I really like this! Though I gather it's really expensive, ennit? What I THINK you're using there, are the same powders used by high-end scale model builders, toy restoration experts who work with old "Go-Bots" figurines etc. It's from Japan, sold in really tiny jars and bloody expensive at that - you apply it to a rag & polish it by hand but it's still a weird corn-starch consistency POWDER, which is easily damaged but looks fantastic at first blush. Then of course the next trick was to figure out a clear-coat for it. Well, it looks like somebody's figured out a more appropriate large-scale application technique? And a solid clear-coat process? The one dead give-away tipping me off about the product is you mentioned that it's a powder first of all, but more to the point you mention how EXPENSIVE it is!
I gather that it works on plastics and fiberglass etc, which would be the main application. If you're already working with a METAL gas-tank, I don't see why a person wouldn't simply CHROME the damn thing in the proper fashion!
I suppose the reason I didn't go that route myself, OR with the "chrome effect" spray-paints (did that on a plastic DOHC 'F-type front fender, with the "swoosh" on it - yeah, it winds up looking like a slightly less than perfectly polished, or well polished and then slightly aged, ALUMINUM - certainly nothing close to real chrome - that being said - it's really good stuff and it does have it's applications!) Well it seems to me if you're already dealing with Aluminum, there's something disingenuous about taking the Aluminum and turning it into something that it's not!
Myself, I'm using the "Old's-Cool" methods, and for that hubris I've been polishing and polishing and RE-polishing and RE-RE-polishing - RE-to the Nth-power POLISHING -
On an Aluminum OEM tank from a Honda four-cylinder. Drawing a blank? CB1100R - AWESOME tank, typically sets you back about one tenth, one quarter - HALF at the very most, what it'll cost you for an aftermarket Aluminum gas tank for a Honda four. And now that I've got MINE, I suppose I can TELL ya'll about it! Ha-ha.
Am really keen on building replicas of this gas-tank, using "flow-forming" techniques as illustrated by "Tin-Man-Tech" on YouTube & elsewhere. He sells some really nice equipment, tools, welding & polishing materials etc. But the first place you should look are his "Flow-Forming" vids, it's a real mind-bender - you'd forget about the English Wheel B.S. in a heart-beat!
But anyway I've been shooting for this "Toaster-Tank" thing, as a replica of the CB450K0 Black Bomber, for my "CB900K0 Bol Bomber', 'cause it's a Bol D'Or - right? "Black D'Or"? Nah. "BOL BOMBER" - especially in that the pronunciation sounds like "BOWL" heh-heh. Like I'm making one enormous TURD. Heh-heh. With the black paint across the center. I swear - I was completely unaware of what you were doing here. Zeitgeist thing I suppose.
But yeah - much as my tank is a really good specimen, it's a result of the flow-formed alloy sheet IMHO, worked with an air-hammer over a hard-wood "BUCK" mould, as a means to "mass-produce" an identical tank in volumes sufficient for the 1st year's 1050 examples of CB1100RB in 1981, then 1500 CB1100RC's in '82, and another 1500 CB1100RD's in '83 - plus spares. Probably not quite enough for Honda to create a huge pneumatic/hydraulic DIE press, though of course they've certainly made less than 4050 specimens of a bike in the past (1st year CB350F's perhaps?) I'm guessing the racing HOMOLOGATION rules
(((Keeping in mind that this was the first of all factory "Homologation Specials" if you know what I mean - the 1st one in the world, and look at how many more have the same 'R designation even today! Of course, if you look at a lot of the ITALIAN marques, they were making low-volume production "street-bikes" for AGES prior to the Japanese. And besides that, there were also the CR110 and it's ilk - it's just that the CB1100RB was the first bike done in response to a restrictive RULE change etc)))
Anyway yeah, it's my GUESS that they didn't plan all along to have to produce a full three years worth of these bikes. And while the TANK stayed the same, SFAIK there's no way to tell 'em apart - though if there IS it'll be the petcock types which means mine is an '81 model - anyway the tanks stayed the same but the fairings changed - So you'd THINK they'd have ideas about changing the tanks as well. Well it's just my THEORY, but IMHO they weren't looking at doing these bikes in a much bigger series....
