Turns out that retrieving a lost title for a motorcycle is a really big nuisance, especially when you have no idea who the last registered owner was, and the motorcycle – currently nothing more than a frame, an idea, and some parts – clearly will not pass State Patrol inspection.

I’ve therefore decided to scrap the current frame and start over with a newer one which has its paperwork in order. The frame I’m looking at is a 2001 KZ1000P, a former cop bike which someone disassembled after taking it home from a government auction. It’s missing the engine and transmission, which I didn’t want anyway, but the seller still has the wheels, brakes, and all the steering and suspension parts, so that’s almost everything I need. I was probably going to end up making my own custom leather seat and LED lights anyway (seeing as it will likely end up looking more like this than this.)

We’ll see if the sale actually goes off – craigslist people are notoriously flaky – but with any luck I’ll have all the bits home and ready to bolt together some time tomorrow evening.