Topic: 1980 CB650 Custom resurection

[steved650]

First I'd like to thank you guys for all the great advice and knowledge.  Probably saved me a years worth of trial and error especially trouble shooting some of the electrical issues I had. 

I bought my 1980 CB650 custom for $500 off a retired guy who inheritted it from his father inlaw. He had it for 5 years but could never get it going.  I dragged it home, got the choke valves to free up and within a couple turns had it started!  This is my first bike since I was a kid.

After that I earned by CB wings and pulled those dam carbs off and on about 6 times haha till I finaly got it right.  Then I spent about a month searching for front shocks that would pass a safety and a bunch of other little nightmares that were holding me back....electrical Ghosts!!

[steved650]

[steved650]

Havin problems adding photos here so just reposting...  Here is the bike as is brought home.  Nice shape for sitting about 5 years.

[steved650]

I really started out wanting to cut down and build a bobber but the more i looked online and the more cafe's i saw I fell in love with the lines.  So on my shoe string budget I bought the exact year and model parts bike for $100 so I had something to try stuff out on while I rode mine that summer.  First I decided to chop the seat from the parts bike.  I used a die grinder with rough and fine discs, drew lines with marker and started carving down the passenger part and eventually cut about 3/4" of height out of the seat as well.

[steved650]

Then I decided the rear fender had to go along with the harley style rear light.  I bought a set of cats eye lights and carved up an eyebrow shaped bracket to house the lights and give the seat somewhere to end.  I used this to match the curve of the seat dropping back.  By the way the last shot here shows the bracket from the rear...was really surprised first time I rode how much travel that rear tire does when I hit the flat edge of the bracket....after that I carved a semi circle to match the tire shape and no more rubbing.

[steved650]

I kept working the seat until I was happy with the shape which was actually hard to tell.  An all white seat makes it very hard to see the lines.  I had a shop in town recover the seat for me...$70 and did an awsome job!!  I actually jumped up and down once when he first handed me the seat.  A little paint for the bracket, changed the handle bars out and actually used motocross bars....look great to me but not comfortable on the throttle hand.

Skip forward a few more weeks and here we have it as it stands today. 

I am now in the process of pulling the motor for new gaskets...leaking more and more.  Going to paint the jugs and polish everything else.

[steved650]

And again thanks everyone for all the ideas and info.  I will post some ongoing pics as I pull apart the engine and paint.  This is the first bike I've ever owned and modified...so Its been a huge learning curve with alot of help pushing me in the right direction.  Cheers

[steved650]

One more shot in the back yard.

[starsnbars89]

WOW!! I REALLY like that seat/taillight setup! I've been playing with different ideas as to how to do up mine, and you, sir, have inspired me! I LOVE that! Very nice, very nice. Well done. Earned your wings, indeed!

[steved650]

Thanks stars....I've got a few more pics of the bracket and seat while I was cutting if you want to see more detail.  I'd be happy to send you some dimensions to if you like.  Was actually pretty easy and the lights were inexpensive although not the best quality.

[starsnbars89]

I would like that very much, thank you. I've seriously been wrestling with what direction to take my seat, taillight setup for months now. I like cafes, but I'd like to retain the passenger seat and I hate the bulbous 'bump' that cafe passengers get. I've seen setups similar to yours on HD's and the like when they do a street bob, but I could never imagine it done cleanly on one of these girls. Very nice. Flows perfectly with my project!

[DV2000NJ]

Nice man!  I'm digging that tail light setup a lot.

Just pulled the carbs off of my '80 650 for about the 6th time last night, hopefully it was the last time! haha.

[steved650]

Ya those damn carbs.  I finally figured out that I could pull the bowls, floats and jets then submerge the whole bank about an 1-1/2" deep in carb cleaner in a long shallow dish.  Let that sit for about 8 hours and they were totally clean without having to pull everything apart or worry about getting seals and stuff messed up.  Good luck!

[steved650]

Here are some sketches and pics of the bracet for the rear tail light.  It was made from 3 pieces.  I made the eyebrow first to match the contour of the seat then I made the support pieces underneath to set the height etc. to match seat size.  All the mounting holes matched positions on the frame, I drilled those last into the bracket and didn't have to drill anyting on frame.

[steved650]

Bracket

[steved650]

Bracket

[steved650]

Here is the seat finished.  If you look at the earlier pics added you can see that I cut about 3" of foam off the back, I just used a hacksaw and cut it straight off.  There is a plastic pan underneath that I eventually had the guts to cut clean off as well haha.  I took the material off the seat and made some rough lines with a marker on the foam as to where I wanted to end up.  The I used a hacksaw blade to take off a couple big pieces and then used a die grinder with rough pad....be carefull here cause the grinder wants to dig in quick.  I slowly made passes and eventually took about 3/4" of height out of the seat and sloped the back completely towards the rear tire.  I didn't even try to do the upholstery part, i figured that is the part that will either make it or break it and I'm really glad I spent the $70 to have someone who knows what they were doing.

[steved650]

You can see here how much length was taken off the back end.

[steved650]

Here you can see the difference in seat height.  I kept the back end of where the driver seat ends about the same position as well as the front of the seat starting point.