In ANY case, there's a lot of further evidence that the tanks were "Flow-Formed" with a pneumatic rapid-fire air-hammer with plastic tips, and hardwood "BUCK" mould, just like TinManTech shows in numerous YouTube vids, and sells equipment for, etc. Fact is, in sanding down the tank for polish, I could quite clearly see that on certain angles and surfaces there was a "Wood Grain" texture which changed in a way reflective of a consistent grain direction throughout the whole mould - elongated on certain curves and direct end-on micro-dents on main faces etc. To ME anyhow, it was clear that this is how they whipped up these tanks.
So ANYWAY - if anybody's whipping up a lot of Aluminum gas tanks and they're making 'em any other way? Like, repeating the exact same operations over and over and OVER again, but doing it on an English Wheel and hammering shapes by hand, measuring 'em and hammering 'em some more - over and over and OVER again?
Then they're a bunch of friggin' IDIOTS ha-ha. It's also interesting to note how the CB1100R tanks are made from two side panels and a bottom, with a welded seam across the top. And yet you don't SEE the welded seam across the top. If anything, it reminds me of the CB72/CB77 Hawk/SuperHawk Toaster-Tanks, the CB92 ALL ALUMINUM Gas-Tanks, CB160 Toaster-Tanks etc - 'cause they too had that central spine weld-seam rather than a flat panel on the top! It means there's more bending and shaping involved, but far less going on with the welding. And the complicated welding of matching up odd-shaped parts for that matter.
I'd also hazard a guess that a lot of the hand-made alloy tanks out there are very THICK - especially the "Foxy", "Boxy" types - due to working with much thicker sheet-metal than Honda themselves would've worked with at the time.
Cheeze-Jizz I really need to get some new batteries for my bathroom scale, 'cause I've just realized I've never measured the weight on this CB1100R gas tank. But it's 6.9 gallons capacity and definitely weighs less than a bone-stock STEEL tank off of the '82 CB900F - I suppose I've got a fire-damaged '82 CB750F tank on hand as well, so as soon as I get the thing acid etched to remove any rust inside of it, I'll know how much they weigh without paint - to be as accurate a comparison as possible ha-ha.
Seriously though, the material thickness! This is a huge consideration for alloy RIMS as well - Especially concerning COMSTAR wheels, where the Boomerang type Comstar rims from CB1100RC/D, CB1100F, CB900F2 etc - have a solid THICK rim - whereas the five-spoke type Comstar wheels ("Silver" or "Black" aka "Reverse" Comstars) have a HOLLOW SHOULDER, much like a valanced rim with the shoulder bent over at the top to form a roof. I've got a bunch of cut pieces of these rims from fire-damaged wheels lost back in a house-fire I had in 2013 - Hey, I had to recover SOMETHING - And I did manage to salvage some CBX pro-link caliper-hangers for 296mm rotors, and a few other items like that - it wasn't a complete waste of time digging 'em out. A complete waste of the prior five years work on two full projects not to mention losses of NOS parts and everything else - Bike related of course. Don't like to think about the NON bike related stuff..... But yeah anyway the cut pieces of RIMS that I salvaged shall provide some decent instructional material for comparison to other rim types. Sadly I lost the 3.00x16" Borrani sections but I did manage to salvage some 3.50" Super-Akront profiles.
ANYWAY - even with the lighter hollow-shouldered version of 2.50x18" D.I.D. rim removed from the five-point Comstar wheel - I've weighed it up and it's the same weight as the Akront 4.25x18" wire-spoke type. HOPEFULLY, the Akront "NERVI" center-spline types are just as light, 'cause that's what I wanna use for rebuilding some super-wide yet ultra-light SUPER-COMSTAR wheels. Somewhere down the line, as an alternative set matched to some of my wire-spoke rims. Maybe for wet-weather vs slicks, to swap 'em at the track. Would be awesome if their weight was about on par, between wire-spoke and Comstar rims. A toss up though, whether to build the early "Silver" type, the "Black"/"Reverse" Comstars (Both of which have been DONE before - the '76 RCB prototype Comstars, and a Dutch CBX I've seen on some Netherlands bike forums) Plus the later six-point Comstars from VF1000R etc, were done in 3.50x17" & 4.50x18" on certain incarnations of the the NS500 or NSR500 - The type which HASN'T been done would be the BOOMERANG Comtars....
