Hiya! It's been awhile since I've been active on here. Used to ride CB500/550's but have been off the bikes for a bit. On a recent trip to The Bay Area I borrowed a buddy's VFR for the week and caught the fever all over again.
Anyway, I recently came into a 1981 CB650. This was owned by a Mexican electrician who works for a buddy of my grandpa. He really doesn't speak English very well so it was hard to get any details but I gather that he had some kind of bad scare on it and just wanted it gone since it also didn't run right. He took it to the scrap yard of all places who, luckily, only offered him $30 for it. Long story short, he put the word out that it needed a new home and it ended up with me.
I'm not a fan of the cruiser so this seemed like the perfect victim for a cafe conversion which I've always wanted to do. It's my first attempt at tin-knockin' so be kind!
Here it is when I brought it home,
Mechanically it's pretty sound. The reason for it not running right appeared to be that the band clamps for the intake boots were stretched past the point of actually being able to clamp. I threw some spares on and it fired right up and ran great from Idle to top end. It also had no air filter in the box and the boots where not clamped to the carbs at all so I'm sure that didn't help matters. I bought a filter and some new plugs, trimmed the wires, lubed and adjusted the chain, and flushed the front brakes. The master seems pretty well shot and the reservoir cup is not far from leaking so I'm going to throw on something else. I have a master from an FZR so I might see how that does.
I bought a bar with about 3" of pull back and no rise. Not sure I'm going to like it but I'll try it out. I pulled off the headlight bucket mounts and I'm going to make some new ones. I'm not a fan of the huge blinkers Honda used on the later SOHCS and since Va doesn't require blinkers to pass inspection I probably won't have any.
I'm not sure if I'll stick with the stock tank. It's rusty on the inside but dent free on the outside and it has the wing badges which are a plus. but I like the '79 650 tank a bit better for the cafe style. I think it would look a bit better with the seat I'm making. Anyone know if a '79 tank will fit on an '81 frame?
Here's some pics of the seat and the trimmed rear fender,
Obviously it's not done yet. I need to make some stand-offs to put between the seat and the frame to make up for the "cruiser dip" of the frame. Also need to make a plate for the rear where the tail light will mount. Here's the lights I'm thinking of using,
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=330430151908&viewitem=&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWAX%3AIT . I thought of just mounting one since I probably won't use blinkers but I'll probably just mount them both so I have the blinker option should I want or need it.
That's it so far. Once I get the seat finished I'll be turning to paint. Haven't decided on a color scheme yet but It's going to have a racing stripe. I've always wanted a bike with a racing stripe so I think this is going to be it. I'm leaning towards a dark metallic green with a black racing stripe with darkish brown leather for the seat. But we'll see.
Will-
