Author Topic: Seeley 519 (Read 46679 times)

SOHC4 Cafe Racer Fan · « **Reply #50 on:** January 31, 2015, 07:39:26 AM »

I'm not completely sure, either, but I would think much older - at least for the members with more posts under their belt. 30 is NOT old by measure of most people into vintage motorcycles

01Thomas · « **Reply #51 on:** February 01, 2015, 02:08:04 AM »

subscribed.
I'm also in the process of rebuilding my Seeley Honda and will start a rebuild thread pretty soon.

SF · « **Reply #52 on:** February 01, 2015, 07:31:26 AM »

Subscribed! Nice to learn about the specials. Jaguar happy bday...I turned 40 on the 30th, nice to have a day in the winter to get some garage time and nobody can say no to ya!

jaguar · « **Reply #53 on:** February 01, 2015, 02:58:35 PM »

Got some wheels for the bike. Well if you are quick on your feet you will see that these wheels are in the introduction post. Some stuff is going a little out of order, but should still be fun.

When I was back home for thanksgiving I was cruising the local CL and stumbled across some Lester wheels for a SOHC CB750. I am not only a HUGE fan of these wheels, but had really wanted to find a set for the Seeley as many of the bikes that were built used them. Was able to find out that Seeley offered Lester wheels, and a few other “options” when buying parts/bikes from him.

For those that don’t know Lester was a wheel maker “back in the day” they offered mag wheels for a number of different bikes. While I do not know production numbers for sure, it does seem that they made more wheels then say Henry Abe, Shelby, or the like. They are not full race wheels like Haytashi or Kimtab, instead they were more or a performance street wheel. My plan is to actually weigh them to see if there is any savings or not. To be honest I just really like the look. Lester made 19in and 18in front wheels. Would love to run a 18in front, but those don’t come up often. For the rear the option was an 18in or a more chopper like 16in rear wheel. The 18 inch rear is much more sought after. These are OEM replacement wheels and were produced for the K bikes with a rear drum and the F bikes with a rear disk. If you come across a rear drum wheel check the casting for the number 20200, that indicates a SOHC CB750 fitment. The size will be stamped into one of the spokes.

Front wheels are different for the K and F bikes in the same way the OEM wheels are. All factory brake parts bolt directly to the Lester wheels in the same manor as the original wheels. You need to make sure you get the right wheel for your application.

The 69-76 K bikes run a 6 bolt front rotor and can be seen in this Lester.

The 77-78 SuperSports have a 5 bolt front rotor. You can not run a 6 bolt wheel on a 5 bolt bike or the other way around.

I will be running dual discs on the Seeley. This conversion is done exactly the same as if I was running the stock wheels.

Because it is fun to place parts near each other and pretend it is a whole motorcycle

I really do like these wheels, have used them a few times.
My CB/CR750 project has a set. These are the latter wheels with triple discs.

Had a K1 project that I was doing a few years ago. Told you it was fun to pile junk near stuff to make it look like a bike.

Then the same bike pretending to be a drag racer. Sadly the K1 never really got finished. Parted out some stuff when I ran out of space at the inn. Then traded what was left for a large lathe.

Riceman · « **Reply #54 on:** February 01, 2015, 04:23:58 PM »

Is there much difference in weight between the Lesters and wire spoked aluminum rims?
or any cast aluminum rims for that matter.

jaguar · « **Reply #55 on:** February 01, 2015, 04:47:29 PM »

My gut says no, not really. Maybe a little, but I dont think it would be enough to really drive you one way or another. I do plan to weigh the wheels though as a few people have been interested in that.

Idea is that these threads should be entertaining and informative. If there is anything that pops up, I would love to be able to find answers to interesting questions.

Greggo · « **Reply #56 on:** February 01, 2015, 07:22:30 PM »

I very un-scientifically weighed a stock CB500 set of rims compared to the set of Lesters I was installing and found a weight difference of a pound or two in the front IIRC...can't remember the difference in the rear, but the Lester was definitely lighter, and all that is un-sprung weight.

Riceman · « **Reply #57 on:** February 01, 2015, 08:07:48 PM »

Hope you don't mind me cluttering your thread with some info I found...
basic knowledge but he words it nicely...

"Wheel weight
By Damon I'Anson
Lowering the weight of any part of a bike, sprung or otherwise, will have advantages in terms of acceleration – thrust divided by weight equals acceleration, so either adding power or reducing weight will give a quicker bike. Losing 3kg from a 100bhp, 200kg bike is roughly equal to gaining one extra horsepower.