ANYWAY - what I wanted to say about the RIM WEIGHTS, much as the Comstar vs Akront "NERVI" thing is very very interesting IMHO - I'd also like to draw a comparison between the shouldered and non-shouldered rim types:
With both the Borrani 3.00x16" and the Super-Akront 3.50x16" on hand, it's interesting to note that the Super-Akront is about 2/3rds the weight of the Borrani. Well, in HAND anyhow. Gotta get some new batteries for this scale. Argh. Gonna go try & get a quick weight on 'em right now. OKAY - scale's on the fritz, half dead, and on a cheap digital bathroom scale. So not a great measurement. But I'm getting 5.6lbs on the Borrani, and 4.2lbs on the Super-Akront. Consider though that this is the WIDER of the two rims. Maybe not as extreme as the 2.50x18" D.I.D. vs the 4.25x18" Akront. I should go get some weights on the AMF-Harley 2.50x18" while I'm at it, seeing as these are the three "MAIN" wheels I'll be using up front with all of these bikes. Them, basically two or three of each of 'em - well something like six of the 3.00" Borrani but a bunch of 'em are for side-car and rear-wheel use also. Anyway yeah, the OTHER rim I'm gonna use on the "Bol Bomber" would be the MORAD drop-center, shouldered/valanced/flanged - 3.00x18" - the same size as the GL1500 front wheel, and I wanna get the GL1500 "Hub" cut out and laced into the thing so there you go. HEAVY - no matter what the rim weighs! Ha-ha.
And I'm collecting a HUGE amount of data on wheel weights for all of the HUBS I'm collecting, all of the brake rotors I've come across, and all of the RIMS especially, 'cause they have such a huge bearing on rolling inertia as well as un-sprung mass vis-a-vis the suspension compliance. And what better way to collect all of that data but COLLECTING it all - in the flesh as it were, a whole bloody ROOM full of wheel parts waiting for a lace-up, tensioning, & final balance job - just as soon as I get some spokes for 'em all. SO YEAH, this spells nothing less than a life-time's worth of bike building, if I should live long enough to throw the things together. And being that most of the bikes I'm interested in would wind up using similar brakes & hubs etc in the first place - Well I might as well "TRIAL" several of these rim-sets on the same bikes my current bike projects, specifically the "Bol Bomber" -
Here are the rim sets, in order of priority:
3.50x16" with 4.25x18" - 2.50x18" with 3.50x18" - 3.00x18" with 4.25x18" (a 2nd specimen this time drilled for a FRONT hub, for a bolt-up cush-drive and smaller rotor) 2.50x18" (2nd specimen) with 4.25x17" (40-hole Harley-spec ie Honda FRONT hub again, or a re-drill job if they'll do it! - This set matches your CB750F SOHC pair, but I hope to make huge improvements on the brakes ie the 296mm rotors go up FRONT on my bike and the 276mm is maximum size I'll use on the rear!) 3.50x16" with 5.00x17" (a VF1000R or CBR900RR style) 3.00x16" with 3.50x16" - Plus several pairs of 3.00x16" & 3.00x16" for the "KZ440LOL" and that's just the alloy wire-spoke sets.
A whole lot of screwing around "Re-Inventing The Wheel" as it were. But the way I look at it, this spells out the next several BIKES I'm gonna build, as these first three sets I'm gonna trial on the "Bol Bomber" but the "Skinny" set will go on a light-weight DOHC 750 for my Ex-Daughter to keep up with the Bol Bomber, the 16/18 set from the Bol will go onto a V65 Magna/Sabre based homage to the CZ Type 860 called a "CZ860 Sand-Cast", the 3.00x18" & 4.25x18" will be trialed on a replica of the Goldwing Endurance Racer "DLF-1000" built by a Swiss dude called DONCQUE only I wanna do one from a GL1200 - of course it all depends on what their rear swing-arms will allow, so all sorts of rim-sets could wind up on either of these bikes.
I also want to build a couple more pairs in sizes I don't have right now but know where to score 'em for really cheap - I wanna use a skinnier 16/18 pair, probably a 2.50x16" drum-drilled 36-spoke from Mike's XS650 paired with anothere 3.00x18" or THIS same one I've already go, if I can replace it on the Bol Bomber parts-list when I find the original 3" I was looking for in the FIRST place, which looked more like a WM3 with no drop-center just dimples down the middle. That's what was pictured in the auction but they shipped a drop-center style rim.
