Mercedes Bike Build
Redhill Motorcycle Werx
To build a bike…or not to build a bike, that is truly the question! The daunting task of even thinking about building a bike is hard enough for me, I can’t imagine how the consumer feels. It’s overwhelming! I have at my disposal, years of experience in my husband’s knowledge, lots of ideas, lots of technical know how, every part under the sun, and still it’s hard to start.
My first bike, Bitchcraft sizzled in my brain for 4 years. Finally, Scot extracted it out of my brain and we started building. I had all intentions of having my hands in the metal myself, ahhhhh but the demands of the shop kept pulling me away….. Scot and the boys built the bike, it came from my brain, I conceived it, but they gave it birth! I wasn't even there when it uttered its first loud rumble; I heard it over a phone as I was at a trade show…….
I have since been very happy with that bike, it did every thing I wanted, its light, all aluminum, tight, I can haul up the canyons, powerful, I can keep up with the boys with my 107 inch shiny TP motor and best of all its real eye catching. It is however now for sale……. see the for sale section….. a rule Scot and I have, if you want to build a bike you have to sell the old one……… make me an offer.
SO, I have vowed that this creation will be both from my brain and from my hands, (so help my marriage, my poor wonderful husband!) It’s hard enough to be married and work together, now I'm going to be in his “space” building……. And yes you can be there with me during the whole experience, all the challenges, and all the decisions….. what fun!
First one has to decide a few things
- 1.) Budget, yes what is the budget, and how close to the budget do you have to stay, most people end up changing the actual finished product enough to increase the budget 15% ! Even I have a budget…. (I hate budgets) but you need to have a budget.
- 2.) What are you going to use the bike for? No really ……..what kind of riding are you going to do? This will determine two things, the frame and the engine. Are you going to bar hop? Does someone have to sit on the back, do you want to carry more then your wallet? Do you want to only go straight or are some turns in the equation, the bigger the tire the less turning you will be doing.
- 3.) And then there’s the engine, suuuure 147 inch sounds great until your trying to make that puppy go slow in Sturgis traffic, your clutch hand will be cursing you, they dooo not want to go slow. But really, how big does your engine need to be to give you the ride and enjoyment you are looking for……I happen to like 107-124 inch engines.
- 4.) Oooooookkkk …………. so what do you want it to look like, this is the most important to you, but really the last thing on the list. Why? Because if you cant afford it, your girlfriend can’t ride on the back, the tires so fat you can’t ride the curves in the Rocky’s (only a problem if you live here) and the engine is so huge you can only go 120 miles and hour in a straight line, it really doesn’t matter how purrrrrty it is now does it
These are just a few of the things to consider, there’s other things like the engine size determines the later insurance costs, and …..well we will have more then enough time to go over all those details …….I’m sure this is going to take awhile.
Feel free to e-mail me questions at Mercedes@redhillmotorcyclewerx.com
