Author |
Message |
Tattoodnscrewd
| Posted on Friday, June 19, 2009 - 12:36 pm: |
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Not quite complete but getting there ... not bad for a garage build .. what she looked like last year when I bought her ..
and this is what she looks like as of yesterday ..
For now I'm just going to ride it .. over winter I will take care of the wheels and motor ... lil paint and polish .. and will freshen up the motor .. and yes - I still have both Buell's .. however still in need of a crank for the S1... (btw - the cafe is painted in Buell Carbon Black ) |
Spiderman
| Posted on Friday, June 19, 2009 - 12:41 pm: |
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nice! |
Fast1075
| Posted on Friday, June 19, 2009 - 01:11 pm: |
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Very nice!!! rework the wheels with some nice D.I.D. polished aluminum rims and stainless spokes.. I loved those motors except for the rubber seal plugs that seal between the head and intermediate cam case that were so prone to oil leaks...I'll bet some high tech sealant like the toyota valve cover and tappet sealer will cure that..it looks like regular black silicone, but is much, much better than anything else on the market.(we didn't have that stuff in the 70's)....The first motorcycle I ever saw that went 100K without engine work was an original CB750. |
Greenlantern
| Posted on Friday, June 19, 2009 - 01:22 pm: |
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Sweet! |
Tattoodnscrewd
| Posted on Friday, June 19, 2009 - 01:22 pm: |
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rework the wheels with some nice D.I.D. polished aluminum rims and stainless spokes.. I actually am going to strip these and paint them black, new stainless spokes and polished hubs ... thought about snatching up wheels from a 77-78 cb750A since they came stock with aluminum wheels ... but I actually am trying to keep this a budget build (nevermind that the upholstery and paint ran me around 450 .. ) , got lucky with the 75 400f ss tank - 35 years old and flawless, then bought a rusty dented second 400 tank and fab'd th tail section out of it so the bike actually has that proper fit and finish most home build cafe's don't have (IMO).. I did the paint and took a chance on a local kid for the seat and he did a great job - hard to tell but the racing stripes are stitched into the seat as well .. Reliability is part of the reason I bought it - with all the issues these beloved Buell's have I wanted a turn-key bike that I didn't care about ... well - it's still a turn-key - or first kick bike .. but now I find myself caring about it .. haha Luckily for me one of my customers is skilled bike mechanic or tech or whatever - old guy that's been doing this for over 30-40 years and taught half the people in the city over those years .. we trade service .. he sorts out the motor, makes it run right and most importantly takes care of any carb work, and I take care of cosmetics .. ... I know these Buell's inside out now but this Honda four is still new to me .. (Message edited by tattoodnscrewd on June 19, 2009) |
Barker
| Posted on Friday, June 19, 2009 - 01:24 pm: |
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purdy! |
Not_purple_s2
| Posted on Friday, June 19, 2009 - 01:30 pm: |
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It looked nice before, but man that thing is freakin' awesome now. |
Ratyson
| Posted on Friday, June 19, 2009 - 01:44 pm: |
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Yeah, I saw the first two pics and was like "Man, that looks sweet.. I wouldn't change a thing."... Then I saw the finished ones and completely understood. That looks completely awesome! Great job! Those CBs are great bikes! |
Dynasport
| Posted on Friday, June 19, 2009 - 02:38 pm: |
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Yeah, I thought the original looked great. The after is fantastic. Just depends on what you want. Great job! |
Mortarmanmike120
| Posted on Friday, June 19, 2009 - 02:54 pm: |
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Very sharp. |
Bill0351
| Posted on Friday, June 19, 2009 - 03:31 pm: |
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Nice work! That tail section is f*****g awesome! Bill |
Badlionsfan
| Posted on Friday, June 19, 2009 - 03:37 pm: |
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Way too nice lookin to be considered a rat bike IMO. I see more of a cafe racer style than anything. No matter what ya call it, it looks good and I dig it. |
Capital_g
| Posted on Friday, June 19, 2009 - 03:58 pm: |
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Nice! I have been thinking about doing a bike like this one for over a year now. Still just thinking though!
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Tattoodnscrewd
| Posted on Friday, June 19, 2009 - 04:00 pm: |
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I'll post up some pics of the build ... was cool to use a gas tank as a tail section ... Badlionsfan - yes .. the bike is now a cafe ... but when I got it it was a rat IMO ... Ironic thing is I am using the Japanese bike that almost killed the british bike industry (when the 69 CB750 came out it was the baddest bike of it's time) to create a brit styled bike ... thought that was kinda ironically funny during this process ... |
Court
| Posted on Friday, June 19, 2009 - 04:06 pm: |
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That's REALLY nice! |
Bob_thompson
| Posted on Friday, June 19, 2009 - 04:26 pm: |
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WELL DONE BRIAN! I love older remakes of cafe type racers. I did a Honda 750 in the late 70's shown below. It had a 1000 cc kit, duel Webers and duel discs up front and as you can see a Bi-centinennial color scheme. Sorry about the old picture guys. Keep 'em coming, lets see some others. Bob
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Tattoodnscrewd
| Posted on Friday, June 19, 2009 - 04:36 pm: |
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Here is a better shot of the tail section ... Also - some may notice that the seat is a tad long for your typical cafe racer - the wife likes the look of the vintage Honda better than the Buell's.. so I made it two-up - close quarters but not cramped - seats two fairly well .. although she was thinking I'd have more padding in the seat ... Oh well - can't win em all ... haha
Side view .. (Side covers take 3 weeeks to get .. so they will be on there soon as well)
And here are a few of part of the process of making the tail section ..
