resto/mod typical price?

i know this is a hard one to answer. But I'm wanting to rest my mk3 its a great runner, very original other than boyer and mukuni. what is a typical price to have the bike restored back to pristine appearance? 5k? 10k?

jeffmack said:

i know this is a hard one to answer. But I'm wanting to rest my mk3 its a great runner, very original other than boyer and mukuni. what is a typical price to have the bike restored back to pristine appearance? 5k? 10k?

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Wow that is a tough one....are you able to do any of the wrenching/prep work or are you needing to just drop it off at a shop?
For instance you could have the paint work to the tank and tins done by vintage paint

Depends if you do most of the work yourself maybe $5k will be a good figure but it depends what you will be doing, get someone to do all the work etc then the cost go through the roof so $10k would be a starting point, it all depends how far you want to go, how much money you are willing to throw at it and you can expect to go even higher so a $20k restoration or even more could happen.

Parts and machining are the big cost as well a good paint job, also labour cost if someone does the work, so really its hard to put a price on things and any budget can go over very easy.

Ashley

It's a bit like the old saying "how long is a piece of string?"

Except here we're asking "how much is a piece of string?"

It basically depends on the standard of finish you desire, the starting condition of the donor / project bike, and how much work you are willing to do yourself.

If you want a functional refurbishment rather than a total restoration AND the donor machine is in quite good shape AND you do all possible work yourself, then I'd say you'll get change from $5k.

If you want a cNw standard of finish AND your donor bike is 90% scrap AND you want someone like cNw to do the entire job, then it will be closer to $30k, perhaps more.

So, without more detailed info, the answer is 'somewhere between $5k and $30k'.

thanks for the input kinda what i was thinking. i do a decent job or seeing the mk3 running but thinking i may leave the full rest mod to a expert.

I find that the I'm capable of doing most of the grunt work, taking the bike down to its major components, then find someone you trust to do the engine and gearbox, whilst you farm out the black painted parts for powder coating and the tank and side panels for paint. Doing it this way you can save a good amount of labor chArges, whilst being happy that the major bits are done properly.

You will also learn a lot about your bike.

Not all jobs need to be done at once, which can be a way to spread the costs, so for instance you could get the paint done, wheels rebuilt and forks rebuilt, one winter, ride the bike over the summer and then next year tackle the engine gearbox and frame. I'm all for doing the work over the winter and riding in the summer. Your climate may vary

I just did a '74. Full resto-mod. Used MANY cNw parts and their services for polishing, custom inner primary, breather, oil tank and wheels. Completely rebuilt motor, gearbox, final drive, wiring, hydraulic clutch, belt driven primary, digital Smiths, the works. All new chrome. You get the idea. It was a running builder and I prolly paid too much at $4k, but I wasn't sure I was going the resto-mod route at first. It morphed into that. All receipts total $22k, so $18k in parts and labor (engine and gearbox done by pros), I paint and can do most assembly unsupervised as long as I get good advice and instructions for where I am not familiar. The avatar is what he looks like as of last weekend. Haven't ridden, yet, but started twice and idles nice with the new Keihin flat slides. You could do it for less, but while it's all apart, might as well go the full Monty IMHO.

This is him last year before the project started.

One year later.

This one's next. Combat.

How much is a custom tailored suit?

What should you pay for a Swiss watch?

Is a glass of Johnny Walker Blue worth $60 ?

You can pay almost anything to restore/modify a motorcycle; some good replies above. I do have a suggestion that takes the sting out of your wallet: take your time. The first one I did was at the speed of money, a Mk3, its pictures are on my website, it took 18 months and cost right around 20 grand.

The second one I did took almost 4 years, I shopped for parts and services, purchased some service tools and took a few risks, asked a ton of questions. The bottom line is something like "penny's a day". For the major expenses like painting, cylinder head work, engine parts, chroming and wheels where I knew, roughly, what the cost(s) would be so I escrowed the money when I had it so that it was ready to pay-out when needed.

I used to drop off my frame(s), and chassis parts, come back 2-3 weeks later, drop $1200 and bring home beautifully painted ready to build parts. Now I strip the old paint, do the sanding and pay $400 for painting services.

Still cost a bundle, hoping that my heirs will make out...BUT, spreading the expenses out and doing progressively more myself...one day you wake up and you have a brand new (old) motorcycle. Sure is considerably less expensive then trying to keep a boat afloat or a plane air-worthy...or a spouse happy.

I am doing the full resto/mod treatment, and did the price spread over time thing too. Acquired parts over a couple years before I stripped down the bike, and had what I thought was the lions share of them squirreled away. I shopped around for some things, others I just went for it because I liked them. It will take me a year to complete, cuz I have young kids and a wife and a job.

I have done as much of the work as I can. I didnt do the motor, as that is beyond me now and I did not want to take the time/risk. It was by far the single largest expense for the bike on the labour. Maybe next time.

I did the tranny myself. I cant paint, but I did some of the prep. If I had done the polishing it would have saved me a chunk, but I couldnt be bothered with the time/mess.

I spent about the same with CNW as I did with Comnoz doing the full head treatment. These were 2nd and 3rd largest supplier costs. Paint was next, and I am not happy about that, but that is a different story.

The labor to break one of these down to nuts and bolts and put it back together is relatively the same for every machine. How many of these nuts and bolts you replace, with what, and how many other things you replace or upgrade will determine the final cost. However much you do yourself will be cheaper than anything you have to pay to have done.

The varibles are;

Initial condition. Appearance notwithstanding, you will discover things not readily apparent that require attention.

How much you do yourself and how much you pay to have done.

How far you want to twist the the upgrade/modification knob.

Two things you said that make it pretty clear how much you can expect to spend are:

"restored back to pristine appearance"

"leave the full rest mod to a expert"

The word "pristine" means expensive, because this would be a concourse quality restoration. A points bike.

If done by an "expert" such as Matt at Colorado Norton Works it would cost well over $30K and more like $40K.