Should that weight have been removed from a wheel it will have even more effect on acceleration, as power is used in accelerating the rotation of the wheel (along with tyres, sprockets, discs) itself. Any weight saved on these rotating parts, means less power used in spinning them up to speed and a consequent increase in the power left to accelerate the mass of the whole bike."

SOHC4 Cafe Racer Fan · « **Reply #58 on:** February 01, 2015, 08:17:09 PM »

I recently purchased a pair of 19/18 Lesters for my 550 project. I believe they are slightly lighter than stock. They are also thinner in terms of the spoke clearance. I could not mount my AP calipers on my stock front wheel due to spoke clearance but the mag spokes are less wide.

scottly · « **Reply #59 on:** February 01, 2015, 08:36:58 PM »

I've heard that Morris wheels are lighter than Lesters, but I can't confirm that. My Morris 19" front, with tire, weighed about 2 pounds more than a K7 front steel spoke wheel with tire. The bare front Morris with the bearing hubs was about 13.5 pounds.
My 18" rear Morris with alloy sprocket and disc brake was significantly lighter than a K7 17" steel spoke wheel with drum brake and a steel sprocket, like 10-11 pounds.

atm cycles · « **Reply #60 on:** February 03, 2015, 04:23:38 PM »

Jag. I think perhaps your bike was a race bike or track bike. It had a 18" shouldered Aluminum front rim and a 18"x3 did aluminum rear. Had modified forks air adjustable. A geeez electronic ignition. It also last had a k1 engine

jaguar · « **Reply #61 on:** February 03, 2015, 05:34:37 PM »

Quote from: atm cycles on February 03, 2015, 04:23:38 PM

Jag. I think perhaps your bike was a race bike or track bike. It had a 18" shouldered Aluminum front rim and a 18"x3 did aluminum rear. Had modified forks air adjustable. A geeez electronic ignition. It also last had a k1 engine

The bike was not stamped as a race bike when built. But I assume it is very possible that it was raced before.
18 front and rear makes perfect sense for this bike. How were the forks modified?

atm cycles · « **Reply #62 on:** February 04, 2015, 03:04:03 AM »

I'll try to take some pictures for you. Looks like seals are pinned. On top of sliders looks like another seal
Portion of sliders with seals was machines and added. So possibly double seals? Caps are drilled and tapped with nipple to except air. Looks like you would use a needle like inflating a ball

atm cycles · « **Reply #63 on:** February 04, 2015, 06:37:06 AM »

Also had a 550 rear hub and axle

atm cycles · « **Reply #64 on:** February 04, 2015, 06:43:35 AM »

Front had dual drilled disk and what I think must have been 550 calipers and hangers as bult holes are closer together than 750's. Also fork slider,caliper hangers and valve covers are chromed

jaguar · « **Reply #65 on:** February 04, 2015, 06:48:55 AM »

Sounds like relatively standard "back in the day mods" and makes a lot of sense that they would have been done to the bike.

jaguar · « **Reply #66 on:** February 06, 2015, 04:12:45 AM »

Well since I don’t have a garage of my own to work out of I am forced to do small jobs at my apartment and plan the full garage time differently then I normally would.

Figured the best place to start was to fill in one of the missing pieces of the project, the rear axle adjustors. Interestingly enough Seeley used a similar adjustor type on most of his bikes.

Here is what I have to work with right now.

The axle parts that are pictured is everything that I have right now. Everything, save the axle, is alloy and very light. Can see that it seems to use the stock Honda drum stay.

The number 19 is stamped into the arm indicating it is original to the frame.

The design that was used is very similar to some of the Ducatis of the time. The swing arm uses round tubing that has an outer diameter of 35mm. The adjustor would ride on the inside of the tube and have a cap to pass a threaded rod used to adjust the axle position. This should be a simple enough piece to make on a lathe. Will try and draw something up one day at work with the needed dimensions.

When the axle is installed in the swing arm you can see how the adjuster would ride inside the tubes.

Was poking around on the good old interwebs looking for better pictures of the Ducati adjustor types because there are almost no pictures of the Seeley ones and found some images of the adjustors that are used on a Ducati Sport Classic.

Those look like they are a cast part, but the same effect can be made out of billet or any other good block of alloy.

If you look really close at the picture I posted of the Seeley “kit” you can see the adjustors, it is the only picture of the parts I could find.

