So I've been trawling the board for a while soaking up everyone else's build experiences and info. It's inspiring to see how many different directions everyone's builds end up going in.
I decided to wait till i had a clear conceptual path before starting a thread on here. I'm not 100% sure on all the details or even the complete direction so i will be requesting opinions to bounce off of my own from time to time.
Bear in mind too, this is not going to be a simple aesthetic mod on a stock runner. I was given a basket case 77 550 that had been running until the cam gear broke off while running. The frame is in good condition, it comes with rebuilt carbs and the engine (outside of the cylinder head) seems to be in decent condition. The PO (my cousin) had taken it apart to rebuild, and had aquired a 74 550 garden bike (ie rust bucket) to replace the cylinder head and use the 4 into 1 header (used to be a kerker but it was rusted out). He lost interest (he has 2 other builds going, a yamaha 650 and a HD) and offered them to me as a project because i mentioned i was looking to start a build. So I'm going to be rebuilding the engine from the ground up. Haven't gotten to measuring the bore yet so i don't know if I'm going to keep it stock. My main focus is to get it built and running and looking right and then do performance upgrades as i see fit.
Initially i wanted to turn the cb into a cafe with a modern front end, and eventually get another bike to do a rigid. But as i looked around and started paying attention to the brat scene i realized id be better off working out all of the elements i like into a hybrid of sorts.
I always had a soft spot for flat track bikes cuz my brother raced them in the 80's, and for the old rigid salt flat bikes, as well as aggressive cafes. I'm not looking for it to be a long distance commuter, a horizontal knee slider or some all-looks-no-function show bike. I plan on doing most of the work myself as I'm trying to not spend more than $1000 bucks on this build. The only things i can definitely foresee not doing are frame modifications (leaving that to pros) and the tank if it becomes too much for me to handle.
This is what i came up with (not 100% to scale but i tried to make it fairly accurate):
link to bigger version
Run down of what i want to doing/installing:
- Custom brushed metal tank and seat pan (not sure if aluminum or stainless yet. Really will be determined by my resources and or associated costs)
- a metal side panel that will be on a hinge.
- raked frame (not sure about the exact angle I'm going to go with yet. probably 3-4 degrees over stock.
- 2-3" extended swing arm with stiffer shocks. between the rake and the lowered rear end, should drop the bike a couple inches.
- header shield
- waxed canvas or leather tool bag that will snap onto the gas tank
- waxed canvas or leather seat cushion
- oil cooler (already installed on the 77)
- dual 19" wheels (was considering re-lacing a rear hub onto a front rim, but as im typing this, im not sure if the hole amount is the same and the bikes are at my company's warehouse. do the stock front rims match up with the rear hub?? also am i going to run into torque problems with a stock front rim on back?). I'm considering 21" wheels for later on but for now I'm gonna stick with 19s.
- dual sport tires (probably something a bit more modern than the dunlop k70)
- using the parts from the donor bike to do a dual front disc upgrade
- going to mainly keep the parts bare metal, black or brass colored. Hand painted graphics.
So with that being said, I'm on the fence about using clip ons and inverted old school style / clubman hybrid custom handlebars I'm working on. I like both, but I'm not sure what will be best for this particular bike.
link to bigger version
Also, since the bike is going to end up lower, i contemplated fabricating a side exhaust which would allow me to use the bike on slightly rougher dirt roads (not that I'm trying to do trails with it, but i may end up on some backcountry dirt roads and you never know). Im mainly going to be on paved roads though so its not as big of an issue. Here's what i mocked up. I like how it looks but not sure if its where i want to go with this.
link to bigger version
I'll be posting up pics of the bikes as they are now in a day or so, so you can see how much work i have ahead of me haha. But also gonna be asking for help with the engine condition, as my knowledge of motorcycle engines is not that extensive, as I've only rebuilt the engine for my 91 Montero so far, and thats a different beast.
Feel free to point anything out you see here that might be a potential problem. This is gonna be a slow and deliberate learning process for me. I want to get to know this bike so well through the build that if i ever break down, that tool bag will be all ill need to get back on the road.
Here I go.
