Worksman home made motorcycle?

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george_n_texas

george_n_texas

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Sep 4, 2009
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I sent an email to Worksman this afternoon:
Does your frame come with a vin number? I'm interested in making a home made moped out of your bike (I realise that pretty much voids the warranty) and was wondering if it could be made to be licensed? I do know I can go under 50cc and be legal. Thought you guys might have had customers who did this?

They replied (very quickly I might add):
no idea...our frames come with a serial #, but it is not intended as a VIN number nor are we endorsing the use of bicycle frames for the purpose you have in mind

I may be posting this in the wrong section not sure if a Worksman is considered a boardtrack or not. I am interested in building a custom motorcycle out of one tho hoping I can figure out how to make it street legal over 50cc.

zpt
 
truckd

truckd

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Oct 19, 2010
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They are refered to as "motorized bicycles" go to my thread titled "Blood Thursty" I have a pic of my latest bike 1911 Indian BTR and here is a pic of my Worksman,Sportsman Flyer made by Pat Dolan of Sportsman Flyer which can also be found on the side bar advertisement (left side of page)
 

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george_n_texas

george_n_texas

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Did the lights and license plate fall off? I'm interested in making something fully insurable and street legal in 50 states much the same as you can with a custom made motorcycle. I'm sure there's a list of hoops to jump through most likely be easier to just go buy a junk motorcycle frame and go from there but I like the old school look of a board tracker.
 
moonerdizzle

moonerdizzle

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Most states have provisions for motor assisted bicycles, most state you need lights and tail lights, but if you only ride during the day i think you could get by with out them, and california is pretty much the only state i know that requires a license plate.
 
Harold_B

Harold_B

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May 23, 2012
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Not sure how it would work on a national level, that is if just because it's legal in one state it will be in all of the others. For motor assisted bicycles in Michigan they fall under the Moped laws or motorcycle depending on engine size, top speed, etc. They don't care if it's day or night you need lights front and back plus stop lights. For what we're typically doing it's considered an assembled moped / motorcycle and gets inspected by the police. Once it passes inspection then that paperwork goes to the SoS office and they assign a VIN. Then you can get a tag. That's MI anyway and there are plenty of people that don't bother. That's their choice I suppose but I'm getting all my paperwork inline. I don't know the laws where you are but here it is a no fault insurance state. That means that if I don't get the bike inspected and all that stuff and then get in an accident I'm screwed even if it's not my fault. That's also the case if I slip a 66cc engine onto my bike and say it's only 48cc. Screwed.
 
truckd

truckd

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Oct 19, 2010
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You need to talk to Dan at Tayar Motorbikes forget the Worksmans, Dan will make you a vintage and period correct Board Track Racer if you have gone to my thread "Blood Thursty" then you've seen what I'm talk'n bout< anyone through-out this forum will tell ya "Dan Is The Man", for more info on contacting dan you can P.M. me and I'll give you the necessaries (private message) through this forum,or better yet just go to Google images and type in TaylarMotorbikes.com there is another thread title'd 1919 Indian tribute go there and take a look Dan just complted that bike about a week or two ago
 
J

JohnThomas Sorrels

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Dec 28, 2011
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Found this through a simple google search;
http://moped2.org/laws/Texas.htm

It looks like engine size doesn't matter in Texas as long as you drive under 30mph. Also like someone already mentioned, you may be able to have your bike inspected and assigned a vin number, than you can register it as a moped. You might also look under the laws section on this site and see if there are any threads specific to Texas.
 
truckd

truckd

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Oct 19, 2010
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My Worksman with a few desired perks for M/B was close to $800.00 with the engine kit $300.oo,added perks for the engine $250.oo, so we're up to $1,350.oo at this point about $1,600.oo to modify frame and additional BTR components and lets not forget shipping about $200.oo from Worksman to Pat at Sportsman Flyer(NY to No.Calif)then to me in So.Cal so give or take about $2,200.oo then cost for tires,grips,cables, quality Gyes leather saddle add another $300.oo , and it isn't even finished yet, still gotta get performance exhaust ,high compression head, dellorto carb internal performance parts, the cost can be up there, had a buddy do a machine turned pattern on the tank and oil box(no cost) so a motorcycle build might be your best bet, but I'd still talk to Dan and get some options for your desired build Dan uses a Honda GC 160cc qha-1 which will obtain 50+MPH depending on your weight and possible gearing, these thing's aren't cheap if you are looking for a quality bike,I believe that the base price for a Workman is about $300.oo-$400.ooand I diffently wouldn't use too much outta the kit box the engine comes with from china.
I don't mean to discurage you but rather inlighten you about what you want to get in to and someone once said "A cheap bike is no good and a Good bike is not cheap!!" so before I'd worry about the registration and all the EXC,EXC,EXC's do some research and get a budget in mind, OH! I've been hearing that if you order a Worksman from the factory it's going to take about a month to get it and if ordered from somewhere like grainger, outdoor sports and others same time limit and more costly as pretty much no one sells a bone stock Worksman neither does Husky, these are Heavy Duty industrial bikes, you can save a bundle if components are self fabbed wich requires a fare amount of mechanical knowledge but worth it.
Good Luck !!! with your adventure
here is a pic of my Worksman at present stage and one more thing one of the reasons I haven't given the required attention to the Flyer is I have 4 other builds going on at the same time but concentrating on the Indian
 

