After a lot of research I found that the xs 650 was the way to go for the garage bike mechanic. Except my situation was a little different I had a welding project to do for class and was on an insanely tight budget. My first frame was a hard tail but it didn't quite turn out as planned. So I tried again and made a soft tail. This one has come worlds further than the first and I now have a much better grasp on what the hell I was doing. Yes this is one of my first experiences with metal and oh yeah. Ive never ridden but my wife has. She told me I needed at least an 1000 v-twin. I said to her, "dear, you might blow by me power wise but when we are at the gas station whose bike do you think everyone will be looking at? Im pretty sure they've seen 1000 bikes just like yours." I am getting to that point of figuring out what I am going to do for brakes. I saw this contest and figured I had to enter.