Chopper Under Trans

Chopper Under Trans
building a motorcycle?

I would like to build a chopper i am an ok mechanic, but dont know to much about bikes. so for my first bike i was thinking about getting a bike in a box, but i was hopping to find one under 10K. After lookig arond for a while i found that may no be possible. now i am thinking about a roller but i not sure what engine, tran, ect.. to put on it any help would be much appreciated.

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Bubba has it about right, on average, provided the have the money for the paint work, it can usually be done in about 3 months. I will, however, warn you, if you don't have experience working on or building bikes, I would learn first before attempting a project like this. I have had to take apart and completely rebuild entire bikes because auto and aviation techs usually have the mindframe they think bikes are simple...compared to most of today's cars, they are, BUT....if you don't know how to properly align a drivetrain (eng-to-frame, trans-to-frame, eng-to-trans, axle-to-frame), align a primary drive, front-to-rear sprocket alignment, caliper-to-rotor aligment, set steeering neck tension, check wheel bearing endplay, proper wiring & soldering techniques, wire routing, etc......the project can be a nightmare, normally the bike needs to be fully and properly assembled to make sure everything fits the way it should and in alignment ( this is called a mock-up build), then completely disassembled, sent out for paint, and then put back together. On top of that, most of the kits on the market are on the chep side, meaning they don't cost much up front because they use alot of "taiwan-ese" parts. Also, when you do a build like this, there is not much of a warranty, if any, so if something goes wrong, you are pretty much screwed. Another thing to take into consideration is titleing and insuring the bike, in some states, this can be an absolute nightmare.
I am not trying to scare you off the project, but I see this alot, and from my experiences, the people would have been better off either having a reputable shop do the build, or just simply buy a bike.
Oh, if you guys do decide to take on the project, KEEP EVERY SINGLE PAPER THAT COMES WITH THE KIT.....if and when you need replacement parts, if you don't have the paperwork with part numbers, you will have one hell of a time finding replacement parts.
Source(s):
20yr HD Tech. MMI Grad 1991 and 2009. Factory trained by HD, Big Dog, American Ironhorse, Titan and Indian.
6 days ago
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Asker's Rating: Asker's Comment: Thank you for the very thorough answer. It is greatly appreciated.

As far as Drive Train recommendations.....it's all dependant on your budget. S&S hands down makes the industry's stongest, most reliable engines, and Baker Drive Train, S&S, and Jim's makes the best Transmissions. Baker also makes complete Primary Drive kits. If you are trying to keep the cost low, I would recommend using all HD parts for the drive train. You can buy an 80" Evo for $2500 and Twin Cam for about $3500. Also Ultima makes a pretty good engine too, I just dyno tuned an Ultima 127" engine that put out 142hp / 154 ft/lbs of torque....I haven't heard of any major problems from their engines, but have heard of a couple bad transmissions. I would stick with Baker, S&S or Jim's for the Trans. As far as the Primary goes, myself, I would go with Baker, but you can order all the individual components from HD for cheaper.
STAY AWAY FROM REV-TECH......FAIR ENGINES AT BEST AND THEIR TRANMISSIONS ARE JUNK.
Like I said earlier, it's really all based on how much you want to spend.