Well after much discussion it was decided that the Postie bike needed to go. Although it is a great bike, it just isn;t the ideal candidate for a cafe racer conversion.
We cleaned it up and listed it on eBay. 7 days later the Postie sold for $710. Not a bad return on investment from our original $200. Buyer came over picked it up and was very happy indeed.
So after we subtract the eBay fee (approx $50) we now have $660 to find an ideal cafe candidate..
After the intial excitement of purchasing the postie, cleanining it up, and surfing the net for customisation ideas wore off, the reality of costs involved in registering and modifying the bike hit home. Motorcycle registration in Victoria is expensive (about $350 for the postie). Plus we’d need to get a road worthy certificate (at least $100 if everything is OK).
And while purchasing parts to modify the bike aren’t that big a factor, at the end of the day we’ll still only have a 110cc postie bike. Hardly up for an hour cruise through the hills on the weekend.
We did however discover that Victoria has a great Club Permit scheme for classic vehicles. For around $60, you can get a log book which allows you to use the vehicle for 45 day/year. We’d be lucky to use the bike that much – so it sounds perfect. The catch is, the scheme is for classic vehicles – meaning they need to be 25 years old. Our postie is a 1999 model, so far too new.
Which brings us around to the new grand plan. We sell the Postie bike as is (which is in great condition really) on ebay. We then use that money to purchase a ‘classic’ which we will restore/customise and hopefully get registered on the club permit scheme.
The Postie is coming along.
We have cleaned up the black paint. It came off really easy with a bit of petrol. Revealed a nice bright red paint job underneath. We also cleaned out the air filter while we had it off for cleaning.
We got a key cut for it. Simple process really. Just get the code from the ignition switch, take it to a lock smith who punches in the code, and the machine cuts the exist right key. How easy is that? $10 .. job done.
We also got a set of cheap after market mirrors, and a headlight globe.
The Postie is great. The plans at this stage are to clean it up, get it regsitered, then do a custom job on it. Soemthing along the lines of what they do at post modern motorcycles. A soft of cafe racer style bike.
Anyway, tonight we changed the oil, bypassed the key ignition, and fired up the bike.
Starts first kick!!
Can you beleive it .. we snapped up a Honda CT110 Postie Bike for the grand total of $200. It was pretty rough, but we all know that posties are bullet proof. This one had been crashed at some point, and was quite neglected. No mirrors, no battery, no keys, the seat was falling off, and the lights didn’t work. Oh, and someone had repainted it a horrible black/green colour.
