Hi guys! Been snooping around for a while as ive been giving thought to probably building, maybe buying, a BEC.

Atm I ride an R1 and love the thing, but i cant help thinking that im going to lose my license one of these days or have some old bint pull out in front of me and write me off!

I think a nice step would be to get a BEC as it will still retain a lot of the things I love about the bike but give me the practicality and (slight) safety of a shell!

So basically, for you guys who do/have done both, how do you compare them?

Cheers,
Dave

you can't fall off a BEC so that is certainly in its favour

but why not have both
sometimes nothing beats being on two wheels

Bikes will always be best and always in your blood, nothing else like two wheels

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Originally posted by big-vee-twin
Bikes will always be best and always in your blood, nothing else like two wheels

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My wife threatened divorce if I bought a motorbike, far too dangerous.



So I am building a 300bhp Fiat 126 , which is obviously much safer

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Originally posted by phelpsa

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Originally posted by big-vee-twin
Bikes will always be best and always in your blood, nothing else like two wheels

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I prefer cornering properly

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A few random thoughts:-
Closest thing to riding a bike as you're likely to find on four wheels for the money.
Any kit with decent power is going to have similar thrills per mile to a bike.
Whilst nothing like tin-top levels of comfort at least you're out of the rain and cold.
Deffo put the fun back into motoring for me when mine went on the road three years ago.
Bike now tends to be taken out for special events only.
If you haven't already been in a kit one ask someone on here to take you out - if local to Berkshire let me know.
HTH.
Cheers, Pewe10

Fast replies guys, nice effort!

Unfortunately I'm in south Scotland but thanks for the offer Pewe.

I think being taken out in one would definitely make my mind up which ever way, but maybe you guys are right, if its in my bloody its prob always gonna be there haha

chop the R1 in for a cheaper bike and put the difference towards your car. half the fun in the car ownership is building/fiddling with it.
i'm lucky enough to own a 150mph superbike (slow by modern standards!!!) which did'nt cost the earth and gives me the grin factor when i fancy it and the car im fiddling with for the same reasons.................happy days

The only person I know to have done both sold me his unfinished kit and broke his neck twice riding bikes on the nurburgring...

T66, hit it right on the nose "My wife threatened divorce if I bought a motorbike, far too dangerous. "

So i bought a book, and built a a kit car. and welded square tubes together, covered it in alui, added some fiberglass, and a pair of twin 40's, made some seats, got an mot (i was pre iva/sva)

And my wife is happy!

if only she knew .............................

I built an MK Indy with an R1 engine in it a few years ago.

Not long after I got it finished, my wife lost her job and I sold it as a pre-emtive strike to clear all of our debts (annoyed at the time but the best thing I ever did).

I passed my bike test in June last year and now have a Triumph Tiger 955i and a Husqvarna WR250 (for enduro's/trail riding).

I'm giving some fairly serious thoughts to getting rid of the big bike and building another se7en.

I like riding bikes a lot, but it does make me nervous on the road (in hindsight, a Tiger is probably not the most confidence inspriing first bike you could have - something a bit smaller and lighter might have been a better way to go!). If I was to play the mental game of 'which would I pick for a ride/drive out if I owned both' - I'd pick the se7en every time for road work.

I'm going to sell the Tiger anyway and maybe try a smaller engined bike for a while. If that still doesn't do it for me then I'll sell again and start building another se7en (or just buy a Caterham).

Other considerations for me are that the missus will go in the se7en, and even drive it. So we could use it for trips away and days out when the kids are at my mums (happens at least one weekend a month). She has absolutely no interest whatsoever in bikes and will never, ever go on the back of one.

If I could find a way, I'd have the best of all 3 worlds (just need to find a way to squeeze a second garage/secure shed on my land and I'm sorted).

For the record, the Husky is an absolute weapon off road and the only way that would go is if I bought a better one.

Only had bikes for the first 13 years on the road, then got my car license for purely practical reasons and after a year ended up selling the bike as I was the only 'biker' left amongst friends (and it's not quite the same out on yer todd).

That lasted a year or two and decided to get a kitcar as a halfway house to car/bike and it is sooo much fun **BUT** it will never ever be the same feeling as winding open the Fireblade on a good road, the whole extra level of bonkers acceleration and the exposed feeling will forever be unmatched by four wheels!

I can't do without either so I'll have a cheap one of each
Oh, and (most) cars won't wheelie!

I built the car for the fun of it. A bike is so much better in every way, except that you can't carry anything or anybody with you. You are still very vulnerable to the traffic in the seven. If I could have, I would have just bought another bike, but I am banned from them by SWMBO, which is a bit rich, considering I had a bike for two years prior to meeting her.

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I am banned from them by SWMBO, which is a bit rich, considering I had a bike for two years prior to meeting her.

