Santa or Frankenstein?

[Hogzilla]

First off, I am not attempting to subvert the buy/sell rules or the 25 minimum posts rule, though admittedly it'll be hard to find 23 more topics to chime in or generate.  And this thread does sort of require me to mention that I have or will have stuff to sell though not in any detail.

I just got my first Nighthawk (see my posted pics!) and then subsequently purchased 3 'parts' bikes simply because I wanted the stock headers.  My plan was to strip all the goodies off the three bikes and sell off in order to fund my replaced headers and other repairs or upgrades. 
But after looking at what I got, I can probably piece together a whole new bike which would use an '85 frame since it is the cleanest.  I don't really have a lot of room to do this and the final product would require several body parts to be purchased. Not to mention repainting and new decals, etc.
Thusly:
1) My Santa plan would generate some money quickly and pay for the headers and other parts I keep. I would also put some hard-to-find parts into the community and the hands of those trying to resurrect their own project bikes. Then at some point I would just scrap the frames or left-overs that didn't sell.
 
2) The Frankenstein option would take much longer, it would possibly generate more money if I did the bike right, and it would give me an excellent opportunity to know my own bike inside-out.  Understand I am a procrastinator with plenty of other projects to keep me busy. I am mechanically inclined but this would be a new frontier; putting a bike back together. And I don't have the skill and tools to do the whole project myself (paint, some electrical if needed). I think the main donor bike and engine is a worthy foundation.

Thoughts?

[mollusc]

What's the actual bike that you have?  You don't seem to say that anywhere in your post.
Unless you're set up to do it as an ongoing concern, it takes a LOT of work to strip and sell parts.  Yes, you can generate a lot more revenue, but it will take a lot of effort (and time) to do it.

[Hogzilla]

First off, thanks for the response..
I didn't want to list what I had to prevent the appearance of subverting the buy sell and 25 posts rules.  but in short, I have rolling frames and appurtenances of 3 bikes (wheels, shocks, forks, brakes, electrics, etc,): An 84-85-86 (all 700sc) wherein the 85 is in the best shape. The other two would require a LOT of cleaning and detailing.  I have two complete motors, one is pretty clean and the other is not. I think mechanically the 85 is doable but would need paint, and blinkers and likely a few other items.  Between the 3, I have about a 90% complete bike in rough shape and a motor with about 30k miles.

Likely I can make the easy money by stripping parts.  That only requires a few wrenches.
 
Resurrections require time money and space, but as stated, if I remain patient, I could probably make a nice bike out of it.

[mollusc]

If you do opt for the Frankenstein approach, 1985 is mechanically the better engine.  I will say that time has a way of overtaking projects like this and it may take you just as long to part them out and sell them as it does to put one together.  In any case, it seems like you'd need to be selling off some pieces anyway.  Not sure where you are, but most people will be riding less in the coming months so there might be opportunities to do some of that work.
This is still a small community, not even a month old, so the marketplace here doesn't even have any posts in it yet.  You can count the members who have access to it on the fingers of one hand.  Most likely you would have the best luck selling on eBay although I don't want to discourage people from using the classified forums here when they are able to do so.

[Hogzilla]

Although my riding season here in the Pac. NW is almost over, I've decided I have too many projects already and I really don't have all the tools and room. I've listed an item on eBay already as I have good luck selling with their big exposure.  My preference is to avoid fees and thus be able to offer better deals going direct.  Mostly I am here to find out what I can about the bike, to join a discussion here and there, and because I won't do social media anymore. I attempted to make an alias on FB to join a group there, but Meta insists on my phone number then flagged my account after 1 day for not putting enough info on my profile...comical. 

[draser]

If these were my bikes I'd try to restore them all... or most/same of them... just saying... these are rare pieces of history...

[Hogzilla]

Hmm, well with three less potential bikes on the road I'm thinking that adds a bit of rarity (and value) to mine? 
Honestly, though, I may have enough for only one bike to be completed without too many parts. The others are mostly skeletons waiting to be picked over. 

[draser]

I hear you, I have one like that, bought it as a parts bike, it had a good engine - which I transfered onto the other bike I was restoring. It does not even have the VIN plate anymore, but it's a good frame and I have most of the stuff to make it into a working bike. Turns out the motor I removed and replaced with the one from this bike actually works fine and the carbs were the problem - it's always the carbs.
Thinking of restoring it - the parts bike - but would need to get a VIN plate from another frame, and some of the missing bits. I do my own painting, metal working, so that helps keep the cost down.

[Hogzilla]

Well contact me if you are going to move forward.  I have three frames and two titles that I probably wont be asking a lot for if you need.  I suppose if there's away to swap just the vin plate then that will save a lot in shipping!

[Hogzilla]

I posted my parts and frames in the classified area for those who might be looking.  Seems I am the first to post to this area and as @Mollusc said, only a handful of users here can access.  Hopefully people will get a bit more active here.

@ draser, I'd be willing to make some deals to trade for your painting services if you have any interest in what I've posted.