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harry76

harry76

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Apr 16, 2011
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^^ OR save thousands of $$$ and do the work yourself, or better still invest that money into tools and a mig. Way way more satisfying if you are capable. You will never look back, there is a self satisfaction when someone compliments your ride, and you can respond "yeah I built that myself". Get building :)
 
truckd

truckd

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Oct 19, 2010
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Yer funny Harry but very Right! there ain't nothing better then someone standing there looking at yer bike with they're jaw dropped and can't say anthing but AHHHH! Dammmnnn!!AHHHHH!!
 
Robertriley

Robertriley

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Apr 25, 2011
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There's nothing better than doing something yourself and feeling the pride in what you built. But for me, I don't have the time nor experience to do it myself. I believe in the "Buy once...Buy right" saying. I would have to make 5 of them to get close to getting right. I would have spent $1000s and $1000s trying. I had Dan do it for me and save money, time and many headaches! I rode it for the first time today... smooth, fast and without vibrations. A work of art! Here's a prepaint shot.
 

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george_n_texas

george_n_texas

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I was thinkin more along the lines of an engine from Harbor Freight that could easily be replaced as it wears out. I guess there's a reason you don't see worksman bikes on Ebay LOL! That is sorta the reason for wanting to go all out and be fully legal with over 50cc. I have a 150cc China 4 stroke scooter don't know if it's possible to use that drive train on a worksman I never took it apart to see how it ticks. I know the weight of the scooter makes it a dog goin up hills the bike would go much better. The scooter also grabs a lot of wind being so wide & bulky. I appreciate all the input might all just be a pipe dream but hey sure ain't hurtin nobody. I am pretty mechanically inclined replaced a few car engines and a honda cb360t engine years ago (Man was that a lemmon). I did see on CL a pair of honda 70 frames for real cheap but they had small cracks said needed welding up. I just don't have the bux right now hope that will change soon.
 
truckd

truckd

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Oct 19, 2010
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Dans bikes don't cost an arm and a leg but yer looking at about $2.500.oo to $3,500.oo average for a complete roller unpainted can cost more depending on what you want, you just might be able to use a lot of your moped for a good BTR and still get it registered with vin from you donner ??? and if anyone can do it Dan can,,Don't be scured get in touch and at least find out the cost
 
george_n_texas

george_n_texas

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Well I'm in East Texas be a lot of shipping plus I'm pretty much retired so I have plenty of time to tinker. I do have the moped tagged & registered but the vin goes with the frame. That moped does go about 50 MPH on the flat (I weigh 240 plus the bike is heavy). I know a honda 150cc is much faster & powerful but they are fuel injected and cost about 5 times as much...I gave $400 for this scooter when it had 700 miles on it.
 
biknut

biknut

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Sep 28, 2010
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George, it seems like something you should be able to do, but you can't. Texas has no method allowing a custom frame, or any bicycle frame, to get a VIN. No VIN, no registration. Even if you could get it registered, it's unlikely any insurance company would insure it.

So how to get around this problem? This is what most people do. You must start with a frame that already has a VIN. You don't really need the whole frame. All you need is the neck, with the VIN, and the title.

Weld the neck onto your custom frame, and wal-la, it becomes whatever the title says it is to TDOT. Whizzer is recognized in Texas as a moped so that would be one choice. Any other legal moped, or motorcycle should work to, within reason. I doubt you could get away with calling a MB a Harley FL, but you could try lol.

This is the reason you see Harley necks cut off of frames on eBay for a $1000, with a title. That's the part a builder needs to be legal. A unknown custom frame becomes a Harley, with a Harley title.
 
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