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I was a biker then had a pretty bad off years ago, I got another bike but never got my bottle back, I sold it and worked my way through loads of quick cars then decided last year to px my M3 for a 4x4 for the wife and forget about cars.....it lasted 1-2 months, no idea why I started looking at kits, cheap toy I figured (how wrong I was) lol, I didn't even know BECs existed, 3 months of looking and nearly buying passed then mine sort of found me! Everytime I take it out it is a different and thrilling experience, I get out with hands and feet buzzing with adrenaline, no its not like getting your knee down, but I can get my elbow damn close!
Dave

I have owned bikes most of my life, got a Harley at the moment, but I also love my lardy seven-ish. My Mrs wont come on the bike, but loves the car. So really have the best of both worlds, and can't see me giving up either, untill I can't get my leg over the bike anymore, . Cheers Ray

You cannot beat the thrill of a big bike, got rid of my Fireblade after watching my mate spin down the M20 on his back when he fell off in front of me after going to see the moto GP in Spain.

Riding through Spain and France you realise how appalling English roads are

I started making mine before I went, as did a few track days on the bike and enjoyed the thrill but not the cost in tyres and brakes so made a little car.

On the road the little car did not feel much safer than the bike, frustrating as you cannot go as fast as you want so my BEC is track days only now, I get the same thrill pushing it hard as I did on the bike except you can overcook it and not get hurt

My choice is then:

Decent car for the road.
BEC for the track, lives on its trailer and runs slicks to keep it cheap.
Keep my limbs where they are and my licence clean

I do miss the bike, but not enough to ride one on the UK roads again

Regards Mark

Its close to the thrill of a bike, and has some of the benefits of allowing me to put the "what if..." stuff out my head, which dogs me on a bike.

Don't think for a second a BEC is practical, it is in NO WAY practical.

My car broke down (daily driver), and I commuted fine for a few weeks on my bike - I didn't even consider taking the BEC for the 30 miles motorway commute, it would have been HORRIBLE.

In my opinion you will always come back to bikes, but BEC's offer a pleasant diversion and temporary alternative - plus you will learn lots along the way!

Don't go thinking that a bec or cec is going to save your licence , most times after taking my old mk busa out for a blast and parking it back up i'd be thinking 'that might just of lost me my licence'.

2 different things and 2 different types of enjoyment ,but you'll get closer to the bike side of things with a bike engine but a bike engine might not be what you want if you plan on doing long journeys .

Cracking response cheers guys! I am also the only one left with a bike out of my mates, they all sold, either planning to buy again and never did, or got married and had babies So it can be a bit boring goign out myself all the time.

By the sounds of it a locost will keep me happy for a while but might not detract from the love of 2 wheels. It needs more thought!

I love the idea of building one regardless tho. I am lucky enough to have access to a workshop with pretty much everything i would need from welding equipment, engine cranes even CNC lathe and milling machine so would make a cracking hobby.

A BEC would be bloody brilliant fun, but ive not fully explored the pros and cons so also needs much thought!

Cheers for all the input guys, gonna buy myself "the book", snoop more around the forum and see how I feel about building one.

Put your location on your profile, someone may offer a ride and help push you one way or the other!

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My car broke down (daily driver), and I commuted fine for a few weeks on my bike - I didn't even consider taking the BEC for the 30 miles motorway commute, it would have been HORRIBLE.

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I gave up the idea of a sports car when I got a motorbike

A fast car would never be as much fun as riding a motorbike so I sold the MK kit

If it wasn't for BECs, I'd have never even considered building a kit car. Straight line speed and acceleration of a BEC doesn't even come close to a motorbike such as an R1 but a BEC is much more fun on the twisty bits and much more stable. And with your ar$e four inches from the road and exposure to the elements, the perception of speed is much greater than it actually is, although this can be said of most kit cars.

Get a BEC, you won't regret it...............

Phil

Another random thought which Hellfire ^^ has touched on.
Just because you're a biker don't assume that BEC's are the only option.
There's a lot to be said for a CEC particularly if it's turbo or, my pref., supercharged.
I prefer the later because power delivery starts as soon as you crack the throttle open and in 650kgs it's almost instant acceleration at any speed (bike like).
My mate has a BEC MK Indy and TBH it just feels too light, too twitchy as it's only 450kg.
Also with a BEC you'll be revving the nuts off it at every gearchange and I suspect you'll find more engines being re-built on BECs than on CECs.
Sits back and waits for the onslaught from BEC owners.......
Cheers, Pewe10

I was a biker of 10 years and always thought of 7 type cars as having the same level of fun as a 1000cc bike but at 3 times the price and 4 times the space occupied in my garage so I always held off.

Last summer my wife witnessed a bad bike accident where the car infornt of her pulled accross the path of a bike and the guy had nowhere to go but into the quarter panel of the offending driver, my wife had to comfort the guy until the ambulance arrived. Then a guy was killed on a bike near our house, then a guy I know had a crash when a car pulled out infront of him. All this made my wife pledge never to get on the bike with me again, this combined with the fact I always knew they where a bad idea I sold up.

1 month ago I bought a Westfield Duratec and so far I love it, I would like more power in it but that's always going to be the case with me! I looked at BEC's but decided unless it was a Busa engine I didn't want it as I wanted the torque and the power, so far I think I've got the right car (can't afford an R400 Caterham).

Pull the engine out of your bike, sell the rest and start building

or if your after thrills then get an old landrover and feel the white knuckle fear of impending disaster at just 50mph