Topic: my cb650 to bobber project..

[martino1972]

well.........     they call it suicide shifter  for a reason...

i got about 500km on it now with the jockey shift,and now finally i'm capable(brave enough i should say)to do a fast 0-60 pull... at first you get the feeling that your sliding off the back off the bike,with only one hand on the bars,so i shifted/clutched first,then put my hand back on the bars and then hit the trottle,just to ease off the trottle again to make the next shift...
now i just leave my hand on the shifter while going full bore threw all the gears,and its fun..
also i put on the highway bars and removed the normal footrests..that made taking off interesting aswell..
i had to make an emergency stop for a deer this weekend while out riding with a buddy on a harley,i came to a stop at the same spot as the harley,and we hit the brakes hard...
only time i think it could be "hairy" to have the clutch on the shifter,is when the engine seizes solid at high speed...but it's a honda,they don't do that..

[willis68nova]

Well like I said I put the steel bars on my '80 cb650 and I like the way it looks.  Now it has a long way to go to look good.  But I want to start off small and see how I like it.  I rode it after I put the bars in place of the shocks and it really doesn't ride to bad.  Now when I change the seat that could be a different story but we will see.  Here is two pics one before I started and one after.  comments welcome.  Thanks.

[martino1972]

looking good already with those bars...
now if you take the seat off,it will give you an impression of how it can look,when i took my seat off to work on the battery i started seeing what it could become,totally different bike without the seat..
then i had a friend lift up the tank in the front while i was on a distance looking at it ,and things started happening..
650's have great lines,and with little mod's can look awesome...
looking forward to all your "mod's"

[willis68nova]

Yeah the seat off makes it look alot better.  Because my seat is messed up anyway I think I am going to take it to the upholstery shop and see what they can do with making it a one person seat and making it smaller.  Then when I get that figured out I want to look at the rear fender and moving it up.  We will see.

[willis68nova]

Anyone have any ideas on a different gas tank I could use on my cb650?  I heard alot of people use the Harley Sportster tanks.  But I wasn't sure what year would look good?  Any ideas?

[Sully_PA]

I prefer the low tank look over the high tank look ...low lean and mean  .....sportster tanks usually sit high from what I've seen...I'm looking at some cb 900 or 750 customs to see if the'll fit low with a little fab

[willis68nova]

Cool.  Let me know what you find out.  I went today to look at a sportster tank and like you said it would sit really high and I don't think it would look right.  I know I could fab it to sit low but that would be a lot of metal work.

Thanks
Mike

[JohnnyTremendous.]

That looks fantastic Martino.  I'm a sucker for the flat black. My CB750 is flat black & my car will be flat black as soon as I can find the time sand it and spray it.  I agree with ColinMc, and think that a polished engine with black fins would look the best.

[martino1972]

that will happen this winter,right now im riding every change i get..
i do have another cb650 thats on the victom list of getting chopped up..

[slick68]

Hey man. I bought my cb650 this spring and have been dreaming of the things i wanna do to it...either we are telepathically connected or i sleep walk down to ponoka and spy on yer project(i live outside of Leduc AB). tottally awesome build man. you should send pics to "The Horse Magazine",, you'll get a pic in they're mag for sure. are you ever riding up this way?

[martino1972]

thanks everybody for all the compliments...
it's funny,i'm a very shy person,that doesnt like to be in the centre of things,but with this bike standing at tim hortons or anywhere for that matter,i'm learning fast,that there is no fast getting away,everywhere i have to talk to people before they let me go.. (starting to like that)

slick68.....you have to be kidding me.!!!! leduc.....awesome....
havent been to leduc yet on the bike,i mostly take the rimbey,sylvan lake,red deer,lacombe route for a tour.....

but if you wanne see it real life,we can have a tour somewhere anytime......i got a few buddy's i ride with most ofthe time(well,a few is 2 people.. ,one on a harley,one on a honda shadow)

[slick68]

definately...but once i get mine runnin better tho...check out

http://forums.sohc4.net/index.php?topic=39059.0

i cant seem to get any faster that 130 km/hr and it runs rough

[martino1972]

got an email from lemanware today,but when i replyed it came back undeliverd,email unknown...
so i will answer it here...
my tire size is:front 100/90/19 and rear:130/90/16
i bought then off ebay as a set for dirt cheap,and so far they are holding up really good,excellent grip in corners(had exhaust scrape the pavement in corners)...
lemanware,thanks for the compliments on the seat,if you make one yourself,make sure to post the results here...

