Before we get into the motorcycle discussion, how about a little back ground about us? I say us because there will most likely be two people using the account to update the build thread as time goes on.
The owner of the motorcycle is my girlfriend Stef. Stef has been riding motorcycles for years. First started on a Honda S65 and then moved up to a CB400f. Stef currently owns a 2016 Triumph Street Twin, 1989 Honda Hawk, 1977 CB400F, and a 2009 Honda Metropolitan scooter. Stef walks dogs for a living....yup i said it, dog walker and petsitter. Pretty fantastic.
My name is Nick, probably the one you'll hear from mostly. I've been riding for some time now and don't plan on stopping anytime soon. I own a 2013 Honda CBR600RR and a 2009 Honda Metropolitan scooter (heavily modified). Plans to get ahold of a 900F to do my thing with in the future. We both live in Portland where we only get about four months of GOOD riding weather a year.
Now lets get onto the important thing. We're currently restoring and building her 1977 Honda CB400F. She has owned this motorcycle twice. She bought it a few years ago and really didn't do much but ride it a few times. Had some electrical issues and had some motor problems. She had some work done to the engine, pretty much a full rebuild from the bottom up. The 400 ran pretty well while it was cold, then had some issues once up to temperature. The time came when she decided she wanted a "new" and motorcycle. She looked into the new Street Twin and fell in love. Sold her 400 as well as her 2013 Honda CBR500R to put a chunk down on the Triumph and that was that. About six months later she came across the 400 back up for sale on craigslist here in town. One phone call later, the 400 was on its way back to the garage to join the rest. The guy who had it made a few changes. He put LED front and rear turn signals on it as well as a LED tail light. He cut down the front fender a bit and painted the tank Yellow and the side covers Black. He also had a different seat made and installed.
This is what the 400 looked like when she sold it the first time.
Then when she got it back it looked like this.
While she does not mind the yellow at all, she would much prefer going back to the original color that came on the 400. I have about ten years of automotive painting in my background so the paint work is the easy part. While I have done numerous scooter builds, I have never tacked an actual motorcycle. She has also never done any kind of rebuild or restoration of any kind. We sat down and discussed a game plan for what she wanted to do. Basically decided we wanted to just clean up the whole motorcycle, upgrade the front end with modern brakes, and do the paint scheme that she wants.
