Author Topic: Looking for information on this bike. (Read 2308 times)

riverfever · « **on:** July 25, 2013, 07:02:22 pm »

I am looking for any information on this bike or others that are like it. I don't even know what you would call this (brat, tracker, etc.)? I'm interested in replicating something along these lines for shorter tours here in Colorado where I camp out and fly fish. I don't think there's anything crazy going on with this bike in terms of making it happen but not sure. One thing I would do differently is try to come up with a way to install hard cases that are more commonly seen on HD's (think the parallelogram shaped style) to hold gear. Any ideas?

brooze72 · « **Reply #1 on:** July 25, 2013, 07:12:57 pm »

Could be a 350/450 twin is my guess. Nicely done too, call it whatever you want. I'm thinking hard cases might kinda ruin the look tho. Not a bike for camping out...unless you drive the bike there & get the GF to bring the gear by car

78whiteorbs · « **Reply #2 on:** July 25, 2013, 07:15:35 pm »

http://thekneeslider.com/honda-cb350-brat-style-custom/

cb350 brat that looks cool, believe it is a 68-69 year. Those years had the tank with pads ( so did of the same year cb175 I believe) .
Now the bummer- those firestones may look cool but are pretty dangerous for anything else much beside straight line driving on sunny days with no wind (seriously) Wouldn't take much to replicate but if you want to tour in Colorado do yourself a favor and get a cb450 twin and brat it out. Even better is a cb550 (sohc).
you like the beefy tire look get yourself some Enduro tires. Great compromise IMHO

hope that helps bud-

riverfever · « **Reply #3 on:** July 25, 2013, 07:37:09 pm »

OK the real story here is that several years ago I got my first motorcycle and promptly rode like a jack ass, wrecked, and sold it shortly afterwards. Until this summer, I did long distance mountain biking (like the length of the Colorado Trail). I now have an issue with a disc in my neck which prevents me from cycling much at all. So...I'd like to get another motorcycle and do things the right way (take a safety class, get an actual endorsement). Something like an F800GS would be perfect but I can't drop that kind of coin for an experiment. About 2 months ago, a friend found a CB650 Custom in a barn and picked it up cheap but it hadn't run in 2 years. I love to tinker and since he doesn't know much about mechanics, he asked if I would work on it. I did. I got it running and really had a blast playing with it and riding it around town. I started thinking that something like this would be an inexpensive and fun way for me to be slowly introduced to motorcycles. If I hate them, I can sell it and not be out that much if at all. If I dig it (which I think I will after taking the right steps) then maybe 4 years down the road I can look at something more suited to rough trails/exploring. But I don't know that I would want to get rid of the CB. I have been looking at CB550's because I prefer the spoked wheels (although it looks like some other models came with them in other years and it also doesn't look like there would be much issue with swapping wheels).

Can't believe you found a link to that bike. I can't even recall where I found that pic but I think it was a google search. Thank you. Good to know on the tires. When you say enduro tire are you simply meaning something with knobbier tread? I'm not sure what direction I really want to go yet. I immediately started thinking cafe but I don't know that my neck would like that either. Then I found this and was intrigued. I think I'd like to simplify the bike by losing the bigger lights and turn signals and go with a bar that's lower but more swept back and then just ride it and learn.

RAFster122s · « **Reply #4 on:** July 25, 2013, 08:02:21 pm »

You are going to want to use aluminum hard bags as a saddle bag made out of plastic could fail when you might take a spill when out in the woods or trails. The military food cans known as mermite cans are popular on adventure touring bikes. They are oval shaped cans, not the parellogram shaped bags. Nice thing is the Mermite cans have a water resistant lid design with rubber seal. Some guys will make their own from wood and clad them in thin diamondplate or aluminum or brushed aluminum for more durability. Unless you buy them, if you are making them you will either have to know how to tig weld aluminum or braze aluminum or come up with other ways around the issue.
With a good glue you can clad curved surfaces giving the edges a much sleeker look. Some use a mix of clad panels with wood stained and finished.

