82 750 VIRAGO BUILD or Ugly Little Girl To Asphalt Pounder

In my opinion the Virago is a gun show hidden in cruiser chrome and plastic bits. Japanese styling and bad posture leave me cold on this one. The heart of the bike, however, is a light weight 750 V-twin with a 5-speed gearbox, and monocoque backbone frame. A nice platform for expression and available for about 300 bucks. Lots of folks have done these before, I'm not the first, but now its my turn to cafe this bike.  

 

 The geometry obviously needs to change for any improved cornering. Shortened forks, raised rear, or cut the head stock. Th starters suck on these things so i started by repairing the starter problem then rebuilt the carbs so I could hear it run. With a two into one, it will sound good. Stripped down it looks good and the stressed member engine with the backbone frame is minimal. Next I'll pull the swing arm and paint it.