(Message edited by tattoodnscrewd on June 19, 2009) |
Not_purple_s2
| Posted on Friday, June 19, 2009 - 04:44 pm: |
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You are the man. |
Tattoodnscrewd
| Posted on Friday, June 19, 2009 - 04:51 pm: |
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Oh what the hell .. close-ups of the painted racing stripes on the tank - was really please how these turned out .. I got em right first try and I think they suit the bike well... haha
And I apologize ... I know it's not Buell related, but I am proud of the outcome of this project so far and thought I'd share .. |
Capital_g
| Posted on Friday, June 19, 2009 - 05:04 pm: |
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Tat - You got mad skilz dude! Nice fabrication work. |
Newbuellertoo
| Posted on Friday, June 19, 2009 - 05:58 pm: |
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I loved my 1974. Always wanted to give it the full Dunstall treatment but never did. Marriage, children, blah, blah. You know the story. Nice bike. Congrats. |
Ulynut
| Posted on Friday, June 19, 2009 - 07:36 pm: |
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Makes me want another one. Nice job. |
Lemonchili_x1
| Posted on Friday, June 19, 2009 - 07:50 pm: |
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Niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiice! Really nice work , I'd be proud to have that in my garage. |
Gregtonn
| Posted on Friday, June 19, 2009 - 08:25 pm: |
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Honda had a recall on those gas cap latches. They went to one that locked with a key. The idea was that bumping the latch during an accident could result in the rider being soaked with fuel. G |
Gjwinaus
| Posted on Friday, June 19, 2009 - 08:40 pm: |
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I've still got my old Honda 4 ( My family motto is "you never sell a bike") Tattoodnscrewd, I like what you did with the rear section of the tank to make the duck tail. I've started rebuilding mine to ride with the Vintage Japanese motor cycle owners club. ( if this is a vintage motorcycle I'm afraid of what that makes me). As to your tin work, I did the same sort of thing, I added the top rear section of a RG250 ? tank to my tank to increase the range,13 litres to 18 litres. Then rode it from Melbourne to Alice spring and back, something like 3000 km round trip in 7 days and the Honda was18 years old when I did that, I would still do it again on the old Honda now, they were/are such good bikes.
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Tattoodnscrewd
| Posted on Friday, June 19, 2009 - 08:51 pm: |
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The idea was that bumping the latch during an accident could result in the rider being soaked with fuel. Not sure about any recall, but I know they changed from that style completely (locking one as well)to the flap door style with the gas cap under the door for that reason ... but really if you look how hard it is to open that cap ... not likely it will 'pop' open - I think they only changed it in the 'fear of it possibly happening' .... I dunno .. I think that gas spilling would be the least of my problems if I were to crash ... I actually hunted down a tank with this pop top cap as opposed to the trap door style from 76-77 .. the locking one would be cool though ... |
Chippy
| Posted on Friday, June 19, 2009 - 08:52 pm: |
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Pretty dope. You plan on putting rear sets on that? I have a cl175 I'm planning on doing the same thing to. When time and money allow... |
Tattoodnscrewd
| Posted on Friday, June 19, 2009 - 08:57 pm: |
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No rearsets ... 3 reasons ... 1 - would interfere with the passenger pegs .. 2 - with the CB400F SS gas tank - you are seated closer to the front which puts you in a really nice spot over the pegs - pretty much directly beneath your backside .. 3 - (and this is the most important to me actually) - with rearsets I wouldn't be able to use the kickstart, they'd get in the way ... I tried a set on and preferred the stockers on this bike .. |
Chippy
| Posted on Friday, June 19, 2009 - 09:03 pm: |
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Still dope. |
Tattoodnscrewd
| Posted on Friday, June 19, 2009 - 09:18 pm: |
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Thanks everybody ... appreciate the compliments ! Lot of thought went into this one .. and quite a few late nights in the garage .. My original plan was to have the bike done by August 9th - for Rockerbox .. a local street party and motorcycle show ... but during Homecoming a buddy at Hal's informed me that he was getting married this Saturday and that the reception was to be a 50's themed sock-hop .. said get the bike done .. Needless to say I busted my tail getting it to this point .. lots more to do but at least the hard stuff is out of the way |
Gregtonn
| Posted on Friday, June 19, 2009 - 09:26 pm: |
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I had the '75 CB400F SS with that same setup. The recall latch button looked the same except it had a slot that you stuck the key in, rotated it 90* then pushed the button to release it. I agree. The cap looks much better than the flap cover style. That is a great looking bike. G |
Vortec57
| Posted on Saturday, June 20, 2009 - 11:22 am: |
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Couple of sweet Honda cafe bikes there. I should have mine done within the next month or so with some luck. Got it just over a year ago as well. |