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You are close...very close.

A lot of people see these TV shows and think it's easy to build a composite bike.

The quick answer is "Yes" it's easy to build one.... but to build a quality composite...one that you can actually put 15,000 miles a year on and not a "bar-bike".. takes some know-how.

Without mentioning names... there is a conmpany out there now selling a really cheap crappy "rolling chassis" and the hot ticket (or some would believe) is to buy a Buell that's a few years old (their resale value sucks)...and transplant this engine into the chassis.

You now have a real chopper.

Not.

Too many back yard mechanics are building these things left and right... this is STARTING to put a serious wallop into
HD sales. This trend will continue for some time.

It's funny how insurance companies in my state won't touch these composited for under $6000.00 a year to insure them.

The rage WAS to go out, buy a brand new HD...have it "stolen"... strip it...and buy a hi-end chassis from a reputable manufacturer... and use your "stolen" parts to assemblew your new custom bike.

Thankfully DMV in my state REALLY got smart and requires reciepts for EVERY single nut and bolt and add on you use to build a composite. Sooooooooooo "Scumbags beware".

Another new twist is that there are literally hundreds of "bike shops" springing up everywhere... everyone all of a sudden thinks they're a bike manufacturer. The real test is to take one of these bikes (adult mini-bikes) out and put some miles on it. I've worked on $70,000 - $125,000.00 composites from some of the top names in the country...
most of them...about 80% are total junk. Buyer beware. There are probably less than 10 (IMHO) composite manufactures out there that can actually produce something you can put 10,000 miles a year on without grenading it.

Most of what you see in those TV shows is fantasy. As someone with a LOT of "inside scoop" on this matter... I just gotta laugh at how gullible the average person is..... to fork over their hard earned cash to "Billy-Bob-Joe-Ray bike builder"...who will take your money faster than crap squirting out of the wrong end of a goose...and offer little or no warrenty.

Oh well, who was it that wrote "There's a sucker born every minute"?

..you're dead-on about the composite bikes being overpriced lashed-together creations. I've seen five different ones from five different "builders" come through a friend's shop to have work done to them even before the motor's been broken in....and for the most idiotic things, mostly poor quality and poorly-mated components which the owner has no idea how to remedy because he bought a paint job and a set of shiny wheels.

Personally, the fat tired $40k+ machines are a real turn-off as are the "I spent $15k on billet geegaws" bikes. Plenty of clowns out there who don't even bother to take a motorcycle training course (or even get a license) but they'll spend over $40k for the bike, thousands on custom leathers and $10 for a "helmet" and then spend a few hundred getting THAT custom painted....

Me? I'm unloading a bunch of rolling baskets (a few BSA's, a Norton, a nice Bonnie and a MotoGuzzi) to make room for a '51FL I found in a barn a few weeks ago. Yes, they're still out there but you need to be REALLY lucky now to unearth one. I just know that some shiny "chopper" riding fool will ask me what it is when I get it on the road. Can't tell you how many times I've had to tell some weekend Brando that I was riding a Triumph and yes, it actually IS 40 years old....and it's the newest bike I ride.