I've owned motorbikes ever since my parents told me I couldn't have one. Not being much more than a kid, budgets were low and I spent my early biking years with whatever I could afford.
In my experience, cheap bikes are unreliable and I've had my fair share of those. Learning to fix them was as important as road skills.
I needed to get to work Monday to Friday, so weekends were spent making sure that happened.
I used to buy a crusty old bike and strip it down to individual components, clean, polish, paint and reassemble and so it goes on.
A mate gave me an old bike mag when I was in my twenties with a custom 1960's Triumph Bonneville on the front page. Boom, that was me sucked into the custom bike world along with repairing and restoring bikes as I went.
For me, it doesn't matter the condition, the manufacturer or the engine size. I'm restoring bikes from 50cc to whatever comes in the door.
Bikes is what it's all about...