Topic: 1974 CR750 Rickman

[saleman454]

A little background firts...
Last summer I purchased a 1974 rickman CR750 that had been sitting for approx 40 years, quite a few of those years under a deck so the chrome/nickle items have seen better days but the bike is 100% complete with low miles.

In the last 12 months I have disasembled it, ordered a ton of new Honda parts along with  the caliper seals, chain adjusters and other small items from England. Parts are quite a bit harder to find and my searching skills have been tested..

A few questions please. 
1. Does anyone know where to buy the rubber tank strap? The original is destroyed.
2. Should I seal the tank ( fiberglass) or just run aviation fuel ( whenever I get it running)?
3. The plexiglass windscreen appears to be light blue but I have seen other colors, does anyone know the factory color?  I need a new one
4. The frame is in need of help and most of the nickle items look to have a green/gray tint, kinda like they are powder coated, any suggestons if possible to clean up beforeI send out to be nickled, the frame will need the most work and I saw a post re: damage to the frame when re plating. Any help on this would be great.
5. Any suggestions on replacement 13in rear shocks, the ones on there are corroded bad and look like stock CB750 shock with (2) 10mm holes ( stock CB750 has holes on top only) but they look very similar. Too many options when it comes to shocks.

I will add a few photos when I get a chance.

Thanks in advance for your help.

[bryanj]

I suspect Rickman used Girling shocks when building, unfortunately they went years ago but Hagon took over the production rights.
They were always helpfull and if you tell them length between centres, size of holes and weight being carried they will tell you if they have a "standard" shock to fit or will need to make specials

[BenelliSEI]

Cool find! I’m doing a ‘74 Rickman Cr too. It’s been sidelined by my Sandcast find, but it will happen! Page down through the “Project Bike” files to find if and have a read! Post some pictures.

[RAFster122s]

Be sure that anyone nickel plating a frame that is braised knows it is a braised frame…typical plating processes have been known to turn a braised frame into a kit of tubes when they think they are dealing with a welded tubular frame…

[saleman454]

Day 1, out of a long ( maybe 40 years) storage. 2nd photo, tear down started. 

[C317414]

There are two good sources of parts and advice on Rickmans:  https://www.rickman-motorcycles.com, https://www.metisse-motorcycles.com

In addition to Hagon shocks, as bryanj mentioned, a good source of shocks for vintage bikes is Ikon:

https://www.ikonsuspension.com, and https://www.ikonsuspensionusa.com

[BenelliSEI]

You bike looks very complete! Mine was a race bike for all of it’s life, so slowly piecing back together all the hacked off and missing bits!

[Stev-o]

Great find and project!   Consider starting a thread in the "Project Shop" are so we can follow along and answer any other questions.

Question #2.  Do you plan on riding on the street? If yes, aviation fuel would not be practical unless you just plan on riding airport to airport.  Caswell makes a good product if you decide to go that route.

 https://caswellplating.com/caswell-epoxy-gas-tank-sealer-car-tanks-up-to-20-gal-1-quart.html

[saleman454]

 I contacted https://www.rickman-motorcycles.com, per Sue they are not shipping to the USA as of a few weeks ago. 

I will not be driving it far but coating the tank seems like a good answer.  I will check out the shock website too.

I have all of my parts minus the shocks, windscreen ( Gustafsson seems to be the place to buy it), tank strap.  and replacement footpegs

I'm going to start the buffing of the wheels, engine cases and misc parts. The motor turns over so I will disasemble, replace rings, gaskets etc.

Lots still to do for sure.  ETA spring 2024  lol

A few good websites I have used

https://www.speedandsport.com/ 

https://rbitter.home.xs4all.nl/Rickman_CR900.html

https://www.diablocycle.com/-Fork-and-Shock-Decals/

Thanks for all the help.

[BenelliSEI]

Fresh, bright nickel plating is the ultimate solution. As an alternative, I’m going to try a few parts with an excellent powder coater in my area. “Bright Chrome”, topped with a light clear coat is an option? The purist will cringe, but not sure I trust any of the plating shops I can reach!

[saleman454]

Nice Rickman, I have seen the chrome powder coating, it won't be the same as nickle but it will be much cheaper and looks pretty nice.

I thought about powder coating the frame in nickle powder coat ( I did a few parts, battery box, tool tray and a few brackets) but I think I'm going all in and doing Nickle. They want 1500.00 to nickle my frame and the brazing issue worries me for sure.

Iv'e restored a 1970 CT70( full restore ) and a 1976 CB750 (cosmetic and mechanical restorastion) and they were much easier than thr Rickman. I'm just glad the bike was 100% complete or I would be in trouble.

[C317414]

Be sure that anyone nickel plating a frame that is braised knows it is a braised frame…typical plating processes have been known to turn a braised frame into a kit of tubes when they think they are dealing with a welded tubular frame…

Why would nickel plating damage a brazed joint?

