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Just a feeler question........If you could build to order a custom 2 stroke dirt bike would you? We are playing around with the idea of doing some custom two stroke bikes (mainly Rms and Yzs). I would imaging they would be in the $6000 to $7000 range when finished for premium bikes with powder coated frames refurbished engines, custom body parts etc. I just don't know if guys that are into that sort of thing are doing it themselves or if there are customers out there who want to mark off a checklist and pick the bike up ready to rip? Keep input positive and constructive.
If they do have an MX bike in their lineup, then you can have one built to order.
The Shop
all new
and unbelievable quality
Service Honda has made a fantastic name for themselves and do top notch stuff. I don't have any interest in doing AF conversions. I have ridden them and they take a bike like the RM125 and make it feel "couchy". I believe that money you would spend on the aluminum conversion could be better spent in other areas. You could get your motor done and do some really incredible stuff with the suspension for the same price and I think you will be further ahead with that stuff.
That said, I think a majority of people enjoy the process of working on their own two stroke and building it as a winter project for example. I wish you good luck with it!
Pit Row
Back in my old job I had no time for that shit, I would have gladly paid someone to do all that for me just as I paid people to service it.
Nowadays I have a lot more time on my hands so I do that myself
Give me a menu with a la caret pricing and I'd have to seriously consider a purchase vs. a new KTM or YZ 125.
Another angle might be to do the same thing and just document the build from start to finish and then when it is done come out and say, "For $6999 you can have this bike". My thinking is if the build is sweet enough (i.e. some of the stuff in the Kick Ass 2 stroke thread) there would be guys out there that would want the bike bad and pay the asking price.
So the donor engine becomes a problem for those customers. You can already buy Beta, TM, Husky and KTM ready to go. Like Slipdog did.
I think rather than say "what if", a guy could say, "here's what we have".
I am just thinking out loud wondering if the demand is there. I think we will do 3 or 4 builds this winter, and showcase them to see. Then whether or not there is interest will be evident.
For reference, I recently bought a fully disassembled 2014 125sx with a tranny issue for $1100 and one of my knives (I'm a knife maker). Screaming deal right? I found a replacement transmission for $150 on ebay, also a screaming deal compared to buying new parts. By the time I did plastic, graphics, a drivetrain, a piston, bars/grips, and a shifter, I was into it for $2400, with all things being purchased at their lowest possible prices. I sold the bike for $4000, which sounds great, but there were numerous hours put into finding good deals on the parts and doing all the work. That was just to rebuild a 30 hour bike to stockish condition. If I had done tires, rims, foot pegs, levers, needed a pipe, and so on, the margin in that bike would have dropped well below 1k, and it's hard to imagine finding a better deal on a starting point with any regularity.
I did it for fun until it wasn't fun anymore. I always liked being able to put another bike out on the track within our vintage club so I was always on the lookout for a project. Very seldom did I make any real money up until a couple of special bikes I had built got bought by a big company. Even then , no one else would have paid the money they did for those two bikes. They filled a spot that needed to be filled with exactly what I had built and to have them contracted and built by someone like Dave Miller Concepts realistically would have cost them exactly what they paid me for them. Then it probably would have resulted in a couple year build time. It was a win/win for each of us. Still do a few from time to time but spitting out 6-8-10 a year on top of a couple of full time jobs got to be a bit consuming.
Hopefully you can find a couple good customers to help you get your feet wet with some neat projects. Make sure to post up some pics. We all like some bike porn...
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