Topic: Why can't I?

[Venarius]

Why can't I cafe a CB750C? 

I've heard a few here say that its a waste of time and to get something better suited for the task.  Why I ask?  What is so different about the C?

Am I really wasting my time? 

Let me give you a little background.  I got teh CB as my first bike (only paid $500 and it had 7500 miles on it) and then moved onto an SV1000, and then moved on to a VTX1800.
So now I have my main bike (VTX), and my old CB just sittin outside in the carport collecting rust.  It needs some work, (new sprockets, ignition, gasket, etc) and I figured if i was going to work on it I might as well make it pleasing to the eyes...because I hate the look of the UJM.  Don't get me wrong, I do see some beauty in it, and I see the history, and I road around on it for a bit over a year so I definately became accustomed to it.  But coming back to it after a sport bike and a nice cruiser...I can't stand the looks of it anymore. 

Thats why I want to cafe it...at least then it'll be more of a retro/vintage look.

So, why is it so hard to cafe a C model?  Remember, I'm not going to go buy another CB to cafe, so if I shouldn't cafe this one...what else could I do to improve the looks and such?

[Steve F]

  Don't let anyone tell you what you can and can't do with your bike.  It's your thing...make it the way YOU like it.  There's no style police out there watching what you build.  Go for it.

[cbjunkie]

y'know - i just spent a coupla minutes looking at pictures of the C...i can understand why you might not like it, if you've tuned your eyes for a different look - it kind of wants to be a cruiser, and have some body work, but it's just an early model and not too sophisticated in the execution...

i don't see any reason you can't strip off some of that stuff and turn it into a "cafe" style bike.  there are lots of us making such modifications to our bikes on this board - look around and get ideas.

mostly just take/cut things off of it - if there's a piece of chrome you don't like or an extra footpeg or two - put'em in a box...your bike only needs a motor and two wheels and a couple of other things to ride.

there are some guys on here that like the stock look. there ain't a damn thing wrong with that - one day i myself will be there, i'm sure, but for now i want to follow the creative impulse with a machine that belongs to me and that I will ride around. with so much variety in the world there will always be somebody who thinks yours is dumb, or less than it should be for some reason. so what?

we will help as much as we can - go for it.

[DammitDan]

Well, for one the bike is a DOHC and you're asking questions on the SOHC forums.  I think some people just have a problem from that standpoint (BS point #1).  Another is that some people don't consider your bike "vintage" enough for conversion into anything but a chopper (BS point #2). 

Personally I can't hardly stand the stock '70s look that most every motorcycle had out there (flat seat, flat tank, tall pulled back handlebars and rediculously tall mirrors... it's just big boxy and boring to me) but I love the look that (some) cafe racers can pull out of the '70s bikes.  Don't let someone ELSE who doesn't like your bike just because it's a DOHC or because it's "too new" discourage you from doing whatever you want.  I believe that your motorcycle is a statement of who you are, and customizing it is simply an extension to that statement.

I think that the CB750c would look good as a single seater bobtail...  To me it's the tank that really might not work for a CB cafe.  Course, on the other hand no one ever said you had to have knee grips banged into the tank...  Or that you had to keep the tank at all!

 - Dan-0

[cbjunkie]

why not just ditch the whole bike? i mean if it has no aesthetic value (to you) or sentimental value then why keep it?

[rt]

Dan - simply go for it. At the end of the day it's YOUR bike and it's entirely up to you what you do with it. Simply play around with it, swap tanks or whatever and you'll soon see what suits you best. By the way please don't forget to post some pics...
  

[eldar]

Hell I think custom the way it is. I dont see why you could not put on some clubmans and maybe some shorter front springs in the forks to drop the front end a little. You would have to make a seat but many here do that anyways. if I had the cash, I would probably buy it the way it is.

[Venarius]

why not just ditch the whole bike? i mean if it has no aesthetic value (to you) or sentimental value then why keep it?

Like I said its my first bike, so it obviously has sentimental value.  Aesthetic value no...but thats just me.

