7 Best Project Motorcycles That AREN'T An SV650! (All Styles)

okay so maybe i've taken too much of a hard line stance on project bikes i admit there is a time and a place to have a project motorcycle and some of them are better than others the biggest thing you need to make sure of is that you're spending more time riding than you are wrenching and in that sense i've picked out seven of the best motorcycles that you should look for if you want to get your feet wet with a project bike except there's one motorcycle that i'm not including the sv 650 everyone and their mother has a project sv650 which they've built for adventure riding track day riding cruising cafe racers discount euro snob rides or just any kind of crazy boosa style build spending five minutes on craigslist you'll find dozens of sv 650s so i've picked the best alternatives for pretty much every style you could want you can buy all these bikes for about the same price or less if you got a nose for a deal and all of them excel at what they do another bike you're not going to see on this list is the sportster because i figured you've heard enough of me waxing poetic about how awesome the sportster is and frankly after doing the 1275 kit i'm a bit sportied out before we get too far into this one though remember don't get in over your head if you're working on a project tap out before you break something just a word of wisdom from a guy who's broken a handful of things on his own bikes drz sorry about that but if you're working on a project motorcycle and you need some help one of the best places to get some advice is actually the yammy noob discord server there's tons of folks out there who've built engines converted track bikes and bolted all sorts of crap to their bikes but you can't take it one step further we've recently launched our meetup map which is a way for you to schedule meetups with other yam fans around the country and the world if you're the worldly type you just need to head over to yammynew.com sign up then enter a little bit of information about yourself where you are what you ride and then you feel free to use the server to reach out to folks or schedule it right there on the website we're planning to schedule some meetups in 2021 so if you want to get in on that click the link down below and get started you also get access to exclusive live streams and entry to win our giveaway bikes at the same time not saying you're dumb for not doing it but i'm also saying you probably should reconsider just click that link you know you want to now starting off our list with a surprise entry given who's talking at you right now but the ninja 400 is probably one of the best beginner track bikes you could spend your hard earned dubloons on and convert into a trustworthy track mule but what about the rc390 i hear you ask it's got the same engine from the duke that you love so much you continue well when was the last time you heard someone mention the head gaskets on a ninja 400 prone to melting yeah not only is the ninja 400 a great bike for the aspiring street rider if it is a little long in the tooth but as a track mule you couldn't ask for a better bike it's got a parallel twin engine which means it's more rev-happy than the rc390 it makes more power than an r3 and it's got that reliable japanese build quality that you're going to be praising when after spending its entire life at redline it still wakes up and just keeps going also this is anecdotal but when i was at the track when we shot the ninja 400 versus rc 390 video i constantly heard yam's rc popping out of gear all the way around the track now admittedly he whipped that bike like the redheaded stepchild of a rented mule but that's what track riding is in general if what i've heard is anything to go by and from personal experience the ninja 400 is a simple motorcycle to work on it's lightweight and has a thriving aftermarket full of track specific mods to improve the bike heck you could even go full bananas and get an olin setup if you want it because who wouldn't want to dump half the bike's value into suspension am i right if you're thinking about getting a track only motorcycle and building it yourself don't but if you're not gonna listen to me you might as well get a ninja 400 although you're already not gonna listen to me so is there any point to me even saying that you see this is the existential infinite loop that i find myself in most weeks moving on the drz-400s is the ultimate project bike if you want to make yourself an adventure bike but why well it's been around for almost 20 years and hasn't changed one little bit it's just blue now seriously you can slap on about any part from any drz from any year and have a pretty much copper bottom guarantee that it'll fit but why would you even want to turn a drz into an adventure bike because it's actually really easy and way cheaper than something like the tener a700 and the ktm duke 890 and it'll be lighter too the drz400 tips the scales at 317 pounds wet which is porky by dirt bike standards and a featherweight by adv standards not to mention that you can pop a massive rally tank a new seat taller bars wider foot pegs heated grips a new windscreen luggage racks panniers fuel cans all on the bike for under 500 if you know where to look admittedly you will have to surrender a little bit of your life to tuning jets and holding your breath every morning when you turn the bike over but one thing's for sure you really can't kill a drz-400s engine that thing will run until the inevitable heat death of the universe now if you're out there thinking that the little thumper that could might not be the best for a long highway cruise it actually might surprise you i've had my drc up into the mid-80s just cruising and sure there wasn't much more on tap but it didn't sound like it was going to explode either my advice here is to go with the s and not the sumo because the s will be better off-road but pick the model that suits your needs best they're basically the same bike at the end of the day but how about something for the beard wax and flannel shirt-wearing hipster who's looking for a bike that matches their builtwell gringo and their new leather drivers gloves well if you're looking for a project bike and you're a big ol hipster the best place for you is the triumph bonneville pretty much anyone will do i mean they do make a thousand of them but the speed twin is the cheapest and with the money you save you can pick up a new pair of jeans that look like it's been in the bottom of a landfill for the better part of a half century but what do i know about fashion