Build a custom bike of ebay parts for £400?

[Ribenapigeon]

I was reading about the current custom bike fashion and looking at all these exotics machines made by pro builders. It got me wondering, could you build a bike from bits bought off ebay for under £400?. And not just reassembling a bike but matching parts from different bikes back yard custom style.

[MarJay]

You'll barely get a set of wheels and a frame for £400.
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British beauty: Triumph Street Triple R; Loony stroker: KR1S; Track fun: GSXR750 L1; Commuter Missile: GSX-S1000F; Cheap project: CBR900RR FireBlade
Remember kids, bikes aren't like lego. You can't easily take a part from one bike and then fit it to another.

[TheSmiler]

You could most probably if you are lucky be able to build something around a cg frame. But it wouldn't be "pretty" or in any form good.
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CB125>CG125>GN125>ER5>K100RS>R1100RS>K100RS
A2 completed 23/07/15 Ready for the Golden Crisp Packet

[Ribenapigeon]

[mysterious_rider]

it ALWAYS costs more when you build yourself. Think about the prices of custom bolts/cables and that.

Not to mention things like, tyres,grips,levers,switches, all this makes an impact on price. Plus the things that don't fit.

Plus things that won't work well together, e.g if forks are too long it might make the bike handle horrifically.

Don't bother. Buy a bike with a base that you like. Essentially a whole roller, and go from there, plastics/subframes, lights can all be modified without turning it into a moneypit.
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[shereen]

[dransy]

I reckon you could but it would be one big steaming pile of Shite
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Being shot out of a cannon will always be better than being squeezed out of a tube. That is why God made fast motorcycles

[Ribenapigeon]

[MarJay]

[Ribenapigeon]

£400 was a number plucked out of the air really. However with the greater ease of sourcing parts these days becuase of the internet the minimum custom (bodgabike) bike cost must still be pretty low.

[Pete.]

You're going to have to define the class of bike you're considering first. 'Custom bike' has such a wide envelope.
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a.k.a 'Geri'

132.9mph off and walked away. Gear is good, gear is good, gear is very very good

[Wafer_Thin_Ham]

[P.addy]

Come pick up my CBR125 frame and all its remaining parts, maybe even a wheel for £50

[lihp]

Kawasaki Z200 parts and frame here.

GSXR400 GK73 frame also

Free if you come and collect
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[Slacker24seve...]

[331X2]

Maybe at autojumbles or swap meet type affairs but I doubt you could with ebay unless you already had a stock of some bits.

My Bandit 400 will stand me at slightly less than that when it's finished but it's hardly custom, just less shitty and more running than when I bought it. I do however have all the necessary tools (which come in at a fuck-ton more than your original budget) so that I don't have to pay for anything to be done if I can't call in a favour.

If you do fancy having a stab at it, there are plenty of 250's and 400's going for peanuts in the winter. Bobbers, cafe racers, board trackers could be built from the right bike for next to fuck all because essentially they're just stripped of unnecessary parts, if you can start with a bike that's not in demand you should be laughing.

Crack on and get a thread started

[Ribenapigeon]

Its entirely theoretical. I have to finish my geodesic bike dome first

[stickybackbob]

I did it! and below budget

Mind you, managed to buy a complete GS850 for £150 and was given a frame and tank from someone else but cut it up, seat railed, single top tube, fender struts and the thing didn't look too bad.

That said, this was all years ago and I didn't get bits off ebay

[stickybackbob]

I did it! and below budget

Mind you, managed to buy a complete GS850 for £150 and was given a frame and tank from someone else but cut it up, seat railed, single top tube, fender struts and the thing didn't look too bad.

That said, this was all years ago and I didn't get bits off ebay

[Ichy]

It's possible. I bought a running GPX250 for £100. I could put a sticker on it and call it a custom and still be £299.50 up.

That's the crux of it. Custom can be interpreted as altered from the norm, usually to the benefit of the owner. Get any naked bike and fit drop bars, a solo seat and cut the mudguards down and you have a flat tracker. Throw paint stripper over it and you have a rat. Remove the shocks and weld in two bars, hardtail.

What do you mean by custom?
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[Ariel Badger]

I have set my present build at 3K, it will come in over budget.
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[Ribenapigeon]

I suppose by custom I would mean not a rebuild of a particular bike to its factory norm but a very modified bike or a bike made from parts from different bikes. Maybe hybrid would be a better word for the latter.

[Teflon-Mike]

OK, spotted this at a meet couple of weeks back. Quite a tidy, budget or first-build hard-tail.
https://fbcdn-sphotos-g-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-prn2/1264723_649811568377097_1213390986_o.jpg
I think its based on the 'Hard-Up-Choppers' budget kit frame, that retails on e-bay for £5 under your £400 budget.
Take one Cat B written of junker, like divvy 6 one pictured is based around, of your choice. Maybe £300? For something that did have an MOT until smashed, and for £700 you have the frame, wheels, and engine to get you started. Double that to do a half decent build, and you are looking at probably around £14-1500. Then add perhaps £500 to get the thing through an SVA/Vosa inspection; get a number-plate, MOT and tax disc. And you have an old-skool hard-tail for about £2K or so.

