Author Topic: 1969 CB160 Cafe/Tracker Project - a.k.a The "Apartment Bike" (Read 49300 times)

Flying J · « **Reply #100 on:** October 13, 2009, 12:51:08 pm »

Quote from: ProTeal55 on February 13, 2009, 07:56:26 am

The bike is never going to run under it's own power so I can do sneaky things like pull the springs out to get the look I am after.

what do you mean by this? you dont plan on running this bike?

Frankenkit · « **Reply #101 on:** October 13, 2009, 01:08:34 pm »

nope, it's a show piece, that's why it's called the "apartment bike". You are now banished to Page 1 to read.

ProTeal55 · « **Reply #102 on:** October 13, 2009, 01:12:28 pm »

QUESTION:

I need to figure out what to do with the motor (paint/detail wise) for this bike..
My first thought was to paint the entire thing gloss black, sand down the fins and polish the side/engine covers for contrast.
Then I thought about scuffing the motor down with a scotch-brite pad and only painting the head black.
I think both would look good aginst the bright red frame, just not sure which way to go about it...

Opinions ?

Roach Carver · « **Reply #103 on:** October 13, 2009, 02:58:38 pm »

Quote from: ProTeal55 on October 13, 2009, 01:12:28 pm

QUESTION:

I need to figure out what to do with the motor (paint/detail wise) for this bike..
My first thought was to paint the entire thing gloss black, sand down the fins and polish the side/engine covers for contrast.
Then I thought about scuffing the motor down with a scotch-brite pad and only painting the head black.
I think both would look good aginst the bright red frame, just not sure which way to go about it...

Opinions ?

that should look good.

Old Scrambler · « **Reply #104 on:** October 13, 2009, 05:36:50 pm »

Prep the motor with plastic beads at about 35 lbs of pressure. Take a look at my avitar for a comparison project.

D-Mart · « **Reply #105 on:** October 13, 2009, 08:58:02 pm »

This is a really neat idea! Now I really want a decorative bike for my living room someday...... *sigh* someday......

ProTeal55 · « **Reply #106 on:** November 13, 2009, 05:49:17 pm »

APARTMENT BIKE UPDATE 11/13/09
Looks like I am getting two 19'' wheels for this project !
I am a huge fan of how larg-er diameter wheels look on smaller bikes (such as on the bike below):

As far as the finish of the wheels go, I am most likely going to powdercoat the entire wheel a silver powder that almost has a raw alum. look to it.
For one this will add to the durability of the bike, as well as will fill in the imperfections of the wheels (a.k.a surface rust/pitting/etc)...

Will post some pics once I get the wheels and get them mocked up on the bike. I am not doing anything to this thing untill it is completely mocked up
and I know all tabs/brackets/etc are all welded and so on..Still need to source a cafe type seat so I can get that and the gas tank mounted. Then tires so I can set the center-stand height (going to take about a inch outta it so it stands the bike straight and low

), and a boatload of other things..

Anyone have a little cafe seat lyin around like the one above they wanna part with ?

ProTeal55 · « **Reply #107 on:** December 08, 2009, 07:32:00 pm »

12/8/09
Two quick pics of the CB160 with it's new 19'' wheels at stock ride height:

Next is to lower the front and rear atleast 2'' (maybe more) to get the thing looking mean.
Also still need to source/make a cafe seat so I can get some tabs welded for the tank and continute
the mockup..

jaguar · « **Reply #108 on:** December 23, 2009, 12:35:03 pm »

so hows the build going now?

ProTeal55 · « **Reply #109 on:** December 31, 2009, 01:23:16 pm »

Quote from: jaguar on December 23, 2009, 12:35:03 pm

so hows the build going now?

It's going fine, just need to actually do some work on it

Like I said eariler it's real hard to get motoviated and spend money (which I dont have) on a project that is never going to
see the light of day. I need to get the forks apart and lower them, and somehow take about 2'' out of the rear shocks as well.
Besides that everything else needs to be bought (see the above statement). Will come togethter in time..

yozzie · « **Reply #110 on:** December 31, 2009, 06:45:10 pm »

that's gonna be a cool piece of furniture! gotta give you credit for putting a lot of work into that especially when you aren't going to drive it. When it is done i bet it's gonna be tough not to be able to take it for a rip! still a cool idea, looking forward to seeing the end product.

Zaipai · « **Reply #111 on:** December 31, 2009, 08:22:19 pm »

Perhaps you could put some small electric motors on the wheels to make them spin slowly and add some led's to the head light and tail light.. I mean might as well make it as interesting as you can right?

traveler · « **Reply #112 on:** December 31, 2009, 09:26:40 pm »

Quote from: ProTeal55 on November 13, 2009, 05:49:17 pm

APARTMENT BIKE UPDATE 11/13/09
Looks like I am getting two 19'' wheels for this project !
I am a huge fan of how larg-er diameter wheels look on smaller bikes (such as on the bike below):
As far as the finish of the wheels go, I am most likely going to powdercoat the entire wheel a silver powder that almost has a raw alum. look to it.
For one this will add to the durability of the bike, as well as will fill in the imperfections of the wheels (a.k.a surface rust/pitting/etc)...

Will post some pics once I get the wheels and get them mocked up on the bike. I am not doing anything to this thing untill it is completely mocked up
and I know all tabs/brackets/etc are all welded and so on..Still need to source a cafe type seat so I can get that and the gas tank mounted. Then tires so I can set the center-stand height (going to take about a inch outta it so it stands the bike straight and low ), and a boatload of other things..

Anyone have a little cafe seat lyin around like the one above they wanna part with ?

What a gorgeous little CB twin.

