Topic: my cb650 to bobber project..

[DarkRider]

What might be a good idea would be adding a piece of flat stock to the backside of the chains to give them strength

[martino1972]

no worries guys...
i welded the chain solid ,and i took a left over piece of chain and put it under the shop press,to see what it would take to buckle the chain..
the only way i could get it to buckle is to press it so hard,that the links from the chain excually bend out themselfs,the weld held up really nice..
there will only be "down" force on the chain links,the rest gets taken by the swing arm,like it would when it had shocks..
the only one suffering would be me,from taking the impacts on myself,but,hey,you have to go hard or go home,

i will be closely monitoring how the rear structure holds up and modify when needed....(i could always weld the swing arm solid aswell..)))

and for hush.... ..you will really like my next mod then,im working on a jocky shifter with clutch handle right now..

yeah,darkrider,we dont live to far apart...maybe ill run into you when im riding in the dark.. (i live in ponoka,alberta,little north of red deer)

[MJL]

rad?? what's that??(im a dutch imigrant living in canada,my english isnt perfect..)

Short for radical, really cool.


My question is, with the fender welded in place, do you have enough room to get the wheel out for tire changes?

[martino1972]

yes,i can take the wheel out very easy,didnt weld the wheel to the frame...

but,no,thats no problem,i welded the fender that far forward ,with in mind,that if i put a new chain on,the wheel can move forward aswell...

[droopy]

great job I like the look. it should be a fun ride

[/quote]a Jockey shifter with clutch handle right now[/quote]
are you going to cross over to right side of bike under the carbs??
and make it out of chain it should pull the look together more.
just my opinion

[Hush]

Are you sure you need both front forks Martino?
If you use only one the power to weight ratio will improve and you will hardly notice the effect it has on your handling with that revamped rear end.
Pleased to know you didn't weld the tire on as we all get the occasional flattie, be a bastid sitting on the side of the road whittling it off with a pen knife.

[martino1972]

ok,i got a little further with the transformation of my "chain" bike..
i got warmed up on things and forgot to take pictures as i was going,but here is an update on where i am now...

i got the rear end all finished up with flashlights,tail light and a licence plate light,all from my local automotive store...
i did see some nice flash lights and stuff,but dollar wise this fits me better(i'm a cheap bastard)



i painted the tank and side covers and rear fender incl. chains and what not all with a spray can..





oh, i decided to life dangerously,so i added a jockey shift,made out of a slim rod with a flat end from an old farm machine..










now im working on some forward steps,on the pictures you can see them on there,but im not done with em,needs paint on the steps and something rubber orso for where my feet go...

it took me abit with the torch to bend both steps so that it looks equal on all sides,very little difference between the steps made the bike look crockett,but i think i nailed it now..

im working on a old connecting rod from some old engine to covert that into a rear brake pedal at the forward step..
right now the normal steps are off,and the rear brake pedal is still in its original location,so i have to aim abit to hit the pedal..

took her out for a small test run today,and i tell ya,its different with the jockey shift,a stall from start up,a miss shift here and there,but im starting to get it under control..

the bike does handle different then before,but im almost tempted to say it handles better...
hard tail and thin seat make for a bit more bumpier ride,but i was surpriced how smooth it still was(havent found a pot hole yet,might talk different then )

well,enjoy the pictures...

next on list of things to do is:
-paint front forks(yes,hush,im keeping both forks 
-paint headlight
-put smaller flashers on front
-saw a nice handle bar at cycle x i wanne buy,hopefully soon
-after handle bar,smaller gauges

paint will be all flat black ofcource...
oh,and a different cool looking mirror,i couldnt put my left mirror back on since the clutch lever moved to the shifter..

[martino1972]

oh,i wanted to post a before and after picture,so here it goes...

before:


after:





question:you guys think i should paint the engine black aswell???
this winter i have to replace the headgasket,might aswell go trough the entire engine to check her out,would be a good time to paint it ..

[DarkRider]

Painting the engine black will def set it off...Looking foward to seeing what you do next and how your old bars look on my Kawi lol

[MJL]

Needs drag bars. 

[bzr]

Definitely looks really cool (or rad, now that you know what that word means  ).

What are you going to do with the wheels? Comstars look too modern for something like that, maybe spokes with whitewalls?