I'm doing this because I always wanted both a cruiser and a fun bike to throw around in the twisties, and seeing as I already have a nice cruiser, modifying the CB is the most logical way to get that second bike.  Especially money wise.  I pay about $180 a month insurance for my VTX, and a newer sport bike of any caliber would be about that as well...and being as the CB is so old, only have to pay around $38 a month, and I don't have to buy another motorcycle.  (incase you didn't know, massachusetts has standardized insurance so we all get raped...for the VTX, I pay $1250 BEFORE they factor in my history and step number...that makes it almost $2000 a year, while most others with my bike in different states pay no more than 800 tops.  Massachusetts sucks balls that way).

Anyway, I consider this a cheap method to having two very different bikes for very different purposes.

Why keep it?  Because it does me no good to sell it.  I payed 500 for it in working condition.  The thing probably needs at least 200 in parts to get it working again...so what could I sell it for, $150, $200?  Thats not even enough to pay for one good part for my VTX.  Instead of putting 150 in my pocket, I'd rather keep the thing around with the hope of someday bringing it back to life.

And thats the other thing.  The VTX is a new and hot product, and as such, for $350 you could barely by anything worth putting on it.  I could spend 1k and only get crash bars, a sissybar, and a new airbox.  And that same money put into the CB would get me a whole new bike...for 1k I could fix up the engine, get a new tank and get a new seat to make the thing look cooler...

[dusterdude]

well i say,as the self appointed style cop here,go for it man!!!

[cbjunkie]

BRAH!!! 

[Geeto67]

Why can't I cafe a CB750C? 

I've heard a few here say that its a waste of time and to get something better suited for the task.  Why I ask?  What is so different about the C?

Am I really wasting my time? 

Let me give you a little background.  I got teh CB as my first bike (only paid $500 and it had 7500 miles on it) and then moved onto an SV1000, and then moved on to a VTX1800.
So now I have my main bike (VTX), and my old CB just sittin outside in the carport collecting rust.  It needs some work, (new sprockets, ignition, gasket, etc) and I figured if i was going to work on it I might as well make it pleasing to the eyes...because I hate the look of the UJM.  Don't get me wrong, I do see some beauty in it, and I see the history, and I road around on it for a bit over a year so I definately became accustomed to it.  But coming back to it after a sport bike and a nice cruiser...I can't stand the looks of it anymore. 

Thats why I want to cafe it...at least then it'll be more of a retro/vintage look.

So, why is it so hard to cafe a C model?  Remember, I'm not going to go buy another CB to cafe, so if I shouldn't cafe this one...what else could I do to improve the looks and such?

yeah that is mainly me saying get a different bike. Why can't you cafe a custom? well nothing is saying you can't. It is just a lot of work, more so thatn it would be on a bike that had an aftermarket already in place with cafe racer parts. As far as the custom is concerned the frame design is just different from other cb750s, it has a chopper style dropped seat area that makes it difficult to adapt parts and makes things like rearsets difficult because of riding position. The easy path is to get a bike more easily adaptable to the cafe look. If you choose to stick it out you will dump way to much money into it and fabricate mostly everything (or have it farmed out). You will problem solve probably a million times on the bike and generally have no real guidance because you will be in uncharted terriroty. That being said it will probably be a lot a fun and I have confidence the end result will be cool.

I'm just trying to let you know what you are in for, sometimes the idea of a project can take hold fast and you rush in. I'm trying to be the guy telling you the road to a cafe cb750C is littered with unfinished bikes and projects gone arwy. However the reward at the end can be a grea expirence. The choice is yours. 

[cadler]

Whats a CB750C?

[Bob Wessner]

Whats a CB750C?

Here are a couple of pics.

http://100megsfree4.com/honda/h0700/custom.htm

[Geeto67]

Whats a CB750C?

