Restoration costs
Discussion
I completely get that this is a “piece of string” question but wonder if anyone has anything to input.
I’d like to get a vague idea of what it might cost to have a GT750A restored, by a professional. This is related to my recent posts about looking for a “fun Sunday” bike. I have the Kettle but it’s now in need of attention. I also completely understand that this won’t necessarily be a financially viable project!
The bike is complete and starts and runs, and I’ll need to check but I think the engine was rebuilt (with receipts) some time back. So let’s assume the base engine is ok. It would need:
- complete strip
- frame blasted and painted or powder coat
- carbs need major attention. They’re finicky about either leaking and/or not fuelling, plus some eejit in the past had the float bowls chromed, which is all flaking off now, so needs stripping
- all the chrome needs re-doing
- zinc plate all the bolts etc
- go right through the brakes
- I’d fit a set of expansion pipes (£800-ish) as the original pipes aren’t in the best shape.
- probably replace all the spokes and polish the wheels
- paintwork (candy red, so it’s not an easy job)
- polish all the ali (inc the engine)
- rebuild it all
Top of my head I think that’s what it needs. I’m doing a TS250 myself at the moment, and I’m PROBABLY capable of doing the Kettle, but I’ve been on the TS for nearly a year now and although it’s coming along, it’s nowhere near finished, so I’m thinking of farming the Kettle out.
I’m kind of thinking there’s £350 for the frame, maybe £500 to sort or replace the carbs, £750 for chrome, £250 for the zinc, £500 for the wheels, and the paint, well, that could be a grand I guess. So there’s about £3500 (if I’m right) plus labour.
Am I going to get this all done for £5k, or am I miles off?
As I said, not doing it to make money, but to get a useable classic, but the bike originally only cost me £3500 so if I’m into it for £8k total, I wouldn’t be a million miles out.
I’m going to talk to someone about it soon but would be good to have something in my back pocket beforehand.
I’ll stop rambling now and throw it open!
I’d like to get a vague idea of what it might cost to have a GT750A restored, by a professional. This is related to my recent posts about looking for a “fun Sunday” bike. I have the Kettle but it’s now in need of attention. I also completely understand that this won’t necessarily be a financially viable project!
The bike is complete and starts and runs, and I’ll need to check but I think the engine was rebuilt (with receipts) some time back. So let’s assume the base engine is ok. It would need:
- complete strip
- frame blasted and painted or powder coat
- carbs need major attention. They’re finicky about either leaking and/or not fuelling, plus some eejit in the past had the float bowls chromed, which is all flaking off now, so needs stripping
- all the chrome needs re-doing
- zinc plate all the bolts etc
- go right through the brakes
- I’d fit a set of expansion pipes (£800-ish) as the original pipes aren’t in the best shape.
- probably replace all the spokes and polish the wheels
- paintwork (candy red, so it’s not an easy job)
- polish all the ali (inc the engine)
- rebuild it all
Top of my head I think that’s what it needs. I’m doing a TS250 myself at the moment, and I’m PROBABLY capable of doing the Kettle, but I’ve been on the TS for nearly a year now and although it’s coming along, it’s nowhere near finished, so I’m thinking of farming the Kettle out.
I’m kind of thinking there’s £350 for the frame, maybe £500 to sort or replace the carbs, £750 for chrome, £250 for the zinc, £500 for the wheels, and the paint, well, that could be a grand I guess. So there’s about £3500 (if I’m right) plus labour.
Am I going to get this all done for £5k, or am I miles off?
As I said, not doing it to make money, but to get a useable classic, but the bike originally only cost me £3500 so if I’m into it for £8k total, I wouldn’t be a million miles out.
I’m going to talk to someone about it soon but would be good to have something in my back pocket beforehand.
I’ll stop rambling now and throw it open!
I'll have first go, three initial thoughts.
1/ I have just had a set of vintage scooter handlebars chromed, essentially a metal tube. This was more than a third of your chrome budget.
2/ Labour. Unless you find that man and a dog in a garage who is good and still charges beer money I would expect labour to be £70 - £100 per hour. Stripping and rebuilding a bike I would put at 25 to 30 hours plus.
3/ If you are doing all that work there seem some other things missing. E.g., cables, electrics, tyres, bearings, etc.
