Starting Honda cafe bike build today

Donald seeing you can build/alter frames, one name comes to mind. "Richman". Search the web for Richman Hondas/Racers or something along those lines. He had a lot of stuff for the cafe Honda's.
Back then though they were called new products. You could copy one of his frames.

Or are you going older world than that? Like the Brit bikes old world?

 

While its not a balls out home built Cafe Racer like the one you are crafting and not sure if they exist over there but here's a new Honda sanitised one I snapped a couple of weeks ago at the local Honda stealership.

 

This I like Mind I have a soft spot for early GPz's seeing my first brand new bike was a '82 GPz550h2. :smile:

 

Grey are you thinking of Rickman?

Also, Tony Foale and Georges Martin should be added to the research list.

 

Yes Rickman. I didn't even notice I spelled it wrong. Daaaaa on me....

 

I really liked Alan Rickman in the Harry Potter flix until Harry was 37 and going bald.

 

I endurance raced a new one of those. I have a picture of me standing on on top of it after I wrecked it. I ended up trading it to my newspaper boy for a stereo.

Nice looking cafe bikes.

 

I went to a stealership and sat on one of these new bikes and it seemed too short and sort of cramped.
Maybe for a 20 year old that weighs 130 lbs it would be ok. I liked the looks of it.

 

Well here are 4 pics of what I did on the first day that i got the bike.

 

Well here are 4 pics of what I did on the first day that i got the bike.

A lot of dirt,leaves,and one spider.
I need to remove the exhaust so I can see if a jack will fit under it.
I got the exhaust off and found that in addition to heavy rust from sitting for 8 years that there were two head pipes smashed almost flat under the bike. I will only be able to save the muffler.

It too bad because that KERKER exhaust costs $600 nowdays.

Got the bike on the jack and removed the instruments, handlebars,controls,front forks and triple trees. After that I removed the wiring harness,all electrics and the carbs. Its 3:15 now. July 14th,2011

By the way this is the fuse box back in 1978! Just 3 fuses.

I also found out that this 1978 engine had the most upgrades of all the CB750s.
IT was stronger clutch was bigger. I will list all the changes later.

The carbs were very dirty on the outside and had some rust but the inside looked very clean from what I could see so far.

 

good luck to you sir......i am in the middle of a 78 cafe build myself. I hope for your sake that your project goes along at a much faster pace than mine has.......time and money, i always seem to have not enough of either!

 

Lets see it! Photo please?

 

Subscribed! Can't wait to see where you go with this one Donald!!

 

F2/F3 swingarm, iirc they're the same. Bolts in with a mm or two taken off inside the frame.

 

The day I brought it home...paid $500 for it. It turned over with a charger hooked to the battery. Carbs need rebuilding because it has sat since '96 so it wouldn't start. I did get it to run for a few seconds spraying starting fluid into the carbs. Also I changed the bars out because the oem was bent very much and i could hardly push it around.






Like i said......since '96




A bunch of crap taken off




This is where she is now, I need to rebuild the carbs and get them on to make sure it runs good, after that i will disassemble the rest of the way for fab work and powder coating. Possibly a custom mono shock swimgarm?????? I just don't know, everytime I look at it I get different ideas running through my head.

 

No photos yet.
My wife has our camera temporarily.
We should probably both have one.

Today was the fifth day and I have the engine OUT!
I layed the frame on the floor and just lifted the frame right off of the engine!
No problem. By myself too.

I have started cutting all the extra stuff off of the frame and sanding the affected areas.
I started ordering some parts.

The wheels seem to be one of the biggest problems.
I am thinking of using the front hub laced to a 19 inch aluminum rim. Get rid of more weight.
For the rear I will use the stock hub and a 18 inch rim. The original was 17". I will use a 4.3" wide front tire on a 2.5 inch wide rim.
The rear will be 5.1(130mm) tire on a 3.5 inch wide rim. Avon tires.

Stainless spokes .
I think the brakes will work better than they did stock because of the better technology brakes shoes.

I will post all the pics on Saturday.

BTW who_iz_phil ....That engine on your CB750 looks just as bad as mine!

There is a polished cylinder head cover on Ebay for sale right now. Saves a lot of work and expense.

 

Thanks for the heads up on the head.........i might just end up leaving it looking old. I want it to look kind of ratty but with a little bit of "modern" thrown in here and there

 

"i might just end up leaving it looking old. I want it to look kind of ratty but with a little bit of "modern" thrown in here and there"

But you need to put that corrosion in check on that aluminum. That white powder on the aluminum is chlorides. Use phosphoric acid on it. You can get some Metal Prep from West Marine or other places and treat that corrosion and stop it.
Then use alodine or paint the aluminum.

 

Just want to share with you folks........

 

Is this your bike?
Would like to find out what the rear wheel is off of. Thanks