[BenelliSEI]

Be sure that anyone nickel plating a frame that is braised knows it is a braised frame…typical plating processes have been known to turn a braised frame into a kit of tubes when they think they are dealing with a welded tubular frame…

Why would nickel plating damage a brazed joint?

Stripping the original nickel off is the risky part. Too much, too long can damage the uriginal braze.

[scottly]

Wasn't the tank strap leather, not rubber? The Satanic mechanic website has a bit of info on Rickmans: http://www.satanicmechanic.org/rickman.shtml
I took this pic at Laguna Seca racetrack in California in 1979..

[BenelliSEI]

Originally rubber from what I have seen.

[Tim2005]

I would really want to consider the frame's condition before thinking about replating it. If there are any deep rust pits then those will need to be ground & polished out before plating, and I wouldn't be keen on doing much of that as the tubing is very thin walled already & could be weakened. This came up when I looked into replating a Seeley frame years back, at that time I also couldn't find anywhere that had real experience of replating a frame of brazed 531 construction.

[newday777]

A little background firts...
Last summer I purchased a 1974 rickman CR750 that had been sitting for approx 40 years, quite a few of those years under a deck so the chrome/nickle items have seen better days but the bike is 100% complete with low miles.

In the last 12 months I have disasembled it, ordered a ton of new Honda parts along with  the caliper seals, chain adjusters and other small items from England. Parts are quite a bit harder to find and my searching skills have been tested..

A few questions please. 

4. The frame is in need of help and most of the nickle items look to have a green/gray tint, kinda like they are powder coated, any suggestons if possible to clean up beforeI send out to be nickled, the frame will need the most work and I saw a post re: damage to the frame when re plating. Any help on this would be great.


I will add a few photos when I get a chance.

Thanks in advance for your help.

As to the green nickle frame...
Have you tried to clean it yet? Or tried a chrome cleaner on it? Is it pitted or just surface color tinge?

I've cleaned some chrome that had turned green from setting out in the sea air of southern California. Chrome has a nickel coating in the process.

Where did you find this bike? (You only have United States as your location in your profile)

[saleman454]

I found the bike in Maryland. Two buddies had similar bikes, this is one of them. I am not sure where the other bike is.

I have tried chrome polish and a mixture of baking soda and vinegar ( from you tube). Didn't change a thing.

Any suggestion that I have not tried? 

[scottly]

The green color comes from the copper under-layer; the nickle plating is pretty much gone.
If it was my bike, which is also a brazed Reynolds 531 construction, I would paint it to stop any further oxidation and call it good.
PS I would not powder coat a Rickman or Seeley frame.

[saleman454]

Well it's been over a year since I posted an update on the Rickman Cr750. Life got in the way. The Green F model gauges has been restored, took a little longer than I expected but they turned out great. I found a guy in FL that is working to make me a tank strap, still waiting on the finished product. I have all of the Honda related parts to put it back together. I had to buy new Borrani rims and had Buchanan rims in CA re lace the wheels, wasn't cheap but they did great work and they look like new, maybe better.  I went ahead and had the frame nickle plated, it was in rough shape and it turned out OK but I am going back to the plater to address a few issues. It did not fall into a million pieces ( which I was happy about). The windscreen was made by Gustafsson's and awaiting installation.  This restoration has been very challenging due to part availability and the time the bike set outside.

[scottly]

How much did the plating cost?

[bryanj]

If they still exist that link to Rickman is about 10 miles from me, i would happily ship to you in US at cost but any duties/insurance would be down to you.
I have found UPS to be only marinally dearer than post and way quicker.
Should be a pic of the place attached

[saleman454]

Plating was $2000.00. Ouch!!  Not cheap but I wanted to put the bike back to original. As with most restorations, the budget gets out of hand really fast. Tackowerk did the gauges, CB750 faces has stopped their repair portion of the business, not sure how long but at least for right now. Purchased the 4 pipe exhaust system as well as as much Honda OEM parts that I can. Not sure how many people know about and have used Yamiya for 750 parts but they are very reasonable priced, have nice products, shipping cost is really not that bad and shipping time is not bad as long as your not in a hurry.

[BenelliSEI]

If they still exist that link to Rickman is about 10 miles from me, i would happily ship to you in US at cost but any duties/insurance would be down to you.
I have found UPS to be only marinally dearer than post and way quicker.
Should be a pic of the place attached

Bryan….. I wonder who does Rickman’s plating today? My CR a frame is so small and light I wonder if it would be practical to just ship it there. I can’t find anyone in Ontario, Canada that I would trust to plate mine, so it’s going to be shipped somewhere!

[RAFster122s]

Any frame not welded but braised is going to require a shop that knows what they are doing, they cannot just throw it in the usual tanks to remove old plating or they will be pulling out the pipes in sections as the tanks will have stripped the brazing metals from the joints. So, if Rickman can replace it at an acceptable cost I definitely would see if you can get it to them for that work…