brooze72 · « **Reply #5 on:** July 25, 2013, 08:07:20 pm »

river, it's good you're sharing your thoughts as it helps everyone give you honest advice. Sorry about your limitations caused by your neck, it should be seriously consdidered when choosing the type of bike you ride. Believe me, each style of bike has a purpose, be it adventure, brat, street or whatever & using the wrong one because you like the look can be a painful mistake. You seem interested & drawn to the sport even though you had a bad experience, & now you want to learn a better way, that's awesome. Do some research, try out a few bikes whenever you can & see what might fit your lifestyle, then you will really enjoy our shared passion. Attitude is the most important attribute.

riverfever · « **Reply #6 on:** July 25, 2013, 08:14:23 pm »

Well crap. I hadn't even considered the HD cases breaking. Trust me with my last experience...I should. Graceful it was not. Now I have some thinking to do. About that and tires.

Retro Rocket · « **Reply #7 on:** July 25, 2013, 08:42:02 pm »

Quote from: Brooze72 on July 25, 2013, 08:07:20 pm

river, it's good you're sharing your thoughts as it helps everyone give you honest advice. Sorry about your limitations caused by your neck, it should be seriously considered when choosing the type of bike you ride. Believe me, each style of bike has a purpose, be it adventure, brat, street or whatever & using the wrong one because you like the look can be a painful mistake. You seem interested & drawn to the sport even though you had a bad experience, & now you want to learn a better way, that's awesome. Do some research, try out a few bikes whenever you can & see what might fit your lifestyle, then you will really enjoy our shared passion. Attitude is the most important attribute.

+1, I think Brooze is hinting at the fact that the bike you are interested in is the wrong style of bike for what you want. It won't do anything for your neck in an offroad situation, which would be my main concern, look into a road trail bike , they are made for what you are suggesting...

riverfever · « **Reply #8 on:** July 25, 2013, 09:09:20 pm »

Hmmmm...well feel completely free to be honest. Seriously. I have a friend that I used to do long mountain bike events with that has turned towards offroad motorcycle touring. He currently has a KTM 640 that he offered to sell me for 2000 but I was worried about doing that because then I'd really have to buy a lot of off road gear to see if I liked it or not. Is that more along the lines of what you are suggesting?

RAFster122s · « **Reply #9 on:** July 25, 2013, 10:13:51 pm »

The adventure bikes and off road bikes have plenty of suspension to handle the terrain. The NC700X or new CB500X are a couple bikes that might suit your desires, just not the looks. The Transalp is an older Honda adventure bike design with cult following. Knobby treaded tires do great in the dirt but really poorly when pushed on the street.
A brat styled bike is not going to do well off road as it won't have the suspension travel needed or the ground clearance.

riverfever · « **Reply #10 on:** July 25, 2013, 10:37:56 pm »

This is all good info for me so thank you. Would a Brat styled bike or even the CB be able to handle nimble riding on forest roads or is it pretty much a street bike?

Retro Rocket · « **Reply #11 on:** July 26, 2013, 12:50:37 am »

Brat style bikes and cafe's and the like, are generally built based on nothing more than looks, for example, the fat tires look good on the bike you have posted but are really crap for anything other than short rides to the bar. They track badly and are not made with safety in mind, they are shocking in the rain. I have ridden on them end they are crap, also the brats I have seen usually have 2 inch lowered suspensions which isn't going to help, they are basically bar hopper style bikes, I would suggest something more practical... I am a fisherman too, I would not build that style of bike to go fishing....

Pn a side note, I use white poly tubing with screw on end caps to transport my fishing rods, I push in a couple of small pieces of foam to stop them moving around and have never damaged a rod using this method, cars, bikes, planes all good....

LesterPiglet · « **Reply #12 on:** July 26, 2013, 01:34:36 am »

I wonder how much heavier those tyres are compared to "real" ones. Lot's of unsprung weight. You can also see there isn't much travel in the front forks.

