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Author Topic: Foale frame CB750  (Read 36314 times)

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Offline RupertB

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Foale frame CB750
« on: November 03, 2011, 02:37:50 PM »
I posted about a year ago with the very tatty Foale frame and Henry Abe wheels - some of you may remember but I won't be offended if you don't! Anyway the frame is now welded where required and has been blasted and primered to allow any tatty areas to show up, and also to allow it to be dry-built in due course before I spend money on having it painted for real. The wheels are in the (slow) process of being detail polished after blasting - slow because I am doing it. The engine was found to have a wrecked main bearing but a true gent on the UK version of this board has sold me a serviceable replacement at very generous discount. A set of 836cc Wiseco pistons is on the shelf ready, with a block to match and a gasket set. (Anyone want to buy a set of Abe 812cc pistons of unknown history?) Next step is to get the engine cases and sundries off to the vapour blasters and then look to getting the engine built up as a finished unit. At least there is some benefit to winter!
« Last Edit: November 03, 2011, 02:39:55 PM by RupertB »
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Offline Retro Rocket

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Re: Foale frame CB750
« Reply #1 on: November 03, 2011, 04:42:56 PM »
Subscribed.... ;)
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Offline Greggo

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Re: Foale frame CB750
« Reply #2 on: November 03, 2011, 05:19:16 PM »
Quote from: Retro Rocket on November 03, 2011, 04:42:56 PM
Subscribed.... ;)

Me too!  Very cool bit of kit!
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mrjack55

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Re: Foale frame CB750
« Reply #3 on: November 04, 2011, 03:51:48 AM »
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Offline WhyNot2

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Re: Foale frame CB750
« Reply #4 on: November 04, 2011, 04:35:28 AM »
Veeeeeerrrrryyyyy Interesting...........................
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Offline strtlegal

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Re: Foale frame CB750
« Reply #5 on: November 04, 2011, 05:01:49 AM »
Holy Crap thats cool! I'll def be keeping an eye on this...good luck with it!
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Offline ekpent

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Re: Foale frame CB750
« Reply #6 on: November 04, 2011, 06:02:01 AM »
Looks like a great thread---Can we see a picture also of the beast in the back with the 6 exhaust pipes in the background. Is that a Honda or Benelli ?   Eric
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Offline JustinLonghorn

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Re: Foale frame CB750
« Reply #7 on: November 04, 2011, 06:25:00 AM »
I am in.
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Offline RupertB

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Re: Foale frame CB750
« Reply #8 on: November 04, 2011, 07:11:42 AM »
Thanks for the comments - I'd better get on with it now! The bike in the background is a Benelli  - Well spotted, pic below. I think I stopped my development somewhere in the late 70s as far as bikes are concerned, the garage has the Benelli, a Guzzi Le Mans and a Jota, plus of course the Honda. There is also a Ducati ST3 for 'everyday', but at the moment every day is spent doing dull things with my daughter's two horses and the bikes are badly under-used. But there's always next year...
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Offline ekpent

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Re: Foale frame CB750
« Reply #9 on: November 04, 2011, 10:57:50 AM »
Thanks for the pic,that Benelli is a beautiful machine and quite rare around my parts,have never seen one out on the road.Sounds like a great stash your sitting on but remember, as I am sure you do that kids are only kids once and the bikes will be around forever,now for those Darn horses-------- :o   ;D            Eric
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Offline RupertB

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Re: Foale frame CB750
« Reply #10 on: November 05, 2011, 11:57:56 AM »
Just for comparison, here's one of the frame before it was blasted, and one of the hideous thing when I actually bought it. I thought 500 pounds was a bit steep but with hindsight I'm happy with that, even though there is just so much to do. More to follow as and when...
« Last Edit: November 05, 2011, 12:01:29 PM by RupertB »
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Offline seanbarney41

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Re: Foale frame CB750
« Reply #11 on: November 05, 2011, 12:40:54 PM »
...sorry to keep knocking ya off the track...but man...how about some Jota pics too...something I am unlikely to ever be able to afford...keep that collection going sir, it seems you have excellent taste in bikes!
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Offline RupertB

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Re: Foale frame CB750
« Reply #12 on: November 05, 2011, 01:21:27 PM »
Agreed about the prices - picked the Jota up about 5 years ago which was good with hindsight. Always wanted a Ducati 900ss bevel to complete the 70s icon collection but they are silly money now as well. Pic of Jota is from a few years ago but basically it is the same apart from the rear shocks which are S&W items now. Also a 'before and after' pair of the Guzzi - bought it unseen off ebay and found that the advertised 3,600 miles from new was apparently correct! It had spent 23 years in a shed in South Wales. Thanks to the bl**dy horses it has still only done 4,700. I really need to get out more in so many ways!
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Offline Bluegreen

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Re: Foale frame CB750
« Reply #13 on: November 05, 2011, 01:24:57 PM »
This looks cool.
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Offline Terry in Australia

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Re: Foale frame CB750
« Reply #14 on: November 05, 2011, 02:03:43 PM »
That Foale 750 looks great mate, even the "before" pic looks great! (I love those Abe wheels and the twin headlights, they really suit the "Endurance Racer" look of the bike) Apart from your daughters "Hay Burners", you've got a hell of a stable mate, I've owned a couple of Italian bikes (Bevel drive 900SS and Laverda 750SF) but I've lusted after a Jota since I took one for a test ride back in the '80's. (I bought the Duke instead, horrible fragile thing that it was.......) Anyway, keep up the good work mate, that Foale bike is gonna be superb when finished! Cheers, Terry.  ;D
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Offline RupertB

