Happy 9th birthday to Bultakenstein, my custom motorcycle project. I snapped the top photo on October 18, 2011. I had just taken delivery of the frame, which I bought off Ebay for $69.99. The bottom photo is how it looks today. It is, as the saying goes, “90% complete, with 90% yet to do.” It has fought me every inch of the way, demanding unanticipated levels of labor, rework, and creative problem solving.

If you have been following past Project Car State Of The Union posts about it, you already know that, except for wear items, it consists almost entirely of more-or-less random used parts purchased off Ebay and Craigslist. For nearly every part on it, there are at least two or three others I bought that didn’t work for one reason or another and are now sitting on a shelf in my garage. It currently contains parts from over a dozen different models from at least nine different manufacturers. What started out as an attempt to recreate Bultaco’s stillborn Streaker 250 design has become a sole, unique thing. To borrow a phrase from Rocket Racoon, “Ain’t no thing like me, except me.”

It has caused me, by turns, great satisfaction and great despair. Just ask my wife how many times I’ve told her I was ready to just sell off the parts and be done with it. But looking back, I am amazed how much this has taught me. So I keep plugging away. I’m guessing it should be rideable in another nine years or so.