I have been looking for a classic for a while now and hit all sorts of obstacles ranging from questionable ownership, iffy green books and the usual major faults and porkies about the general condition, plus they are all so far away. I also read up on "Red flags when buying a bike", bit scary.

I was in Phimai the other day and saw what I thought was a Virago for sale (okay my eyesight ain't that good), so I stopped and went back and it turned out to be a Chinese V twin something or other. It had some horrible stainless chain guards, badly formed mudguards and the finish in general was pretty sub-standard. Quite frankly I wouldn't be seen dead on it, though perhaps that may turn out to be the case.

The bike was pretty cheap, I think around 50k+, but it had a legal book, since it was new and I got to thinking, why not use it as a project bike, Cafe Racer, or similar. Get rid of all the shoddy crap, fit new wheel bearings, tone down the garish chrome, remove the stickers and it could be made to look something.

I wouldn't do this sort of thing in the UK as it would invalidate my warranty, but buying it in Thailand does that automatically, so what's to lose.

I could check the whole thing out during the rebuild, get a couple of Yamaha stickers to complete the fraud and then bluff it out..........

...okay I am open to comments/abuse, waddaya think?

If you don't care about money and have another bike you regularly use, it could be a fun project.

However, if that's going to be your main bike, you better consider the time it will take to get it up and running and looking the way you like, which is time you won't be riding. Transforming a cruiser into a cafe racer takes both investment and time.

You can change the fairings but what about engine or other parts?

Better do not buy a chinese bike and wait a bit more. A 250 cc chinese bike will nearly give you the powwe of phantom 200 anyway.

Dont to this to yourself.

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I am at a loss to understand how a 250cc Chinese pseudo chopper could be turned into a cafe racer.

The engine is <deleted> and the geometry is all wrong.

Give up now.

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