Topic: '74 CB350F poor man's cafe (with seat update)

[davis96]

I've been on this forum for a while asking questions and getting some great answers and advice, so I figured I'd show you guys my $500 bike and see what you thought.
I am a college student, and the bike was built on a college student's extreme budget. Almost nothing on the bike is polished or re-finished in any way, partly because of laziness and partly because I kind of dig the patina of the original parts, lets you know its 'vintage'  .

Keep in mind I bought the bike in late December and it was where i wanted it to be cosmetically (bars, custom seat, wrapped exhaust, lowered headlight and guages, etc etc) in about 3 weeks. Of course at that point it started to run poorly so i had to clean the carbs and a bunch of other stuff to get it to run right.









I dont know why I didnt put the side covers on in some of these pictures... when theyre off you can see my home-brew filtered velocity stack, though  . I'll put new pics up soon as a few things have changed including actually having the bike registered with a license plate (gasp)

cheers,

Davis

[scottly]

Davis, looks good!!! The missing side panels made me think of the flat, brushed aluminum panels that used to be on racers. I think they would really look good on your bike.

[faux fiddy]

Cool looking bike. If you post more pics, try to get something closer up on the pipes where the 4 into 1 articulation happens. I am starting to figure out how to do mine, and 4 into two may be what I go with, but four into one has less  stuff.  Four into two is easiest with pairs form one side out that side. GP style would have the two outer and two inner paired.  I like what I see here, and it leaves the oil filter accessible.

Are those MAC pipes?

[gregimotis]

This bike makes me smile.  Just cheap and direct.

[zsno]

Where did you get the seat and/or how did you make it? I'm also a college student looking to get my bike set up on the cheap!

[jamesb]

cool i really like the 500.00 thing too. thats what i have in my 74 cb550 and it took third at a bike show it beat out 20,000-30,000 harleys which was even cooler. what did you do for the seat it looks real good.

[socalenduro]

im going to rent a uhaul and go buy as many bikes in your area as i can.
your bike would sell all day long for $2,000 in san diego

very cool bike....well done

[davis96]

This bike makes me smile.  Just cheap and direct.

Exactly what I'm shooting for. It was purposefully built only to get me around town and to impress the girlies. Since I've had it, its never seen the interstate, an d I doubt it ever will. 

[davis96]

Cool looking bike. If you post more pics, try to get something closer up on the pipes where the 4 into 1 articulation happens. I am starting to figure out how to do mine, and 4 into two may be what I go with, but four into one has less  stuff.  Four into two is easiest with pairs form one side out that side. GP style would have the two outer and two inner paired.  I like what I see here, and it leaves the oil filter accessible.

Are those MAC pipes?

Yea its a MAC exhaust, you can see where the muffler meets the headpipe collector, the clamp isnt sealing properly and I get those nice doodoo stains around there. But I do like the exhaust, sounds pretty mean, and has a removable baffle as well (and yes, I changed the oil just the other day without removing the exhaust.)

[davis96]

what did you do for the seat it looks real good.

Well, I spent quite a bit of time looking around the 'tanks and seats' section of www.dotheton.com... I spent about 30 bucks building the seat. The pan is custom made, its semi-thin guage steel, basic cardboard templates, then cut out with a dremel wheel and rivet the pieces of the puzzle together.

Then I used spray adhesive and layered "camping mat" on top of the pan. Built it up, and shaped it with a fine tooth saw and sanding disk attached to a drill (really basic tools here, just need an eye for it I guess).

On top of the camping mat i added one thin layer of high density foam (the green kind from the fabric store), and used my rudamentary sewing skills to upholster it with black marine grade vinyl (I basically only had two seams to sew running longways down the cowl, the rest is just creatively tucked and glued).

I cannibalized one of the factory seats to get the belt thing with the metal end clasp things. Same with the stainless trim strips running down the side.

Oh and the taillight is a 9 LED marker light from harbor freight wired with an in line resistor so that it can function as a tail AND stop light.

[camelman]

Looks good.  Nice job on a shoestring budget.

[cb350twin]

How that yellow headlight at night? Can't imagine you could see as good with it at night. (unless it snowy or foggy) Still it looks cool. How did ya do it?

[davis96]

How that yellow headlight at night? Can't imagine you could see as good with it at night. (unless it snowy or foggy) Still it looks cool. How did ya do it?