[martino1972]

iv'e been thinking about white walls,but came to the conclusion that it will lighten the looks of the bike,and im going for a more dark outlaw look...i dig whitewalls ,but not for this bike..
the wheels are bugging me too,i think for now i'll paint them black,but might go to spoke wheels later on(winter time this bike will be striped down for a decent paint job on frame,and a engine check up..)
summers are really short here in canada,so for now i want to keep it where its driveble,might do some small painting on forks etc.
i put my 1973 cb750 in the shop now and trying to think of what to make out of that one,the 650 is bobber style now,so for the 750 i want to do something else..
(working on the 750 might take away the urge to wrench on the 650  )

[strangedaze39]

If you can..... I think polishing all unpainted aluminum and sidecovers out to a chrome, and repainting the engine stock tone would look awesome instead of the black engine. It would be as if you were showcasing the engine 

The problem I have with most bikes that all all one color including the engine, it almost reminds me of a stolen bicycle that was spray painted (even the rims sprockets) and can look "tacky" unless you do a REAL REAL nice job with the paint, everything under the paint.

BTW the bike is looking awesome, I love the jockey shifter and the chains turned out real nice. Oh and the seat is also 

[Sporkfly]

That... Is... Awesome.

 

[martino1972]

thats a good point about polishing the hell out the engine...
stolen look,huh??? how did you know..    kidding,its legal,trust me,but its a good point,to black might look wrong,i thank you for the tip..
the more i think about a highly polished engine,the more i like it....cool

[Joksa]

Where's your left rear blinker/flasher? ;)

[martino1972]

the 2 orange looking circles by the seat are my blinkers,the red bigger light on the left is my tail light/brake light and on the left side of the licence plate is the light for the plate

[martino1972]

i was doing the math on how much this has cost me so far,and couldnt believe it...
-new tires ebay including shipping =$140.00
-exhaust header wrap                 =$ 46.50
-paint,2 flat black,1 primer           =$ 19.75
-chain and metal plate for seat     =$ 20.00(metal guy said,g'me 20 cash)
-signal lights                              =$ 13.50
-tail/brake light                          =$   8.65
-licenceplate light                       =$   7.85
-leather,foam and leather strings   =$   0.00
-leather deglazer,dye and wax       =$ 27.65
-electonic flasher                        =$   0.00

                                               ========
-grand totall                               =$283.90

i'm not including welder wire/gas,grinder disk's,sandpaper etc. cause that's stuff i use daily in my mechanic shop..

for the jockey shifter i found a rod in my never ending pile of stuff,and on the spot where the clutch lever sit's on the rod,i welded an old stripped socket 18mm,it had excacly 7/8 o.d.

well,for $283.90 to end up with a totally different bike is not bad....especially if you not include the price of the tires,need them anyway no mather what bike you have,then i come to a totall of $143.90 for the transformation......

the fun of building it......priceless....
we had countless beers with friends that came over for an update of the build,and thats good old good times right there...
and it gives me bragging rights.. (joking)

the cb 750 is gonne cost me more,due to alot of missing parts and stuff,but if it's gonne be as much fun building it  as building the 650 then it will be worth it..

[ColinMc]

Love the look, I might steal the jockey shifter idea for my friends cb650 i just painted...Man oh man though, that seat is gonna punish you! Looks great though lol.

I definetly second the vote for a partly polished engine, but do the fins black for sure! Mostly polished with some black accents here and there should look kick butt with your current setup. I also vote for keeping the same wheels(for the sake of saving money), but polishing the lip nice and shiny and repainting the rest black.

[martino1972]

my headgasket is leaking on the left side for a while,but it's getting worse...making a oily mess on the left side of the engine..

what's the best place to get a headgasket kit?? it's a 1980 cb650 costum....

[willis68nova]

Hey martino,

  Nice work on the bike.  I have a 1980 cb650c I am thinking about toying with to make it look nicer.  When you made the rear frame rigid, does it ride ruff?  Also this site seems to have some decent stuff. http://www.crc2onlinecatalog.com/Index_Main_Frame.htm I got valve stem seals from them when no one else had them.  So check them out. 

Thanks
Mike

[martino1972]

well,it does ride ruffer then it did,but it's not bad at all....
see,i don't have springs in the seat either,and the leather is really hard,if i had to do it again,i think i would put some small springs or rubber under the seat..on lower speeds you feel all the bumps,some hurt...on high speed i have yet to find a bump bad enough to hurt...rail road crossings etc. can be a little bumpy,but not bad..
it rides nicer,it feels like your more in contact with the bike..

thanks for the site link,ill check them out..

[willis68nova]

Cool, I think the first thing I am going to do is place steel bars, that are shorter than the shocks, where the shocks would go and ride it around a while like that and see how I like it.  I need to snap some pics before I go ahead tear into it.  Does anyone have any ideas on how I can change the shifter if I want to move the foot pegs forward?  Or any good pics of the shifter being moved forward?

Thanks
Mike

[martino1972]

you don't wanne go jockey shift..?

[willis68nova]

How pleasant is that to shift like that?  Never rode a bike with a shifter like that.