Topic: Seeley 519

[jaguar]

I remember those. That was when he was wanting to trade for a running cb. I kick myself now.

I even helped post it around in VinMoto and such.  Figured someone would snatch it up.
Was listed for a while, but it ended up with me.

ATMCycle ended up with the wheels and the forks after I bought the frame/tank.

I also have the polished rockers and old school electronic ignition for that bike. Rockers I need can probably be talked out of ignition.

Small treasure from the engine.  Guess I never really knew what was inside that engine. 
Im planning on running a magneto on this.  If not I have a spare Dyna set up I will use.

[BPellerine]

finding out where they came from is cool,sometimes a great story,old school stuff on the road soon!bill

Think I saw on FB that you got an RC set up to replace your ARD?

in addition to my ard good deal so had to do it.bill

[jaguar]

ARD good deal?
Hoarding parts?  That's my job!

If you are listing stuff let me know.

[BPellerine]

got the dist from a friend who looks out for me so I just had to have it,not often this stuff come up in Canada,I have a choice now.we are not as lucky as the guys that trip over rc big blocks!haha bill

[jaguar]

got the dist from a friend who looks out for me so I just had to have it,not often this stuff come up in Canada,I have a choice now.we are not as lucky as the guys that trip over rc big blocks!haha bill

Yeah they don't pop up every day.
If you need help servicing the units let me know.

[jaguar]

Been slightly slow going, but I am still moving along.  Have a few mini projects that I moved to the apartment to get done too.

Lost three weekends to my new hobby, SCUBA!
Going through a PADI class and getting certified.
Also been swamped at the office.

But enough of the excuses, im happy with the pace. 
Back to the bike

Had some time in the garage and thought a quick update would be nice.  I am very close to starting the engine in the Seeley frame for the first time.  Almost all of the wires are run and connected.  Just a few more small things need to be addressed before she runs. 


The drag pipes are just temporary until I find a suitable exhaust for the bike.

I like how much stock the bike has.  For now I am running the stock airbox, carbs, pegs, controls ect ect.  If not for the HUGE tank/seat I bet one could confuse this for a stock SOHC CB750.



Will be sure to update as soon as it is running.

[Retro Rocket]

Get rid of those handlebars    they're just not Seeley...

[jaguar]

Get rid of those handlebars    they're just not Seeley...

They very much need to go.
All I have at this very moment.

Swapping to a GL front end soon.
Bars are undecided.

Might do a higher rise clip on like the "super bike clip ons" I made up for a different project.

[jaguar]

Great news!
The Seeley now runs!


I am chalking this up in the win column.
I know I know.  I mainly took a running bike and swapped everything into the Seeley frame.
But it still counts as a small win.

Sticking to the plan of getting it running with the stock parts as much as I can.

Really need to find a suitable exhaust as the drag pipes are silly.
The hammer was a much needed tool.  Always is.



I ran the bike off an "IV" fuel tank, was going to see if I could clean the petcock in the Seeley tank and run it off that, but I saw that a VRT Corrado was trying to eat my friend.  Since it is his garage I use I figured I should save him.

After that the celebratory beers started.

Ordered a bunch of parts last week that have been slowly trickling in so I hope in the coming weeks I will really start to cross stuff off the list.
While the Seeley will not be at MidO this year, I will be there.  Hope to see some of you at the races.

[scottly]

Have you solved the chain adjuster issue?

[jaguar]

Have you solved the chain adjuster issue?

I have some measurements, but have not made/had the parts made yet.

[jaguar]

My new Norton is meeting the Seeley for the first time.

[BPellerine]

jeez guys getting nortons on here is making me miss mine that I sold many years ago!what year jag?bill

[jaguar]

1971

Looking forward to it.

[01Thomas]

IMHO the Commando was the best Norton ever, and the Fastback the prettiest.       

[BPellerine]

mine was a fastback,had all kinds of diff bodywork but that was the best.bill

[01Thomas]

:-)

mine was a fastback,had all kinds of diff bodywork but that was the best.bill

[jaguar]

Starting to think about "clip ons"

I have used Tarozzi products before and really like them.
They also offer different styles that I think will help integrate then onto the bike better.

Running a GL1000 front end so need 37mm.  Decided to look at clip ons because the OEM Honda Gl1000 top triple has a lot of pull back so bars might be more work then needed.  I figured I will shave the top mount and be done.

Main question is this.
What bar would you run?

Low rise?
http://www.fastfromthepast.com/55-0018

Straight?
http://www.fastfromthepast.com/59-0018

Offset?
http://www.fastfromthepast.com/58-0018

Not looking for anything extreme.  Figured the offset offered a lot of adjustability, and that I might not need the rise.

What do you guys think?

Also plan to piece together parts for the rearsets from Tarozzi as well, but that is down the line.




Also need a good option for a fork brace.
Telifix looks like the best option.
Superbrace is nice, but might be to much bling for the project.  I also think it is priced a bit much at $200.  But at the end of the day that is a drop in the bucket for these projects.

[SOHC4 Cafe Racer Fan]

Starting to think about "clip ons"

I have used Tarozzi products before and really like them.
They also offer different styles that I think will help integrate then onto the bike better.

Running a GL1000 front end so need 37mm.  Decided to look at clip ons because the OEM Honda Gl1000 top triple has a lot of pull back so bars might be more work then needed.  I figured I will shave the top mount and be done.

Main question is this.
What bar would you run?

Low rise?
http://www.fastfromthepast.com/55-0018

Straight?
http://www.fastfromthepast.com/59-0018

Offset?
http://www.fastfromthepast.com/58-0018

Not looking for anything extreme.  Figured the offset offered a lot of adjustability, and that I might not need the rise.

What do you guys think?

