_Thin_Ham]

I was looking at buying a ready converted one (maybe that should be a poll option) but I have nooo way to get it to tracks, and probably won't do for a year or so. So I figured I could make a project out of it and buy the bits as and when I can afford them, meanwhile learning more and more about it.
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[Sephiroth]

[Wafer_Thin_Ham]

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