Hi, I'm HalfFast and I'm a bike-a-holic
I've been lurking on the site for a couple of weeks. Some very cool bikes / projects on here! I'm inspired by the level of determination and ingenuity the members display. Very humbling!
While new to the forum I'm not new to bikes. I've devoted much of my riding over the years to dirt (enduro) and dirt / street (Adventure) riding. I've been a regular attendee of the Backfire in Seattle and have always been attracted to the Cafe style bikes. My desire for a Cafe bike increased after I traded an older BMW Adventure bike for a Ducati Monster, that Monster is a blast to ride and loves to go fast
Though I love the throaty rumble of my Duc, the piercing wail of the CB400F has a special place in my heart. I fell in love with the little CB while in HS during the mid-70's. I started looking to buy a 400F early last summer but the bike I found available in the Seattle area were either junk and therefore more work / money or too nice to make into a Cafe bike. On Friday I finally found what a I believe is the perfect candidate for the bike I envision. The bike doesn't run at the moment so I could very well have purchased a nightmare but I'd like to believe the POs story that the bike is a runner that was worked on by a mechanic to rebuild the carb and give it a tune up but they ran out of money and couldn't justify investing more into the bike. Hopefully this so called mechanic didn't do any thing too terrible to the carbs.
Anyway, here's my $500 project bike:
She's what I call a 20 footer. Looks good from a distance but the closer ya get the more you can see that she is in need of some love.
The exhaust actually made me giggle! Now days people would call it ghetto but I can remember back in the 70's it was hard to find pipe the same size as that used on small displacement Honda's and it just happens to be that vaccuum cleaner pipe was the right size and chrome to boot
Seeing that vaccumm cleaner pipe extention on the exhaust definitely brought back memories
I'm still in research mode so I'm not sure exactly what parts I'll use but I'm leaning towards a bike that is a mix of old and new tech. I sent payment to Hondaman for his Transistor Ingnition upgrade - this upgrade is the best of both worlds and truly a no-brainer, can't imagine anyone not wanting to do this upgrade!
One area that I plan to make changes is the brakes. Larger diameter front rotor with multi piston caliper is a must in my book. Dual disc in the front would be nice. I also plan to have a rear disc brake.
As for wheels I love the look of spoke rims but keeping the spoke rim look takes a back seat to the brakes. I definitely want 4:1 exhaust. I've found the OEM pipe on ebay and another by MAC but that's it for the 400F. Like the looks of the Yoshi pipes but if it was ever made for a 400F I have yet to find evidence on the web.
Anyway, I just wanted to say hi and introduce myself.
Cheers
-brad