78whiteorbs · « **Reply #13 on:** July 26, 2013, 06:01:01 am »

modern enduro tires are pretty versatile - Pirelli Scorpions ,Kendra K761's , Metzeler Enduro 3 Sahara's just to name a few.
Most of these are like 80/20 tires meaning 80% street 20% offroad (but think like fire breaks here and there and maybe a gravel road or two ) I personally like the look of them and they suit my riding style just fine. Plenty fine for "normal " range riding and most riders arent gonna be pushing there 40 year old bikes into corners like they are CBR's. My opinion is that alot of people ride vintage bikes mostly for the looks as the performance although nostalgic are laughable technologically speaking versus the silkiness of a modern bike. Ride as many as you can then make your own decision . This is like trying all 36 flavors- part of the fun I think. I like em all but I dont due track days or anything so a brisk beefy bike with a good personality mates well with me -
Have fun!

754 · « **Reply #14 on:** July 26, 2013, 07:03:14 am »

I think with enduro tires, you would be fine, if you want to ride sanely.. I mean it has to be way better than any car in the bush, and thousands of people use cars to go fishing.
You did mean riding on roads right !
I have ridden a CB 750. On dirt roads quite a bit, even with a 4-1. Which cuts down clearance considerably.

riverfever · « **Reply #15 on:** July 26, 2013, 07:50:05 am »

Thanks for all the good feedback everyone. I appreciate it. I will look into enduro tires. I did mean riding on fire roads very sanely. I would never try to take that bike onto a trail. Maybe I just end up getting one because I really do like the look of it and it will give me a chance to get introduced to motorcycles. Thanks for all the help. I'll let you know what I end up doing.

riverfever · « **Reply #16 on:** July 27, 2013, 08:18:36 am »

Hey here's a question I thought of this morning. If I was to leave a motorcycle and be out of sight fishing for a while, would it be a good idea to somehow lock it up? It would seem (to me at least) that stealing something like a 450/550 wouldn't be all that difficult for 2 guys and a pickup. What do you all do?

Retro Rocket · « **Reply #17 on:** July 27, 2013, 03:58:47 pm »

Thats one reason i would get an endure style bike, park it where you fish.. Most of the good land based fishing spots i go to are hard to get to, the easy to get to places are fished out... I'm going fishing in an hour....

Damfino · « **Reply #18 on:** July 27, 2013, 06:51:18 pm »

9 7 11 020

1970 Honda CB350

754 · « **Reply #19 on:** July 27, 2013, 10:08:24 pm »

Man, I thought they were gonna show him out fishing with the bike..

riverfever · « **Reply #20 on:** July 27, 2013, 10:12:10 pm »

Quote from: Retro Rocket on July 27, 2013, 03:58:47 pm

Thats one reason i would get an endure style bike, park it where you fish.. Most of the good land based fishing spots i go to are hard to get to, the easy to get to places are fished out... I'm going fishing in an hour....

While we do have a lot of remote fishing here in Colorado, some of the places that are just a bit out of town (and Gold Medal water) have parking lots and then you hoof it. Cheeseman Canyon has about a 20 minute hike to get in. These are the places that I fish the most. I don't know that I would ride to these places but security in general crossed my mind. We're supposed to have rain and colder temps (60's) tomorrow so I'll be out throwing massive streamers and mouse patterns for trout. I'm out about 5 days each week.

LesterPiglet · « **Reply #21 on:** July 28, 2013, 03:00:17 am »

Those tyres are scary. You didn't see him doing the 96 point turn at the end of the street.

Xnavylfr · « **Reply #22 on:** July 28, 2013, 12:45:07 pm »

Now a days ANYTHING can be GONE IN 60 SECONDS.
A full sized van with a slider side door pulls up and 2 Gorillas grabs the bike and ADIOS""..

If the BIKE looks GOOD, chances of theft are GOOD! If it looks like it might fall apart if they just touch it, they may ask you to pay THEM to haul it away!!

Xnavylfr(CHUCK)

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Author Topic: Looking for information on this bike. (Read 2308 times)