What's the point?

[billday]

What is the point?

http://www.bikeexif.com/k100?omhide=true

[TrueAce]

You know, Billday, I was thinking something similar when I got his in my email...............what is driving all these expensive custom builds using K bikes? It's not like there are a bunch of people buying them for big bucks,,,,,,there doesn't seem to be a market for K custom parts ( ask BSK). With the prices of K bikes in the market at the current level, maybe a play would be to buy them all cheap, custom-build every one of them, and then sell them for mega bucks to.................ah, well, I forget the last part. 

[F14CRAZY]

A great expression of art and engineering. A great motorcycle? No.

[Chaos]

There must be a price point where someone feels they got nothing to loose stripping off parts and calling it a cafe bike.  On the bright side, I haven't seen many chopper K's.   

[The Mighty Gryphon]

I think of cafe bikes as kind of an intermediate step between a usable piece of machinery and a rusting hulk quietly decomposing behind a garage. 

The sad thing about them is that they have so few original parts that in four or five years they won't even be valuable as parts bikes.   I can't see the people who ride them doing the kind of maintenance that will keep things like splines in usable condition. 

[Scud]

I don't see many cafe bikes when I get a few miles away from civilization. I suspect that most cafe bikes don't get many miles put on them.

As to the point - it looks like fun. Start with a standard motorcycle. Strip, cut, weld, paint, fabricate... all to your heart's content. Make something that is unique and interesting - or as light as possible - or as uncomfortable as possible - or whatever suits you.

I bet a lot of people said similar stuff in the late 1940s and 1950s in the US when people were chopping Ford Model T's in to T-bucket roadsters.

It does seem a shame to start with a complete bike that's in good condition - and more appropriate to start with something that's been in a minor accident or badly corroded. But I think that's just the nature of older vehicles... some get restored (MLytle's), some get used for everything they've got (TimTyler's), some get modified, etc.

[Chaos]

Yeah, even if well done it becomes a narrow focus bike.  One of the great things K's is their versatility.  Think of all those butchered brit bikes just made the survivors more valuable.

[Scud]

And if suits the owner/builder's narrow focus for use, then good for them. Hopefully they keep all the stock parts to include with future sale or make them available to those who want them. I do think there will be some bargains on cafe bikes in the future - especially those lacking the bits needed to return them to stock configuration.

Excellent point about the versatility, one I am still learning. I just did my second sport-tour on my K75s. The first was my fly-and-ride when I bought it, but that was not very sporting due to crap tires and not trusting the bike yet. But I had a blast zipping out to Phoenix. It was more fun than I expected in the mountains. I even got it airborne over a peaky whoop in a desert-road (dare I say yee-haw?). And it was perfectly comfortable at sustained high speeds on the Interstates, even in crosswinds.

I think it's a keeper - in her stock clothes.

[TrueAce]

My take on the custom craze is attraction of the unusual  Brick engine, and it is not anything to do with the function of intended purpose of the bike. I Strongly feel that chopping a decent K is wasting a motorcycle. I am lucky to have found beautifully preserved K100RS & K75S, rare condition and low miles. I couldnt bear modifying either. But my custom was intended to follow GS function, which it ably does even better than my 1100GS, and was an abandoned barn find needing many replacement components. Would have been far simpler to have converted a road-worthy bike. We are a broad spectrum group who can appreciate heritage ( preservation), purpose ( functionality), and re-purpose ( customization) of all K Bikes, to extend and maintain K - Bikes for the future. Very few Marques enjoy the commitment for future use that we as unrelated owners do to K Bikes. I say keep them all running in any form......it ain't how they look, it's that damn Brick Motor, stupid! It's a Brick Thang! Yeah!

[The Mighty Gryphon]

If the artistes(sp) who own these cafe bikes can be relied upon to do minimal maintenance I suppose they will be a reasonable source of drive trains for future use as some of us run up the miles on our bikes.  The fact that these bikes are so uncomfortable to be on for more than a few miles should keep the engine run time down. 

The danger lies in the near future when the owners look for something else to play with and the fad passes resulting in these bikes not being worth keeping in good condition.   What usually happens to a bike that can't be sold for any price? 

[TrueAce]

We come along and get crazy deals buying the "garage candy"for engines and components nobody else has any use for! And you notice, rarely do you read a ride report on these K Kustoms, cause nobody rides them.......all shows & no go!

[Laitch]

And you notice, rarely do you read a ride report on these K Kustoms, cause nobody rides them.......all shows & no go!

Not exactly, Ace. They're out riding them in the black of night long after you've had your hot cocoa and been tucked in. They're considerate enough to realize that photographs and ride reports would overstimulate the readers.

[Scud]

Similar discussions going on at WildGuzzi.com. Brickers are not alone. The Guzzisti hate it when a rare or pristine example is chopped. Just recently a Centauro-turned-scrambler has provoked some mixed reactions.

A scrambler or cafe bike with all the stock bits could make a fun restoration project - but it seems most people hack up the frame. Maybe complete, titled frames will become valuable to future restorers.

[billday]

My opinion: K bikes are getting this attention because they're so cheap and plentiful. Look at IBMWR marketplace -- more than 20 classic K's for sale.

In no way is the K bike suitable for building a Cafe Racer or whatever: The engine is a massive lump (both visually and physically), and  the same goes for the radiator. It's almost impossible to get the classic straight line projecting back from the gas tank. The frame is totally utilitarian -- almost agricultural -- there's nothing you can do to make it a sexy design element like you can with a Ducati (for example).  So the cafe K's all tend to look alike and rarely are they good-looking Cafe racers.

There's one exception, Larry Romestant. But besides his tremendous engineering and fabricating skills, he has real imagination.

The only possible upside: It's thinning the herd so that rideable, useful classic K's will increase in value.

[Martin]

Bill the herd is already thinned in Brisbane I used to sight Bricks regularly. I now know of only two other besides my mates four, a yellow K100 with a sidecar and a rather tatty black K75S ( which I haven't seen for a long while). Would have to be close to twelve months since I have seen any other Bricks. Where have they all gone?? :dunno
Regards Martin.