🚀 go-pugleaf

On 11 Apr 2004 18:40:13 -0700, andythe@earthlink.net (big stinkie)
uttered something about:

>1.	Why would you avoid buying a kit bike?  If you don't mind, be
>specific.  "No resale value."  "I can't wrench worth a damn."  "The
>parts never fit."  You get the idea.
>
>2.	Why would you want to build a kit bike?  "Pride of doing it
>myself."  "Got something that looks different than most other bikes."
>"My son and I can do it as a project together."

Andy,

I'm relatively new here so I don't often have much to contribute -
more of a lurker and learner.

Before I bought "Mo" last summer I considered building a kit and asked
the same questions of myself that you are posing to the group.

"Why would I want to build a kit bike?"
1. I thought it would be cheaper than a new bike.
2. I thought the kit would have parts that would bolt together without
having to do a lot of research because I had *very* limited knowledge
of bike construction (OK - NO knowledge).
3. I thought it would be tremendously satisfying to ride something
that I had built myself.

"Why would I not want to build a kit bike?"
1. When I would look at the used Harley sites on the web I would not
even give a second look to anything that said "custom".  So, if I
wasn't willing to consider buying something that someone else put
together what chance would I have of ever selling a bike that I built
when the time came?
2. When I really started adding things up it was not really much
cheaper than a fairly new used Harley.

So, what I did was I bought an old Harley that needed lots of work.
This basically gave me all the perceived advantages of the kit bike
without the disadvantages:
1. Even after sticking a ton of money into a frame-up rebuilt my total
cost will still be less than a lot of kits.
2. I did not have to research every component for fit and
compatibility - although all the things that were missing or needed
replacing on the bike still required *LOTS* of research.
3. Doing a frame-up rebuild gives me the satisfaction of riding
something that I built myself, and I will know *every*thing about that
bike when I'm done.
4. It's a genuine H-D.  When I'm ready to sell it there will be
someone willing to buy it and being a '57 Pan with a certain amount of
nostalgia should make it fairly easy to sell.  (Not that I bought this
bike as an "investment", but someday I'll quit riding - when I can't
kick it anymore.)

But, seems to me that the crowd here at the VB&G is already pretty
solidly in the anti-kit-bike camp.  What you need to do is find a
group that has already gone the kit-bike route and find out what they
liked and didn't like about the kit they built, then capitalize on
that to differentiate your product.

FWIW there you have my rambling thoughts on kit bikes.

Thanks for the iced cappuccino.

Regards,
57panhead
'57 FLH "Mo"
http://57panhead.com