Did some quick poking around and found some 30mm bar stock that might work well for this.

scottly · « **Reply #67 on:** February 06, 2015, 05:42:59 PM »

The Seeley Honda adjusters are just like the kit pic; simply round slugs with a stud threaded in and a cross hole for the axle. The OD is a close slip fit in the swing arm, and the cross hole is a close slip fit over the axle, and needs to be centered in the slug. The end cap has a step that fits into the end of the tube about .100" deep, IIRC.

jaguar · « **Reply #68 on:** February 06, 2015, 06:04:59 PM »

Thanks for the picture.
I have some 30mm delron scrap at work that I might try and use to mock up everything.
Dont worry, will make it out of alloy for real.

scottly · « **Reply #69 on:** February 06, 2015, 06:18:54 PM »

What is the ID of the swing arm tube?

jaguar · « **Reply #70 on:** February 07, 2015, 05:15:15 AM »

31mm I think.
I'll remeasue today

jaguar · « **Reply #71 on:** February 07, 2015, 06:45:15 AM »

just measured.
30.50mm

scottly · « **Reply #72 on:** February 07, 2015, 06:17:55 PM »

It would be nice if someone with a non-running Seeley could measure their adjusters.

jaguar · « **Reply #73 on:** February 07, 2015, 06:30:35 PM »

Well I have to work on a post with a fair number of questions this week.
Been working on the bike a lot, I'm behind already on updates.
But have come across a few hurdles I could use a hand with already.

jaguar · « **Reply #74 on:** February 07, 2015, 06:35:42 PM »

Well some forward progress has happened. I was able to source a suitable parts bike to work with. I want to thank those that offered some very good deals on some bikes to help me out. I am especially looking at you Mr ATMCycles, hope I didn’t burn a bridge by not taking you up on your offer. Ultimately the parts bike came from a local person I met.

As with anything things changed. I had this super naïve idea in my head of finding a bike with near perfect mechanicals but it’s time in storage had taken its toll on the body work. Maybe something that was super ugly because a rat had eaten the seat. My delusion was super specific, and interesting. But at the end of the day reality set in.

I have often said “if it says Honda on it, then it is not rare”. I still stand by that. Sure in recent times a good base is harder to come by, but bikes are out there. Some only use CL or the web to find a bike, but the fact is that if you venture to clubs, or other enthusiasts stuff can be found.

This was not the cheapest CB750 I have bought, that record goes to a 71 that I bought will drunk and playing on my phone.

The bike I bought for the Seeley build came from a local owner with vintage interests. Funny that he lives about 5 miles from my office. When I was still daydreaming about finding the perfect parts bike I passed on this bike because of the oxidation on the cases and some missing parts. Stupid, I know.

Well I wised up and one wonderfully winter evening I helped to push this heap out of a garage and loaded her up. There is nothing like standing on the side of the road when it is -10f after dark pushing a CB750 into a minivan.

Got the bike back to my friends shop space. I could see in his eyes that he was less then trilled at so much ugly taking up space. I had kind of hyped the Seeley build up to him as this amazingly rare bike that would just take the minimal amount of space, and also not be an eye sore.

Bike is a 1974 and this will work just fine. Actually it is almost perfect as the Seeley is a 1975 so the numbers will kinda, sorta be correct. As if there is any correct for this bike.
Motor turns over. Oil is clean. Came with a very clean set of stock OEM carbs and a nice set of side covers. Overall it will work just fine. I cant see it being economical for someone to want to restore it back to its original glory. I view it as saving it from a fate of being hacked up for some hipster “café racer” project. This bike does have a clear title, unsure if I will be able to title the bike as a 1975 Seeley yet so a Honda title might come in handy.

Most of the plan remains the same though. I will spend a weekend swapping the stock Honda parts from my parts bike to the Seeley frame. Will use the left over unneeded parts to barter for the ones I do need. So if there is something you see that I will not use that you can use please feel free to reach out.

Don’t plan on running the stock forks as I want to upgrade to a set of GL1000 forks, but will use them for now as a mock up tool. Same with the wheels, I will run the lesters. I just need to not have a pile of Honda stuff in my friend’s garage, so it must stay a roller. I need to find out if the Seeley frame uses the stock CB750 Honda steering head bearings. If that is the case I need to send the guys at allballs a few of my dollars.

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Author Topic: Seeley 519 (Read 46679 times)