i usually start with one part and build a bike around it.
my little racer came about because i found some moped wheels at a swapmeet for 40 bucks. dug through my pile-o-crap and built the bike.
my first copper tank i built came about because i found a bunch of cool tecumseh petcocks. then i had to find a bike, get all the parts, and build a tank.
that's kinda how i work, start with something simple, and then compulsively obsess over it till it's done. (but i don't have OCD, i'm just bored.)
i've been learning to weld, and it seems like i'm always coming up with some new way to make something work right (which i like to think of as "inventing"
, and except for my first bike, they're only loosely based on a "kit bike."
as far as motors, it's been the kit motor, but almost all the rest of the parts just go in a box somewhere. but that's about to change, too. since the only widely available motors are the skyhawk's, i'm not gonna build them anymore. i'm sick of wasting my time just to have them self-destruct.
(but i ain't gonna start building any 4strokes soon...
)
i'm currently scheme-ing up a 50cc land speed racer. if i can get the time to start building (entry's have to be in by early june, i think) i'm gonna try to make it to bonneville this year.
definitely not a kit builder. we'll see what kinda fabricator i can become...