A CB750C is a cb750 made from 1979-1983 (in some countries even longer, in the US until 82). In the early eighties honda used the cb750 engine in three platforms: the K bike which was a standard do it all motorcycle, the F supersport the sport bike of the bunch, and the C Custom which was the crusier/chopper of the line. This the era when motorcycles started to be more purpose built where as in the 1970s one bike was supposed to do it all. The custom has all the easy chopper tricks of the era like a dropped seat height, slightly more forward controls (although they are still mid mount) high bars, 16" rear wheel (talk about a handeling killer), sissy bar, leading axle forks, etc... They are great bikes in terms of reliability and very comfy to ride but a performance motorcycle they are not (they are also DOHC which blows my mind as to why we are still talking about one on a SOHC forum).

They also made a 900 custom with a 10 speed transmission (basically a 5 speed with a high/low overdrive under drive switch) that was shaft driven. and an 1100 custom that was a real rocket of a crusier.

The www.cb900c.com forum will probably have more info on these bikes if you are interested.

[seaweb11]

I was wondering about all the Neg Cafe' comments until I saw the bike link some one finaly put up. "Thanks Bob"
Uh..............nice 80s cruiser..

[Venarius]

wow, Geeto67, you just told me more about my bike than I ever knew!

Okay, so some think the frame isn't suited for the task as its seat is lower than the tank...I'm thinkin that might be a good thing.  Look at sportbikes today, the tanks are much higher than the seats, and if a Cafe is supposed to be the sportbike of the 60's...if it has a higher tank won't it make it more "sporty".  I know that now I'm divulging from the classic cafe look...but I'm not going for balls to the wall authenticity...

[seaweb11]

Please post pictures as you go.
I would be interested to see the results, and in the end it is your bike.
Give er #$%*. Do what you see in your mind.  anythings possible with enough time effort and money

[comcrx]

have you thought about the bar-stormer look? think mutant buell and the like. those tanks are definitely a lot higher than the seat, have forward controls, I think they look badass. they're basically like small sport choppers. I don't see any reason why you couldn't do something like that with a CB?

[ProTeal55]

have you thought about the bar-stormer look? think mutant buell and the like.

A mutant Buell look would def. be sweet on that bike...
Go with it.......

[bill440cars]

                       A while back I asked a question about the clutch lever on my 80' CB750K and the only
          response I got was from dusterdude (and I thanked him). I really thought I'd get a better
          turnout than that. But, life goes on. Later on, Bill

[howardstapley]

If im touring a 350f, you can cafe a 750c.

[Bodain]

Go for it. I'll bet I could cafe a goldwing. <GRIN> Heck I could cafe a chopper.

As far as far as my CB550 goes for the twisties. I have no interest in the twisties on the CB. It just don't cut it.
I just dig the cafe look.
When I'm ready to ride the twisties the Kawasaki ZRX 1200R comes out.

[Geeto67]

venarius,

you should fill in your location, that way fi you are close to one of us someone with more expirence can help you out in person. If I am close to you (NYC) I'll gladly pitch in, you could probably use the help.

You need to explore the net, see what other peope have done. The more you see done with similar bikes the more ideas you will get. Whenever taking on a project like this it is always wise to have a plan way in advance before you tear into anything, this will give you something to strive for and help you reach your goal.

I personally have always liked the mad max look for a bike, and considering what denny berg did with flat green paint and a yamaha I think something cool can be had there.

check out http://ratbike.org/

and also bratstyle: http://www.bratstyle.com/custom/custom.htm

here are some pics to get you thinking

[cbjunkie]

the cafe is a city bike - plain and simple. the definition of a "cafe" racer is a bike that has been stripped down and is then used to rocket from cafe to cafe (or bar to bar) to look tough and pick up chicks. that's it.

true race bikes have a lot more invested as far as engine mods and serious mechanic guru/nerd stuff... it's not for everybody - just for those with the mechanic gene. and more power to'em...wish i had it. i'm a right brainer myself - a right brainer with a healthy respect for left brainers, and even more for those rare birds that mingle the two successfully - we commonly call them "geniuses" - see Picasso et.al.

junkie out.

p.s.  - right on g2 - a picture. worth 1000 words...

[DammitDan]

Ton up, baby!

That red one is a hot little ride, too.  What did I tell ya?  Bobtail it and skin it down a bit... It will be awesome!