Restoration time budget

I'm thinking of getting a small, 60s or 70s vintage bike and doing a full
restoration. If anyone here has done a similar project I'm interested in
knowing how long it may have taken you, and what parts of the job were
cost-effective to sub out, such as chroming. Thanks.

 

The best thing to do is buy the best bike you can to start with.

If you actually *want* to do a full restoration, then a small bike is
good as a means of seeing how it's done, but bad in that the costs may
be the same as for a big bike, and it'll be worth far less when
finished.

Consider: new paint, re-chroming and things like spoked wheel rebuilding
cost much the same whether the bike's 250cc or 900cc. Oh, and good
re-chroming *costs*.

When I buy restoration projects, I tend to look for things whose
cosmetics are good, or can be cheaply improved, but that have mechanical
faults. Mechanical faults, for me, are mostly just time, whereas I'm not
a paint sprayer, nor a chromer.

If, OTOH, you have cheap or free access to premises that can refurbish
cosmetic parts, but don't know much about how engines go together, YMMV.