So yeah ANYWAY, a skinnier 2.5x16/3.0x18 pair with a CBX550F internal-disc hub or it's "2LS" single disc version which comes with the bike - I wanna whip up a replica of Bill Ivy's Jawa 350cc V4 - from the Honda MXV250F V3 too-smoke, 'cause these two bikes look soooo much alike it's SPOOKY. Even the frame paint colour is matched, not to mention the heat-shield over the upper exhaust expansion-chambers - identical! So picture the tank painted RED - with the "HONDA" in the same script and pointed-oval "cartouche" as the "JAWA" script of the original. Between that and the wire-spoke rims, one need do nothing else and it's a PERFECT REPLICA of the V4 Jawa - notwithstanding being 100cc's smaller and having one less jug. Oh and being liquid-cooled. Well - the JAWA did come in an air-cooled format, but there was also a liquid-cooled version of it. Only realized that after planning this whole project! - Haven't yet FOUND a specimen of the bike for sale, but as soon as I DO, I'll have all the rest of the needed parts on hand! Well, the wire rims and the red paint ha-ha!
I would also like to make a wire-spoke conversion of something like the CB700SC or CB750SC "Nighthawk-S" 'cause it's got the "Bobber-esque" 16/16 or 16/17 rims but the net effect is something more like a Ducati F1 SantaMonica etc, or a Bimota HB2/HB3, in that it uses low-profile SPORT-BIKE tires on those same sizes of rims. Much the same as I'm doing with the "KZ440LOL" only instead of the Suzuki 200mm 4LS drum I want to use the IMITATION drum on a Honda model. For the Nighthawk, whether it be the CB700SC or better yet a CBX750F if I had my druthers - where the early CBX750F had the 2.5x16/3.0x18 rim-set and the later "Bol D'Or" version was 2.5x18/3.5x17 rims both in the same BOOMERANG rims as fitted to the CB900F2, CB1100R, in identical sizes - (((the CBX750F-II rear Boomerang is actually wider than the CB1100F rear rim and it comes in gold etc only it has a subtly different hub & brake - even so, a great substitute for the CB1100F USA-spec cast/mag rims as a cheaper but better replacement than the Euro/Canadian market CB1100F Gold Boomerang rims!))) a combination of swapping a wheel from BOTH versions of CBX750F would be either the 18/18 like I say, OR - 2.5x16" & 3.5x17" just like the 6-point Comstar rims on the VF1000R only they'd be BOOMERANG rims. IIRC there were two different versions of the Boomerang rims on the VF1000F however IIRC they weren't exactly the same as the CBX750F - I don't think there was an 18" front on the VF1000F, was there? I'm not certain one way or the other. But yeah, if I'm already building a couple of 18/18 rim-sets for early-'80s Honda big-bore models, then I might as well make some OTHER pairs which are size-for-size matched to early-'80s Honda models. Or a wee bit wider of course. And all of these models - the MXV250F especially, but definitely the V65's and the Goldwing to a lesser extent, are far less appreciated than they should be for their CAFE RACER potential. IMHO, practically everything Honda even BUILT in the early '80s through to the mid-'80s really already WAS a Cafe Racer in the first place. They were cock-blocked by the Battlestar Galactica inspired bodywork that was the style of the day, but their basic CHASSIS and RUNNING GEAR, they were very sporty and cool. And if that doesn't fit the definition for you, well they all had the interchangeable parts, such that one could easily UPGRADE the stockers with easily available components from either HONDALINE stuff or even more factory-direct options like the "Sport-Kit" components - rear-sets, lower bars, modified race-type throttle controls, yadda-yadda. 20yrs prior parts like these would've come from aftermarket suppliers whereas in the '80s they were factory.
Well in TRUTH - if you wanted to know what a Cafe Racer was in the 1980s, all one need do is look to "CAFE RACER" magazine of that age, published well into the mid-'80s, which show-cased custom frame-kit bikes, by the likes of Moto-Martin, Nico Bakker, Bimota, Harris Magnum, Rau, Egli, Seely, Rickman (Predator Series this time), Peckett & McNabb, MAGNI, Japauto, Dholda, and numerous others. Powered by the biggest motors then available. Sure you might have seen the occasional specimen with a big-bore VINCENT V-Twin engine and perhaps even a Rob North framed Triumph T160 Trident engine or maybe even a BSA Rocket-III suitably updated with cutting edge Forca D'Italia front end with Brembo floating rotors etc. But only as a fully conscious anachronism - just as Cycle magazine would showcase a rebuilt '82 Suzuki engine in a Bimota KB2 chassis circa 1992 - Which is to say, the whole focus of the "Cafe Racer" SCENE wasn't anachronistic, it wasn't even tied into the '80s Rockabilly Revival vis-a-vii Brian Setzer and The Stray Cats etc. The concept was still fully MODERN at that time.
