rules, regs and fun police of modifying a bike

[Loader95]

Hey guys,
I'm Planning on modifying my kawasaki er250, before I do anything too crazy (stripping it down to a rolling frame with no clue what to do wasn't the smartest) I wanted to know what legal boundaries there are such as indicators or chopping the frame, shortening mudguards and so on. So if anyone knows of any big no no or any pointers. And even if you have got any ideas that would look good. I know it's supposed to be an individual preference with modifying a bike but many heads make light work.. Or something like that!

[TLS-Moose]

For starters look at the online guide for MOT tests as a guide to what you need for that. Note this is not the same as what you are required by law to have in order to meet construction and use regs.

Insurance is the other big factor - start hacking into the frame and you'll be looking at (expensive) engineers reports unless you know someone who can do this on the quiet ......

There is pretty much no limit to what you can do, the limitation probably being budget ...... The only thing I'm not sure about at present is the dvla's view on chassis (frame) mods - with a car you have to go through the iva/sva process but I think this isn't required for bikes, you'd need to check.

There is a lot you can do without too much worry though, other than getting it insured .... One of my current bikes has non standard swingarm, brakes, suspension, bodywork, rearsets, exhausts, handlebars, top yoke, headlight, airbox, etc., and it goes through the MOT fine. The biggest issue is finding a company prepared to insure a bike with significant changes to standard. Allow a few weeks to get cover sorted.

Other than that, go for it! Lots of sources for inspiration on the web, and always nice to see someone build something special rather than just another race rep with some tacky bolt on bits, or a bandit with twin dommi headlights & Renthal bars being touted as a streetfighter ........

[Loader95]

this is where I got to stripping it yesterday as I may as well do a proper job and re paint the frame, then engine needs work doing to it in terms of painting and replacing some gaskets. I don't want to spent ££££ on it because its 25 years old and even a mint condition bike is only selling on eBay for £500, Its a fun little bike worth more to me than to sell and I've somewhat fallen in love with the café racer idea, but I'm not going to the extreme of getting a new tank or rear cowling etc.

I think more of the challenge is to use OEM parts and make it look better, but in its current state I am able to juggle bits around. I took your advice and looked into insurance for chopping the tail and it just got silly money so I'm going to stick with pillion but sculpt the seat, still indecisive on the back end with lights and the rear cowl.

I start a new job this week so no major work will be started until after the summer, hopefully get some of the painting done and get it to a rolling chassis, but still haven't decided what colours to go yet.

Fingers crossed I haven't bitten off more than I can chew!

[Spug]

Hi,
I customise quite a few bikes, as told moose says you are allowed to get away with doing almost any mod you can think of, the restrictions are: money, EVERYTHING needs to be declared to your insurance company or they will not deem the policy valid if anything happens, if your bike originally had lights, indicators, horn, etc etc the bike should still have this equipment (or some form or it) to pass the mot,
're: frame mods, obviously this is something insurance companies are going to pick up on, the best way to get a farm altered from an insurance point of view is to get it done by a properly qualified engineering firm that can issue a certificate for their work that the insurance company will accept as the liability should anything happen to that work on the frame will be covered by the engineering firms insurance.
Price wise if you were to make a really good job of cafe racer-ing the bike you could expect more than the £500 that you quote, it would have to look right and have a decent quality paint job, but the demand for it would be higher as it is more fashionable, but, that said it would be easy to spend too much on the build.
Hope that helps
Spug