That gives you a base-line reference. If you went to town on it, you could spend as much as you let it consume; bespoke exhausts, farmed out motor-work; all the trick bits from the catalogues; Fancy paint etc etc etc.

Actually lauded as a very ecconomical way to do a trad-chop; that frame kit is reckoned to be as cheap as you could DIY one buying in pipe and bending and migging yoruself; without adding cost of welder and benders and ply-wood for jigging to do it, if you don't have. So not a huge amount of scope to scrimp on that notional £2K build-budget. Could be done cheaper.. but I don't know where you would find much by way of saving.

I think you would be down to not getting such a cheap 'Donor', probably buying a non write-off fixer upper, or near MOT fail with a bit of ticket left on it, and avoiding SVA/VOSA and registration fees, playing tight in the margins, 'adapting' stock frame, to keep ident.

You are talking bobbers, cafe-racers, fighters, or rat's really. Keeping budget as skinny as possible; to do something half respectable; and have half a chance it can earn its keep, and not cost you more in the long-term in running repairs; you are probably going to have to find a half-decent old bike to begin with; and limit work to low rent cosmetics and improvements when repairs are required. Depending where you start, its another piece of string job.
But that was basic plan behind my 'Dawg' CB750, which I picked up essentially roadable with T&T for under £500, but needing some attension; sticky calipers, a warped disc, and horrible paint-job.
https://s178.photobucket.com/albums/w269/teflons-torque/030_013_BlackDog/DAWG_01.jpg
I chucked I think £200 at it in the first month or so I had it, getting rid of moo-cow paint; & overhauling the brakes to make it rideable.... Been a rolling project ever since; the suspension modded when it needed new shocks or fork-seals; new footrest hangers when my little brother decided to try being 'helpful'! Etc.
I dread to think what it has REALLY cost me.. I think I have gone through three different front headlamp arrangements and four mounting methods! Wasn't 'expensive'.. and done ad-hoc as it's evolved, it's not had big money chucked at it in any one go... just a steady trickle... that probably would have gone an awful long way to making something an awful lot nicer, if I had started with a clear idea and a clean sheet of paper, and the cash upfront!

Which takes us down to bikes like this;
https://fbcdn-sphotos-a-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-frc1/1236490_649812408377013_1640364341_n.jpg
That I understand belongs to a mate of a mate... and I am a bit hazy on the legacy; but after a 'no-fault' claim, in which the bike was retained as part of settlement; it was deemed a nil-value motorcycle; acquired for nix, and botched to pass MOT and make roadable. As you can see, not even bothered with rattle-cans; its all cobbled together with bits and pieces donated from other people's left-overs.... which, I guess means that THAT particular project might have been done for under £100... cost of an MOT and tax disc, over the bus fares & petrol to gather the bits together, and put in the tank to get it to test!

Entirely possible to build a UB40-Special.... but.... to do anything much under a grand, you are going to be seriously scratting, and I doubt procuring much from e-bay... and starting out with an almost complete and probably running 'base' bike, rather than buying parts, sub-assemblies and major components separately.

You'll also like as not be relying on being in the know, getting hand-me-downs, cast off's, favours or plain charity, to see the thing through!

And TBH, there's not MUCH scope to do anything much more cheaply, looking at littler bikes.

Handlebars are handlebars; they ent going to be any cheaper just because you want to fit'em to an old Kawasaki KH100, not a KH750! Same with a lot of parts. Light bulbs is light-bulbs. They cost the same whether you are fitting one to a GS125 or GSXR-1100. Lots of bits cost the same regardless of what you fit them to.

Some scope for ecconomy; you might only have one spark-plug or carburettor to worry about, not two, three or four. 'Economy' tyres for a tiddler are likely to be £30 instead of £130, but by same token, you don't tend to find part-worns or scrubs for CG's where you might for a ZX6R!

So there's swings and round-abouts all ways round, but costs and capacity are not particularly proportional.

But.. defanition of a 'Project' is anything you want it to be that has clear beginning and goal.... remit is wide open, really, possibilities boundless. That's the joy of them.
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[nightshaddow]

i must refer here to my ns 125 ok didnt get it off ebay but the parts i did (mostly) linky in my sig, and from getting the bike to geting it on the road it cost me less than £400 even after 9 months rideing i have only put another £70 into it with a new (second hand micron) exhaust and a belly pan,

also i had the sub £200 chinky crosser project which also went on the road https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rKXIH7VlGUg

trick is to not be picky, and if it dont fit....... buy a bigger hammer
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