This is not meant to put you off, I have done a few "£5,000 spent, £2,995 ONO" type projects, and that moment when it is all back together bridges some of that gap. Also if you're keeping it it doesn't really matter as long as the money is there. Good luck.
1/ I have just had a set of vintage scooter handlebars chromed, essentially a metal tube. This was more than a third of your chrome budget.
2/ Labour. Unless you find that man and a dog in a garage who is good and still charges beer money I would expect labour to be £70 - £100 per hour. Stripping and rebuilding a bike I would put at 25 to 30 hours plus.
3/ If you are doing all that work there seem some other things missing. E.g., cables, electrics, tyres, bearings, etc.
This is not meant to put you off, I have done a few "£5,000 spent, £2,995 ONO" type projects, and that moment when it is all back together bridges some of that gap. Also if you're keeping it it doesn't really matter as long as the money is there. Good luck.
Moulder said:
I'll have first go, three initial thoughts.
1/ I have just had a set of vintage scooter handlebars chromed, essentially a metal tube. This was more than a third of your chrome budget.
2/ Labour. Unless you find that man and a dog in a garage who is good and still charges beer money I would expect labour to be £70 - £100 per hour. Stripping and rebuilding a bike I would put at 25 to 30 hours plus.
3/ If you are doing all that work there seem some other things missing. E.g., cables, electrics, tyres, bearings, etc.
This is not meant to put you off, I have done a few "£5,000 spent, £2,995 ONO" type projects, and that moment when it is all back together bridges some of that gap. Also if you're keeping it it doesn't really matter as long as the money is there. Good luck.
Thanks, no it's not putting me off, I genuinely don't know what this might cost so I was just running some numbers around in my head to see whether it makes any sense or not.1/ I have just had a set of vintage scooter handlebars chromed, essentially a metal tube. This was more than a third of your chrome budget.
2/ Labour. Unless you find that man and a dog in a garage who is good and still charges beer money I would expect labour to be £70 - £100 per hour. Stripping and rebuilding a bike I would put at 25 to 30 hours plus.
3/ If you are doing all that work there seem some other things missing. E.g., cables, electrics, tyres, bearings, etc.
This is not meant to put you off, I have done a few "£5,000 spent, £2,995 ONO" type projects, and that moment when it is all back together bridges some of that gap. Also if you're keeping it it doesn't really matter as long as the money is there. Good luck.
There's always the option of me doing it myself then I "only" have the material costs but it will take me some time.
Just doing a 1975 GT750 M myself, I am lucky to be in the motorcycle business so do all my own work except the obvious coatings, chrome, powder coating ,paint, zinc plating and the wheel building.
MY guess to pay someone to do a decent job would be in the region of £8-12 k
Just some numbers of the top of my head from my bike
Paint £800
Chrome £1350 (there is a lot of chrome on the GT750)
Powder coating £370
Polishing £290
Wheels, stainless rims, spokes, new bearings tyres tubes rim tape £1000
Clock and switch gear refurb £800
Seat all new as base was rusty £550
Fork legs hard chrome £270
New wiring loom £300
Brake calliper refurb, new pistons Cerokote etc £200
So that’s over £5,500 with no labour.
There are loads more than that.
Don’t forget all the time needed to strip and clean all the nuts bolts for zinc plating, get the frame stripped, bushes out of the swing arm etc It all adds up, I would estimate 120 hrs in labour.
I hope this gives you some idea
MY guess to pay someone to do a decent job would be in the region of £8-12 k
Just some numbers of the top of my head from my bike
Paint £800
Chrome £1350 (there is a lot of chrome on the GT750)
Powder coating £370
Polishing £290
Wheels, stainless rims, spokes, new bearings tyres tubes rim tape £1000
Clock and switch gear refurb £800
Seat all new as base was rusty £550
Fork legs hard chrome £270
New wiring loom £300
Brake calliper refurb, new pistons Cerokote etc £200
So that’s over £5,500 with no labour.
There are loads more than that.
Don’t forget all the time needed to strip and clean all the nuts bolts for zinc plating, get the frame stripped, bushes out of the swing arm etc It all adds up, I would estimate 120 hrs in labour.
I hope this gives you some idea
chippy348 said:
Just doing a 1975 GT750 M myself, I am lucky to be in the motorcycle business so do all my own work except the obvious coatings, chrome, powder coating ,paint, zinc plating and the wheel building.
