How to: buy a potential caféracer?

Now that you have seen all the awesome caféracer builds from others, you want to build one on your own! But where do you start?? Which motorcycle do I want to build? What is a good motorcycle to build into a caféracer? We are gonna help you out!

I was wondering about what I should write a blog about. Unlike the rest of the team, I don't have any experience in building motorcycles. I ride a racer but I'm seriously thinking about building a caféracer to learn more about it. But to build one, I first need to buy a motorcycle...

Budget:

First up, choose your budget! In this case you want to build our own café racer. This means that it doesn't matter how it looks because you want to adjust the looks, and create your own kinda style of café racer.

Kind of motorcycle:

When the motorcycle already has the good lines for a café racer it is easier to get the right café racer look. A café racer has a good horizontal line, it shouldn't have any weird shapes or outstanding parts. A BMW K or R is a good choice but these are higher in price. A Yamaha, Triumph, Honda or even some Ducati's have also really nice lines to make a good café racer out of it. 

Advertisements:

When I look at advertisements I want the advertisement to be straight and clear. So it has to sum up the pros and cons. Blurry pictures looks like the seller has something to hide.. Doesn't have to be though, some people make just really bad pictures ;) When something sounds too good to be true, it probably is most of the time.

Buy at a dealer or private?

When you buy at a dealer you have more guarantee that the motorcycle is in good condition and when something is wrong you mostly have some warranty from the garage and they fix the problem. But since you are going to build a motorcycle, you can also choose to buy from a private and bring someone that knows some stuff about a motorcycle. Oh wait, that is just what we were going to talk about!

But first, things you can ask before you make an appointment:

- Did the motorcycle ever fall?
- Does it work? What doesn't work?
- Is there maintenance history available?
- Is there any maintenance expected in the coming period?

Now that you gathered more information about the motorcycle and get all excited about it, you can make an appointment!! Whoohoo! Crap, next up is the complicated stuff.

So, you are going to build a café racer but since it is your first build it might be easier if you have a motorcycle that at least starts. But what else do you need to look out for?

Engine block:

Check at arrival if the engine is still cold. If the engine is still cold when you start it, you have the best chance to hear any noises and see if the motorcycle starts smoothly or not. When you start it, it shouldn't smoke, leak or make any bad noises. 

If you want the whole basis of the motorcycle to be good you can also check the following points in this other blog if you don't want to replace them. But keep in mind that every motorcycle needs maintenance.

Good luck!