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Knifemaker's 82 Virago 920 cafe racer

140K views 228 replies 85 participants last post by  deathmetaldan 
#1 ·
Hey everybody,

Been hankering to build something recently, and my lovely wife told me that i couldn't mess with the Buell because she liked to ride it how it was, so i picked up a 1982 Yamaha Virago 920 from DeathmetalDan for $300. The bike had been sitting outside under a tarp for a while and was in pretty rough condition, but as i am only planning on keeping the engine and swingarm, it fit the bill quite nicely.

My plan is to strip it down, build a custom frame, tank and tail. My goal is to have a striped down bike that is basically wheels and an engine. I haven't decided completely on the styling, however i am going to be putting spokes on it and the bodywork will be primarily carbon fiber. Oh and the other thing is i am going to do my best to not spend any money from our budget on the bike. I am planing on funding the bike with side-work. so if you have anything that you need done, hit me up.

I also have parts left over from the last build, including these USD forks from a GSXR 750 that were in really bad shape that i cleaned up and am rebuilding.

Here is the bike as it sits newly introduced to its stable-mate.


and the fork rebuilding:


thanks for looking and i will have more to come soon.
~Chris
 
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#202 ·
Yeah no kidding. Chris I just wanna say that you're the most talented bike builder I've ever met in person, hands down. Not trying to put down anyone else I've met, its just that your work is always...supernatural? I guess that's then word I'm looking for? Lol. I showed my friend Chop these pictures yesterday and He feels exact
Ly the same. I'm really excited for you and this build.

So how much more to go until She's ready to ride do ya think? Please don't get rid of it until I get my SV on the road and start riding again. It would be fucking RAD to ride with you. Its weird that we've never ridden together after all this time lol.
 
#206 ·
okay guys... here we go!

the bike is done, inspected and fully legal, so the obvious next thing to do would be to sell it right? Well, thats what i actuality have to do. so if you know anyone who wants it, spread the word, i am going to be putting it on on ebay to see if i get any interest. not really sure how to drum up interest too much but i gotta sell it.

so on to the gratuitous pictures... just for yall










and a little video. its about 25 degrees when the picture was taken and the bike wasnt warm hence the sluggishness
 
#215 ·
Sell it? Man, you crazy. But it you do got to, get some nice pics in the auction, and put it up on reddit in r/motorcycles, may help get top dollar bids. People there go NUTS over cafe racer Viragos... though what you have there, really transcends the genre. 'Prototype' is an apt term.

And yeah, with decent pics, would not be at all hard to get some sites like Kneeslider or BikeExif to do a feature, would easily be worth it financially if you could time the auction to run concurrently with the feature. Love the bike, would be bidding myself but I can't pay even 1/4 of what its worth.
 
#216 ·
Thanks guys!

I appreciate you input. any idea which blogs to contact? my last bike got featured in Build threads, but that was months after it sold. =(

i have it up on ebay, so if you think of it, check it out. pie in the sky but you know how it goes.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/271677529329?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649

I was kinda sad you cant see more of the carbon fiber, but i also didnt want a black bike. this seemed like a happyish medium.
 
#217 ·
Given the low-quality photos you have, and the nice technical write-up in the auction, I'd contact Kneeslider. Kneeslider even has a 'bikes for sale' section, and is frequented by a lot of people who love the technical side of motorcycle builds, so would totally groove on the quality of that build; build photos of the frame etc would be entirely fitting in such a feature. He's run articles on a lot of Ian Drysdale's bikes and engines, for example.

BikeExif would get you wider exposure, but he's super anal about photo quality; its as much a photography website featuring motorcycles, as a motorcycle website with photos. Even with a great bike, you need to do a good photo shoot to have something he'd want to run. He'll run some pretty naff bikes if the photos are good, and doesn't seem nearly as concerned with accurately covering / critiquing the technical side of things, and he rarely (never that I remember) shows photos of the build process.
 
#225 ·
BikeExif would get you wider exposure, but he's super anal about photo quality; its as much a photography website featuring motorcycles, as a motorcycle website with photos. Even with a great bike, you need to do a good photo shoot to have something he'd want to run. He'll run some pretty naff bikes if the photos are good, and doesn't seem nearly as concerned with accurately covering / critiquing the technical side of things, and he rarely (never that I remember) shows photos of the build process.
To further this point - surely a talented man like Knifemaker knows some good photographers with some nice photo gear who would love a chance to do some wicked glamour shots of this machine. Getting a feature in BikeExif would be great, but I think that there would also be a lot of personal value in having some super high quality photos to remember the bike by when it's done.

I took some nice shots myself of my KTM when I had it, and I've always regretted that I didn't get any good ones of my old SV. The CBX gets an annual photo shoot on detailing day - but I've never had a pro shoot it. Maybe this spring...
 
#223 ·
These guys are very active and your bike should fall into their readership's tastes (hell - anyones taste for that matter!) http://thebikeshed.cc/your-bike-on-the-shed/

They have a classified section too.

Edit: just saw Hrdy beat me to it.
 
#227 ·
I was looking back to Knifemakers carbon work for some help with a tail piece for my GSXR and stumbled onto this build.
I had a friend with one of these "pigs" we called "The V Raggo".
Holy shit this is a completely different creature than his pile!!
Super impressed with your skills and vision. Be well on your trip and start posting as soon as you begin your next project.
 
#229 ·
That thing looks so different now, when i sold it to him i was actually about a week away from tearing it all down and recycling/parting out. I was going to buy it from a friend a few years prior to chris getting it but not long before the sale to chris i ended up getting it for free because it was a lawn ornament.

I still wish i could have gotten the OG title for him but it just didnt work out. Im glad i didnt keep this to part out.... if i did this would never be a thing.

congrats on another work of art chris and i wish you well on your travels!
 
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