~Joe

ProTeal55 · « **Reply #113 on:** January 01, 2010, 01:03:05 pm »

Quote from: Zaipai on December 31, 2009, 08:22:19 pm

Perhaps you could put some small electric motors on the wheels to make them spin slowly and add some led's to the head light and tail light.. I mean might as well make it as interesting as you can right?

I am going to wire the bike once the main build is done, as the headlite and tail -lite will infact lite up.
Prob. wire it up to a clapper or something

Zaipai · « **Reply #114 on:** January 01, 2010, 03:12:49 pm »

Sounds great.. If your going to goto the trouble of wiring it up, perhaps you need to look at doing some other things with it. Lighting the gauges (if any) turn signals? Anyway can't wait to see it finished!!! Hurry UP!!!

Zaipai · « **Reply #115 on:** January 02, 2010, 07:51:06 pm »

Saw this and thought of your build..

http://www.bikeexif.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/honda_cb_160.jpg

.: Scott :.

Bouncer · « **Reply #116 on:** January 04, 2010, 07:11:45 pm »

Quote from: ProTeal55 on February 03, 2009, 06:25:26 am

QUESTION:
If I want to put another front-end on this bike so I can lower it which front-end (off what bike)would I be in search of ? I really want to lower the bike so I can run some clip-on's
above the top tree..

Joe,

I got a guy in evanston who will chop those tubes for CHEAP. He chopped mine and rethreaded for like 35 bucks. I got the number around here somewhere. The name of the place is forks by frank, I chopped my springs with a cutoff wheel. I am back to workin on my 750, if you couldn't tell.

ProTeal55 · « **Reply #117 on:** January 05, 2010, 06:00:44 pm »

Forks by Frank is def. a great place to go, but the forks on this project are going to meet their maker with a sawzall and some PVC spacers to get the ride height to wear I want it

The rear shocks are also going to get the sawzall/welder treatment as well to get them sitting about 2'' lower. I am taking the project to my buddies house out in the burbs to have this and some other little things done this coming weekend. Trying to use up what's left of my xmas vacation from school the best I can. Once I have the bike all mocked up and sitting how I want the ENTIRE thing will come apart for powdercoating.

Need to either start making a cafe seat or bite the bullet and buy one allready done.
This is really holding up the progress of the build.

HavocTurbo · « **Reply #118 on:** January 07, 2010, 08:53:53 am »

Looks like I'm a little late....

I was going to say send your rears to me and I'll lower and color em for you.

But since that's already covered....

ProTeal55 · « **Reply #119 on:** January 09, 2010, 02:48:15 pm »

1/09/2010
Today I took a trip out to my buddy Joe's house to lower the front forks and rear shocks on the apartment bike.
I want the bike to be silly low so I decided to go with a 2'' drop front and rear. This along with the addition of bigger than stock wheels (19's) should get this bike
looking killer when it's all said and done.

Getting these CB160 forks apart was a #$%* ! Even after hosin them with PB Blaster for two weeks they still didnt want to come apart. So after even
more PB Blaster, some heat from a torch, and two 200lbs+ guys hanging off the things they finally came apart..

So after that the other Joe (not me) took 2'' outta the front springs themselves:

No pictures of the shock disection but it pretty much went the same. Cut 2 coils out of the rear shocks to try and match the front. Not
an exact science but the bike is looking pretty flat in it's current mockup (see below):

With how the bike currently sits the base of the seat is just under 24'' off the floor. You can see in the pic below how much of a difference
cutting the springs did to the look of the front-end:

After looking at it awhile i think I might cut another 1/2'' outta the front to give it a slight rake, but I will wait till I get some tires mounted and
see how everything looks..

Next on the list is to suck it up and buy a cafe seat from Airtech. Once I get that I can mockup and have some tabs for the tank welded onto the frame.
Then I can dump off the frame at The Powder Pro to get powdercaoted and start the re-assembly...

Zaipai · « **Reply #120 on:** January 09, 2010, 04:00:34 pm »

Wow that is looking great.. I really would love to do some thing like that for may place, but the wife will have none of it.. I know I already checked..

However it looks like we may be moving next year (not far, same county) and if so I am going to try and get a den or some thing just for me so I can do some thing like this. I wanted one of those 57 Chevy couches but they were always just too pricey.. this maybe just the thing...

Inspiring! I say go with your gut, it has not let you down so far..

.: Scott :.

ProTeal55 · « **Reply #121 on:** January 09, 2010, 04:42:02 pm »

Thanks for the kind words.
Like I said the main reason I am building this in my kitchen is becasue my little ass garage isnt setup as a shop yet, and isnt heated.
After this bike is done I have a line on another little CB that I plan to do the same too for my dad's barber shop

QUESTION:
Anyone know what size fork tubes CB160's run ? I ask because I need to purchase some clip-on's for this little bastard in a bad way...

Flying J · « **Reply #122 on:** January 09, 2010, 05:20:25 pm »

looking at the fork sizes honda had. I would guess 33mm. Do you have a 35mm fork to compare to?
http://forums.sohc4.net/index.php?topic=370.msg512053#msg512053

ProTeal55 · « **Reply #123 on:** January 10, 2010, 07:51:37 am »

They are def. smaller than the ones my CL450 has, so 33mm looks to be a good number.
Thanks...

jaguar · « **Reply #124 on:** January 10, 2010, 05:11:13 pm »

i thought that it was 27 or 31.
champ on caferacer.net would know for sure and be able to set you up with what you need.

News:

Author Topic: 1969 CB160 Cafe/Tracker Project - a.k.a The "Apartment Bike" (Read 49300 times)

yozzie

traveler