[tonycb650]

Martino, do you want to sell your stock seat and grab bar? mine has a big goofy looking king ad queen seat and no grab bar. I would really like to have a stock seat. condition really doesnt matter to much, I can recover it with a new seat cover.

[martino1972]

made a small video of the bike,it's mostly to show a member on this forum how mine starts up when it's cold,and that didnt go to well,
anyway,i figured i just put it on here aswell....

[Ostiosis]

I love that bike, it's really cool.

Would you mind telling me how you mounted that seat at the back?  I know it has two fasteners and I was just wondering if you drilled holes in the frame or something?   

[martino1972]

yeah,just behind the battery there is a flat plate and i drilled holes in there..with the intension to put some nuts behind the side covers,i can just get to that...
but the seat also has a hole in the front that matches up to the tank bolt,and i found out that if i push the studs on the back in the holes and on front put the tank bolt in,the seat don't move at all,so i left it that way....now it's just taking out the tank bolt and i got my seat and tank off,works great....

[oldhondarider]

could you take a few pics of the jockey mount...how it is attached....what mods were done???   many thanks.

I have a bobber project in the wings....that's crying out for a jockey shift.

[kmart550]

+1 on the jockey shift info and pics!!!

[martino1972]

can't take good pictures right now,but i will later....promise...
all i did is i found an old piece of steel what happend to have the flat handke part on it,what i liked as soon as i saw it...
i straithend the rod and then i measured up an old 18mm socket,that has the perfect 7/8" size for the clutch handle to clamp on to,i welded thew socket onto the rod...
then i took off my foot shifter and cut off the part that clamps on the shifter shaft,and welded my new rod on there...
then i just pointed it up so it's more or less balanced,had to do abit of bending etc. to clear the tank...
next i routed my clutch cable up on the right down tube from the frame,curved it over the 2 middle exhaust pipes,down the left down tube of the frame,over the stator cover,up on the jockeyshift.....
tested the needed lenght of clutch cable to move freely when shifting and zip tied it to the down tube in such away that it left the needed free play...
all in all it took me 30 minutes,fighting to get the left handle grip off to remove the clutch lever etc..

now learning how to drive it is a different story,that took me awhile before i could take off full bore...but now i can,and it's awesome to shift that way..
just make sure you practice on a quit place....

[ghost]

i've gotta say i'm truly impressed with your build. a black and polished engine would really stand out, i think a nighthawk tank would really set off an engine like that, with those nice sexy curves and all.

[martino1972]

thanks for the compliment,your making me blush,,,

this winter i have to replace the headgasket,who knows what inspiration i get then....

[ghost]

that seems to be a common issue for these bikes, that's on my list for this winter also, i was planning on doing the polish/black look on my engine while i'm at it. i've currently got a nighthawk tank on mine (from an 84 450) i think it looks great i only wish it held more fuel. but i guess that's the price i pay for the look i got

[martino1972]

ok,as promised here are some pictures from the shifter...

this one shows the clutch cable routed up and down the frame coming from the engine.>>




this one shows where the cable routs towards the shifter,don't mind the oil,





here you see where i cut off the shifter and welded on the new shift shaft...






and here is the clutch lever assembly...





here you can see the 18mm socket i welded on the rod,maybe a little hard to see,but it's welded and then smoothed out,but its where the handle clambs onto...




and here is me sitting on the bike holding the shifter....






hope that helps you guy's if you want to make one,it's real easy to do,little harder to get used too,but alot of fun driving it...
if you want more pictures from anything,just let me know,i'll be happy to post some more.....

[Spikeybike]

 nothing says "i'm a badass" like a suicide shift .  especially one that can quite possibly impale you