It actually works great, just as good as stock iirc. I basically just took the oem headlight lense and brushed on some transparent hobby paint nice and thick, then put it under a heat lamp for a couple of hours to settle out and cure.

[Industrial Cafe]

love that headlight, the whole bike looks great!

It's cool to see another zero-budget bike!

[davis96]

love that headlight, the whole bike looks great!

It's cool to see another zero-budget bike!

Thanks!
I swear if I had a fully stocked garage with all the tools I needed, I'd probably be under the $600 mark... pretty much the only things I've spent money on have been about 1,000 little things that most of you guys already have sitting around (specialty tools, random materials, little #$%* like that).

But hey, I couldnt be expected to have any of this stuff being young and working out of a borrowed garage space with only as many tools as I could fit in my toolbox. I'm amassing knowledge and some odds and ends, so I cant complain.

I'll be building a new fiberglass seat and doing some bodywork and painting everything over spring break, so she'll look quite a bit different come april.

[Hoosier Daddy]

Love it.... absolutely LOVE IT!
Gives me hope for mine, I plan on doing just what you have done in order to get mine on the road this year. Then next winter do the big tear-down.
 I'd pull the front fender and make some aluminum side panels as mentioned earlier because I am missing one, but if both of your side covers are in good shape I'd really like to see a pic with them on, maybe I'd splurge and buy the one I am missing instead.

[socalenduro]

what front end is that?

[davis96]

what front end is that?

its stock 350f front end, removed the gaitors to reveal some nice pitting and rust on the tubes.

[davis96]

Love it.... absolutely LOVE IT!
Gives me hope for mine, I plan on doing just what you have done in order to get mine on the road this year. Then next winter do the big tear-down.
 I'd pull the front fender and make some aluminum side panels as mentioned earlier because I am missing one, but if both of your side covers are in good shape I'd really like to see a pic with them on, maybe I'd splurge and buy the one I am missing instead.

i dont really like the bike with the side covers on, personally, theyre too big and bulky. Soon I'll have all the electrics moved along with the battery, then i wont need sidecovers of any kind.

[davis96]

I'm so cool that instead of going to the beach over spring break I gave the bike a facelift. chopped the frame past the shock mounts, smaller battery located under the hand laid fiberglass seat (its kickstart only now), electronics moved to where the tooltray was (see the 'custom' tray made out of an old bama license plate?) shaved the emblems, gave it a nice little patina'd paintjob, and uhh relocated the taillight and license plate. The seat done in truck bed liner with no cushion.

[camelman]

Awesome! 








Does it run?

[rempy]

what's your take on the white muffler wrapping? a friend is thinking about doing it on
a 360CL but is worried it will last a month then look like doo-doo.

can't really tell between the first and last pics- is the white holding up? anyway to clean
it while it's still on the pipes? (can you even take it off ?)

[davis96]

Awesome! 








Does it run?

Yea dude! I dont want to have to knock on wood here, but i 50 miles home fromcollege and back over the break, and havent had a single problem with it for a while... AND I've got the new points and condensers fletcha sent me, plus a new slow jet waiting in the wings as well... just waiting for the weather and my classes to align so I can get everything installed.

[davis96]

what's your take on the white muffler wrapping? a friend is thinking about doing it on
a 360CL but is worried it will last a month then look like doo-doo.

can't really tell between the first and last pics- is the white holding up? anyway to clean
it while it's still on the pipes? (can you even take it off ?)

     Well it starts out a tannish color, not exacty white... it stays clean as long as you dont have an exhaust leak like I did (see the old pics, all that black #$%* where the collector meets up to the muffle).. To fix the leak I had to take off some of the wrap on the muffler (which is good because it got rid of all the black #$%*.)
     
     I doubt you'd want to try to clean it, I mean you could take it off in theory, but the way 99.99% install it (with steel safety wire in addition to clamps) is basically permanent, and you'd tear it up trying to remove it so it wouldnt be reusable.

     Basically if his exhaust is in good shape, with no leaks or anything, and you do a good job wrapping it, the only way it'd get dirty is from him spilling something on it or something like that. Or if actual dirt gets up on it, in which case it would probably hose off. You may get a skid mark on the wrap every now and then... but after all it IS a motorcycle, not a fresh pair of tighty whities.

[Hoosier Daddy]

I have seen a silicone spraypaint that comes in black for header wrap on Summit Racing and Jegs that is advertised to protect it... Also read of guys using BBQ grill spraypaint on it to do the same thing.