Also plan to piece together parts for the rearsets from Tarozzi as well, but that is down the line.




Also need a good option for a fork brace.
Telifix looks like the best option.
Superbrace is nice, but might be to much bling for the project.  I also think it is priced a bit much at $200.  But at the end of the day that is a drop in the bucket for these projects.

Jag,

I have used the Tarozzi rise clip-ons on my GL1000 front (grafted onto my 750).  Unfortunately, the pivot joint for the adjustable riser does not hold its position well.  Under normal steering forces, it is fine, but in loading my bike onto a truck ramp or offloading it, the weight of the bike caused the clip on to move out of position.  There are not grooves between the two joint surfaces to hold the position firmly under heavier load.  If you never load/unload your bike from a ramp, you might be fine.

I ended up replacing them with modern Vortex clip-ons with no adjustment, but they work very well.

Otherwise, I would recommend the straight or off-set clip-ons if you are going to use Tarozzis.

The Telefix brace is a great product.  I had to wait quite a long time to get mine, since they are not stocked by the two US Dealers. 

[jaguar]

Got a link to those US dealers?
I have the part number, but so far everything takes me overseas.

Thanks

[SOHC4 Cafe Racer Fan]

There were 2 dealers at the time I sourced mine.

Spec II will order one for you, but their communication sucks.  You have to follow up with email and voicemail.

http://www.spec2.com/clips.html

I believe I got mine from a different dealer, who responded faster (but I cannot find a link for them or remember the name). The price was higher than Spec 2.  Spec 2 finally emailed me back a month after I got the brace.

[01Thomas]

I like clip-ons and I fitted them to my Seeley when I first built the bike. On my first Moto Guzzi 850 Le Mans I did more than 120 000 km with the stock clip-ons, board-hard seat, stock rear-set footpegs and all. My Yamaha came with factory clip-ons and I'm equally happy with them. What I'm trying to say is that I'm very comfortable with low clip-ons and good for you in fitting them to your bike (not that you need my approval, but anyway).

I'll take some photos of mine and you can see what they look like. They are not a particular brand and may well have been made up for this bike. They are angled downwards and are very short - so much so that I had to shorten the brake master cylinder by about 10 mm to make it fit.
I'll be traveling for the next two days and when I'm back I'll take a photo.

[jaguar]

What good is a motorcycle without a good set of forks.  I have decided to go with a really slammed look for this bike.  Figure if I can lower it to the weeds that I will get it to handle like it is on rails, and it will look baller in the pictures!

Just kidding.

I spent a fair bit of time thinking about what front end to use.  I knew I wanted something that was better then the stock CB750 35mm forks.  But didn’t know what to do.  I got a bunch of great suggestions from early R6 forks to Ceriani GPs.

My finial decision was a bit of a cop out.  I went with a Gl1000 front end.  It is larger then stock, already has twin rotors and is a known swap.  Knowing that I am limited to the amount of fabrication work I can realistically get done I thought this would limit the variables.  It is also nice that I can service the whole bike with OEM Honda parts and get spares easily.

Because people love pictures, even if they are lame.

I bought a complete swap.  From the triple to the axles.  Should make life easier on me and get me up and running faster then other front ends would have.

Do plan to talk to RaceTech about springs and cartridge inserts.  Also would like to have the rotors drilled.  Will be placing and order this week for all the needed rebuild parts for the forks and calipers.

One swap that really stuck in my head for a while was a set of 38mm Marzocchi forks that popped up here.


I LOVE that the top clamp was made to look like a factory Honda.  Love that they are uber rare and that this setup would be a straight bolt on for a CB750.  I chickened out on it though.  Part of me was just being cheap and didn’t want to spend the money (four times what a GL1000 swap is) and part of me didn’t think that I would be a good enough rider to use them.  But that last excuse is BS.  I am not really a good enough rider to know the difference between a stock frame and a Seeley.  Probably will kick myself for not just biting the bullet and given the Seeley a front end that matched the rareness and performance of the frame.

Either way, the project marches forward.

[SOHC4 Cafe Racer Fan]

jag,

The GL1000 shock tubes are longer than the CB750 tubes by approximately 1.5-2 inches.  You can get custom tubes from Forking by Frank or extend 1.5" or so above the top triple clamp.  ALSO, talk to Race Tech about a custom spring about 2 things: (1) you will want a lighter spring rate, since the GL1000 is a heavier bike than the 750; (2) you will need a lighter spring rate IF you go with shorter tubes.  Otherwise, if you use their standard springs for a GL1000 for your weight, the ride will be oversprung, harsh and handle too much like it's on rails.

[jaguar]

Seeley 33 Brake Rebuild

Parts came in and I had a night in the garage so the front calipers got rebuilt.  Really love these old Hondas because with one order everything needed comes in little bags labeled “Honda”.  Makes life so easy.

Doing all the service and rebuilding this way really reinforced my decision to run the GL front end.  Sure there are better options out there, but this is an improvement over stock AND gets the project rolling and one step closer to riding much faster/easier.

Calipers were taken all the way apart to make sure that nothing stupid like a stuck bleeder would derail the project.  Then the following was replaced.  Only thing not OEM Honda was the pistons.

-Pistons
-Piston Seal
-Piston Dust Boot
-Sliders removed and greased
-Dust boots on caliper sliders

Will still need to order pads and speed bleeders.  Plan is to get some SlingShot braided lines when he gets stuff back in stock.

Have not decided on a master yet.  Got any advice?

Parts all laid out, well sorta.  More like a “here is the messy work bench I did the job on, but still figured I should take a picture”


All back together.  I am missing one of the bracket to leg bolts if anyone has one….


Would like to get the rotors drilled, but that can wait for now.