VonYinzer
Over 10,000 Posts
My brothers a cool dude. Always been into bikes. Never had time for one. Right out of high school it was the Marines for him. After returning and retiring hes asked me about maybe helping him get a bike. Now, hes in Cali and Im in Pittsburgh. Basically my help would be scouring any pics he may send and giving him tips on what hes looking for.
Anyhow, hes somewhat mechanically inclined. Hes got a great eye for design (hes a pretty succesful scale model builder, and before you laugh... So were most guys who build the hot rods, chops, etc that youre throbbing 3 incher gets all half stiff for...) and would probobly turn out a killer bike.
Heres the issue though... Hes got 4 kids at home (and 1 in Japan), a 60hr a week job, a wife, and so on. For him to piece together a bike and start with a beat ass 40 year old donor... Well he might be riding around the time his baby boy is in high school.
So he has three options.
1. Buy a new or good condition used bike. Easy and quick, but fucking boring.
2. Pay some guy he doesnt know a big old chunk of cash to hopefully build him a nice bike. Cool, everyones gotta eat, and if you cant do it, you may as well pay someone else to. Still though, its someone else doing all of the work.
3. Get a decent, running bike, and "kit it out". With this option he may not be "building" a bike, but hes at least getting his hands a little dirty. He has never built a scoot, so this way hes not "banging his head off the wall" trying to figure out what he needs. And when its done, at least he can say he did something other than sign a check.
Would anyone here call a person who was handing them a check to build them a bike ANY of the names you call someone whos putting one of these kits together?
You bet your ass you wouldnt. But theyre no better (maybe "worse" for the sake of this discussion) than someone like my brother (who admittedly does not own one of these kits) who at least wants to have a real hand in modifying bike, no matter how "cookie cutter" it is in the end.
Im not saying its for everyone.
If you can do for yourself, YOU SHOULD!
But for those that cant, Id rather see them at least doing SOMETHING other than signing checks. If this is that something, so be it.
Anyhow, hes somewhat mechanically inclined. Hes got a great eye for design (hes a pretty succesful scale model builder, and before you laugh... So were most guys who build the hot rods, chops, etc that youre throbbing 3 incher gets all half stiff for...) and would probobly turn out a killer bike.
Heres the issue though... Hes got 4 kids at home (and 1 in Japan), a 60hr a week job, a wife, and so on. For him to piece together a bike and start with a beat ass 40 year old donor... Well he might be riding around the time his baby boy is in high school.
So he has three options.
1. Buy a new or good condition used bike. Easy and quick, but fucking boring.
2. Pay some guy he doesnt know a big old chunk of cash to hopefully build him a nice bike. Cool, everyones gotta eat, and if you cant do it, you may as well pay someone else to. Still though, its someone else doing all of the work.
3. Get a decent, running bike, and "kit it out". With this option he may not be "building" a bike, but hes at least getting his hands a little dirty. He has never built a scoot, so this way hes not "banging his head off the wall" trying to figure out what he needs. And when its done, at least he can say he did something other than sign a check.
Would anyone here call a person who was handing them a check to build them a bike ANY of the names you call someone whos putting one of these kits together?
You bet your ass you wouldnt. But theyre no better (maybe "worse" for the sake of this discussion) than someone like my brother (who admittedly does not own one of these kits) who at least wants to have a real hand in modifying bike, no matter how "cookie cutter" it is in the end.
Im not saying its for everyone.
If you can do for yourself, YOU SHOULD!
But for those that cant, Id rather see them at least doing SOMETHING other than signing checks. If this is that something, so be it.