MY guess to pay someone to do a decent job would be in the region of £8-12 k
Just some numbers of the top of my head from my bike
Paint £800
Chrome £1350 (there is a lot of chrome on the GT750)
Powder coating £370
Polishing £290
Wheels, stainless rims, spokes, new bearings tyres tubes rim tape £1000
Clock and switch gear refurb £800
Seat all new as base was rusty £550
Fork legs hard chrome £270
New wiring loom £300
Brake calliper refurb, new pistons Cerokote etc £200
So that’s over £5,500 with no labour.
There are loads more than that.
Don’t forget all the time needed to strip and clean all the nuts bolts for zinc plating, get the frame stripped, bushes out of the swing arm etc It all adds up, I would estimate 120 hrs in labour.
I hope this gives you some idea
That's really helpful, thanks. I'd forgotten that it cost me £350 to have the bushes cut out of the swingarm for the TS (plus another £150-odd for replacements). It really does all add up. I might be DIYing after all!MY guess to pay someone to do a decent job would be in the region of £8-12 k
Just some numbers of the top of my head from my bike
Paint £800
Chrome £1350 (there is a lot of chrome on the GT750)
Powder coating £370
Polishing £290
Wheels, stainless rims, spokes, new bearings tyres tubes rim tape £1000
Clock and switch gear refurb £800
Seat all new as base was rusty £550
Fork legs hard chrome £270
New wiring loom £300
Brake calliper refurb, new pistons Cerokote etc £200
So that’s over £5,500 with no labour.
There are loads more than that.
Don’t forget all the time needed to strip and clean all the nuts bolts for zinc plating, get the frame stripped, bushes out of the swing arm etc It all adds up, I would estimate 120 hrs in labour.
I hope this gives you some idea
I have watched a few episodes of Bangers & Cash: Restoring Classics, some of which feature bikes.
https://u.co.uk/shows/bangers-cash-restoring-class...
The amounts spent with professional restorers, and the consequent losses at auction, are eye-watering.
https://u.co.uk/shows/bangers-cash-restoring-class...
The amounts spent with professional restorers, and the consequent losses at auction, are eye-watering.
Didn't they, Alan Millyard mainly, restore a kettle in that fetching purple colour on the "bike show" recently? I'm sure the total costs were around £11k as they added it all up at the end.
Restoring bikes now can be frightenly expensive, I'd say unless it was something dear to you're heart, personal family connection or some amazing bike then it doesn't make financial sense.
Mind you when did biking make any financial sense? a long time ago
Restoring bikes now can be frightenly expensive, I'd say unless it was something dear to you're heart, personal family connection or some amazing bike then it doesn't make financial sense.
Mind you when did biking make any financial sense? a long time ago
stu67 said:
Didn't they, Alan Millyard mainly, restore a kettle in that fetching purple colour on the "bike show" recently? I'm sure the total costs were around £11k as they added it all up at the end.
Restoring bikes now can be frightenly expensive, I'd say unless it was something dear to you're heart, personal family connection or some amazing bike then it doesn't make financial sense.
Mind you when did biking make any financial sense? a long time ago
Ah yes, that does ring a bell now you say it.Restoring bikes now can be frightenly expensive, I'd say unless it was something dear to you're heart, personal family connection or some amazing bike then it doesn't make financial sense.
Mind you when did biking make any financial sense? a long time ago
Re the financial sense bit, I agree, absolutely not! It's more a case that it's an interesting old bike, and I want something for sunny Sundays, which it would do just fine if it was tidy, plus room in the shed for something else is at a bit of a premium anyway.
I (purposely!) haven't kept track of what I've spent on the TS, which I know will far outweigh it's ultimate value, but with that I'm doing what I'd call a "decent but not concours" job. Perhaps the same approach with the Kettle would work out.
The only way it makes any kind of sense is if you can find an old man in a shed - probably from the owners club - who enjoys doing them up and will do it for a drink
I employ a couple of retired guys and they're happy to work for £100 a day but they probably only manage 4 hours of real work a day
I employ a couple of retired guys and they're happy to work for £100 a day but they probably only manage 4 hours of real work a day
I looked into this some years ago, I wanted a classic CB750, found various bikes that needed restoration and they were all around the £3k mark. Estimates for restoration were all in the £12+k mark even then, with me doing chunks of the work. In the end I bought one, UK bike not an import, pre-restored for half what the bike and restoration would have cost me.
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