i'm just the guy who buys five pairs of the same jeans and a thousand black t-shirts and hope no one notices obviously you're gonna try to turn this little bonnie into a cafe racer because it's so old school and cool and no one told you that the cafe racer craze pretty much died in the last few years don't worry that you're a little behind the times you're just gonna say it's ironic and laugh it off but what about the bike well the modern bonnevilles have everything you could want from a bike that looks like it was made in the 1960s from a cradle frame and a long brat seat to the dual analog tag and speedo but it does have fuel injection liquid cooling and modern reliability if you want to make yourself a cafe racer but don't want to have to deal with all of the problems that entails just pick up yourself this little bike and bolt stuff onto your heart's content number four we have something for the cruiser boys who want to dip their toes into the modding scene and since i said at the beginning we're not going to be talking about the sportster i'll do the next best thing and talk about the yamaha bolt all jokes aside the bolt is a better bike than the sportster for a lot of reasons and it comes with almost as robust of an aftermarket as the sportster if you want to make yourself a custom cruiser that won't vibrate your eyeballs loose and keep up with other modern cruisers the bolt might be right up your alley it's styled just like a sporty it's got a classic v-twin grumble and brand new the bolt runs you 7 999 you may need to get a little creative here and there with your build if you want to adapt some sportster bolt-ons to your yamaha but it can be done does it have the same curb appeal and brand association as a sportster no not even close there's really only one genuine article but if all you want to do is make a cool cruiser that you can actually enjoy then this is the cheaper and smarter way to go just maybe don't roll up to any cruiser bars or they'll laugh at you now how about something for the euro simp out there and yes i did already include a triumph but bonnie bros don't hold a candle to the true du catista when it comes to how much of a snob they can be so if you're looking to build your own mighty steed from which you can look down your nose at all the plebs on their big four happy meal toy bikes or big oafish american cruisers what bike should you choose why the ducati monster of course the monster has been the duke attista's bike of choice to modify and customize since it was first released way back in 1993. whether you want to scramble it turn it into a cafe bike or a muscle bike or whatever your heart desires the monster was designed to be a blank canvas with which you can create your own kind of ducati you've actually got two routes you can go with this one if you're a duke attista at heart but with the wallet of a 2005 gixxer squid you can hit the second hand market and pick up any number of used monsters from the past 30 years though god help you if you decide to purchase a carbureted ducati those bikes have way more aftermarket support and despite being complex italian stallions people really know their way around monsters at this point you'll need some special tools and a lot of patience but it can be done or if you want to just be an off-the-shelf kind of ducatista you can pick up the new monster and hit the parts catalog and have vinnie at the dealership install your new plastics at 250 an hour your call number six is for the rider who's still a child deep down and wants to go goof around and do hood rat stuff with their friends the honda grom it's the silliest little bike you can buy and it's been so widely embraced by the motorcycling world is that one bike everyone just does dumb stuff to stretch it lower it turbo it put fat tires on it put stunt bars on it wrap it whatever you want to do someone will sell you a part for the grom having spent a couple of months with our giveaway groms bubba and buttercup i can say that when you're a wide open throttle watching your speed decrease because there's a slight headwind you learn not to take yourself so seriously and just have fun the best part about the grom is that it's the most basic engine on a motorcycle you could think of a tiny little air-cooled 125 cc single so don't even bother with tuning it just bolt dumb stuff and go for a ride number seven is for the actual builders out there the people who want to take a motorcycle everyone knows and make it something truly unique the honda cb750 yeah kind of an obvious choice but the king of ujm's is the perfect project motorcycle because while they haven't made one of these bikes in decades you can still find a vibrant aftermarket scene that will sell you anything you might need to finish your build not only that but the knowledge base associated with this bike rivals the encyclopedia britannica if you're thinking about chopping the frame and changing the geometry someone can probably write a thesis on the best way to do that with the cb750 you will have to deal with four carburetors but just go talk to any boomer out there i'm sure they know how to resync them because they probably had this bike at one point back in the day just if i may offer one piece of advice don't do the whole open header thing i see a ton of cb750s around austin with open headers and it makes me want to dig out my eardrums with a rusty fork yes mufflers can be hard to find but you're a builder right you'll make it work fact copper doorknobs are self-disinfecting as it turns out copper and brass can actually sterilize itself from bacteria that might build up from random people touching it with their grubby little thingies goodbye so my sweet little squid this video is actually over but lucky for you click on this one right here you can keep watching your sweet papa yam delivering you the motorcycle content you've come to know and love don't worry i'll wait i'll be here waiting for you you're going to click on that video

Channel: Yammie Noob

Views: 51,359

Rating: 4.9150066 out of 5

Keywords: yammie noob, yammie noob hayabusa, yammie noob beginner bikes, yammie noob harley davidson, yammie noob cruiser, yammie noob grom, yammie noob r3, yammie noob ducati, yammie noob r1, yammie noob helmet, yammie noob ninja 400, yammie noob beginner riders, yammie noob best helmet, yammie noob beef, yammie noob best gear, yammie noob best cheap bikes, yammie noob beginner mistakes, yammie noob best second bike, yammie noob best motorcycle, yammie noob bike build, turbo busa

Id: 9OlX2YCXZbA

Length: 11min 23sec (683 seconds)

Published: Wed Dec 23 2020