IMHO the point where this notion of "Cafe Racer" (aka, DIY improvements done by the shade-tree mechanic or casual noob - keeping in mind all sorts of folks had fabrication skills, then as now, but the true FACTORY race-techs had full ground-up build shops at their disposal) came to an end once the DEALERSHIPS were able to offer a show-room floor "BASE" model which was so race-oriented as to need no such improvements. Sportsbikes in other words. But ARE they complete? There's still a huge market for add-on "Go-Fast Parts", usually light-weight carbon-fibre replacements for all of the stupid little random curved triangles that look like they were scooped off the cutting-room floor.... Ha-ha. And there are ALSO currently some tubular Chromoly FRAME KITS for modern Sportsbikes. And if you thought the DIY modifications no longer improve the likes of top-shelf Sportsbikes, you need to check out forums like "DUCK CUTTERS" - I mean damn, those guys have completely shat upon the popular adage "Ducati does not need YOUR help building motorcycles" - HA! The DUCK CUTTERS have proven conclusively otherwise!
ANYWAY yeah, IMHO these early '80s Honda models already have so much of the performance enhancements done to 'em, though it's important to play "Mix-&-Match" or rather, "Hand-Me-Down" for the better components from the bigger models to upgrade the smaller or lesser, more "pedestrian" models - But aside from some small ergonomic changes, the aforementioned fork & brake upgrades - plus the wire-spoke wheel swaps -All that's needed is an aesthetic re-design just to strip away the whole Battlestar Galactica, Star Wars sort of vibe - give 'em back something more of a "Space 1999" vibe instead, preferably less of a Buck Rogers in the 23rd century '80s television schlock sort of vibe, and more of a Flash Gordon radio show aesthetic - well, definitely not the "FLASH!" (Ah-ahhhh - He saved every one of us!) vibe but the ORIGINAL type of #$%*. That's what I'm trying to say. As Deaner from "FUBAR!" would say, "Turn down the suck knob, and turn up the good knob!" This is all that's needed to turn these '80s Honda street-bikes into some semblance of '60s-'70s RACE REPLICA (sorta) from pretty much anywhere really - like I say the V4 and V3 harken back to Czechoslovakia - or Italy if you accept the theory that Honda just had to "one-up" everything the other marques built. Such that the GL1000 is a BMW Box-R' with two more barrels and liquid cooling, just as the ST1100 is a Guzzi with two more barrels and liquid cooling. Don't believe me? Well, consider the BIMOTA TESI - Built upon a simple Ducati L-twin platform. Well, it's earliest aspirations in prototype form were built upon the HONDA engines, the VF1000F etc, in other words a Ducati but with two more barrels and liquid cooling! So THAT'S how I'd like to see 'em all styled! An ST1100 done up in Guzzi V1000 guise. A Goldwing done up as a classic boxer-engined Endurance racer (thankfully, one needn't look to the actual BMW racers when the Goldwing already HAS the "DLF-1000") and the VF-series V-fours, ideally wrapped in a tubular steel chassis certainly preferred to the "I-beam"/"Delta-Box" style perimeter frames. Surely, Honda didn't copy the single-sided-swingarm from Ducati - No, it's the other way 'round! Ennit? 'Cause HONDA, in proper DOHC-4 format no less, worked with the genius at ELF racing, who developed that technology in the first place!
There are a few DIFAZIO hub-center-steer equipped GL1000 GOLDWINGS out there. I wonder whether there are any built upon the Honda VF-series platform? If there were, then the Bimota Tesi is even MORE of a rip-off than it seems at first blush! Ha-ha. Well, they've still got the "OMEGA" CNC-killed Killit-Aluminum frame members, which was the REAL genius of the Bimotoa Tesi, not the hub-center-steer system which the press went GooGoo-GaGa over. Seriously though, I wonder whether there are any of those original Difazio frame-mod kits left unassembled, NOS sitting around in a box.
'Cause a wire-spoke tubular-framed analogue of the original Bimota Tesi Prototype would REALLY blow some minds.....
*COUGH* (Went off on a weee bit of a tangent there!)
With OR without polished Aluminum and CHROME all over 'em! Ha-ha.
-Sigh.