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Re: Foale frame CB750
« Reply #15 on: November 05, 2011, 02:18:25 PM »
Thanks for the comments - You have to look at my age to see how all this came about. I was 16 when the LM1 came out, 17 when the Jota came out, and about 14 when the Benelli 6 came out. Scarred for life from an early age - this isn't bike collecting, it is therapy!
The twin headlights look too 'streetfighter-ish' (which I hate!) - apparently I can get the bike registered as a 'daytime only' and run it with a brake light and no other lighting with a proper racer look (apart from the rider of course!)
Have attached a pic in Australia format so you get a proper look at it...
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Offline Terry in Australia

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Re: Foale frame CB750
« Reply #16 on: November 05, 2011, 02:21:48 PM »
Ha ha, very nice mate, what make of exhaust system is that? Cheers, Terry. ;D
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I was feeling sorry for myself because I couldn't afford new bike boots, until I met a man with no legs.

So I said, "Hey mate, you haven't got any bike boots you don't need, do you?"

"Crazy is a very misunderstood term, it's a fine line that some of us can lean over and still keep our balance" (thanks RB550Four)

Offline RupertB

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Re: Foale frame CB750
« Reply #17 on: November 05, 2011, 02:33:21 PM »
The silencer is (I believe) Yoshimura, but now in the bin as it had been drilled, painted over peeled chrome, and corroded. Don't know about the pipes - they were also badly corroded, not sure if they are useable or not. I know very little of the bike's history - it was given to a friend of mine in exchange for work owed and before that it had sat under a tarp in a back garden for about 17 years. The frame was registered in 1977, but the engine is a 1974 K4 American motor, so I am guessing that a US import was used as a donor bike at some point. That would explain the Abe wheels (which nobody over here seems to have heard of) and also the Abe 812 big bore.
It also has with it a hideous bright red home-made tank which looks like Herman Munster's head and a very 'early GSX Suzuki' inspired seat/tail unit which is equally worrying. Personally I favour a CR750-esque look, but I have to find somewhere for an oil tank as Tony Foale does not favour using the oil  in frame as apparently it can cause feed problems - so if he tells me that and for what the engine is costing, who am I to disagree? Also want to show off the monoshock, so will try to get a fuel tank with an oil compartment built in. That's the plan, but anything can change.
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Offline Retro Rocket

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Re: Foale frame CB750
« Reply #18 on: November 05, 2011, 02:35:26 PM »
I would love to have that frame and a pile of reynolds 631 tubing for a week, doesn't look like a complicated frame to make at all..... ;D ;)
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If You can't fix it with a hammer, You've got an electrical problem.

Offline RupertB

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Re: Foale frame CB750
« Reply #19 on: November 05, 2011, 03:35:03 PM »
You can buy me a ticket and I'll bring it in my luggage if you like.... or you can speak to the man himself via http://www.tonyfoale.com/
He is highly enthusiastic about all things frame-design wise. He tells me he built about 40 frames for CB750s, mine has the number TFH048 which I guess is Tony Foale Honda 48, so presume is one of the last, or he made more than he remembers.
Meanwhile another pic to show why I do not own more bikes - weighs half a ton, 35mph flat out, one horsepower, and driven by a 16 year old. And they say bikes are dangerous.....
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Offline Terry in Australia

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Re: Foale frame CB750
« Reply #20 on: November 05, 2011, 04:54:57 PM »
Quote from: RupertB on November 05, 2011, 02:33:21 PM
The silencer is (I believe) Yoshimura, but now in the bin as it had been drilled, painted over peeled chrome, and corroded. Don't know about the pipes - they were also badly corroded, not sure if they are useable or not. I know very little of the bike's history - it was given to a friend of mine in exchange for work owed and before that it had sat under a tarp in a back garden for about 17 years. The frame was registered in 1977, but the engine is a 1974 K4 American motor, so I am guessing that a US import was used as a donor bike at some point. That would explain the Abe wheels (which nobody over here seems to have heard of) and also the Abe 812 big bore.
It also has with it a hideous bright red home-made tank which looks like Herman Munster's head and a very 'early GSX Suzuki' inspired seat/tail unit which is equally worrying. Personally I favour a CR750-esque look, but I have to find somewhere for an oil tank as Tony Foale does not favour using the oil  in frame as apparently it can cause feed problems - so if he tells me that and for what the engine is costing, who am I to disagree? Also want to show off the monoshock, so will try to get a fuel tank with an oil compartment built in. That's the plan, but anything can change.

Thanks for that mate, if the pipe is still structually sound, maybe you could get it high temp coated, which should fill a lot of the pitting too? Did Tony make the bodywork as well as the frames? I remember some talk in another thread about oil starvation in the Egli frames, maybe you could just add a small oil tank and put it somewhere unobtrusive?

Hey nice pic of your kid on that nag mate, having grown up in the country riding semi-broken in stock horses I've built up a healthy dislike for all things equine, but if your daughter has mastered the art of horse control (which she obviously has) then more power to her! Cheers, Terry. ;D
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I was feeling sorry for myself because I couldn't afford new bike boots, until I met a man with no legs.

So I said, "Hey mate, you haven't got any bike boots you don't need, do you?"

"Crazy is a very misunderstood term, it's a fine line that some of us can lean over and still keep our balance" (thanks RB550Four)

Offline Doctor_D

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Re: Foale frame CB750
« Reply #21 on: November 05, 2011, 05:01:50 PM »
Looks like a great foundation to start from.  Wishing you the best.

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Offline Syscrush

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Re: Foale frame CB750
« Reply #22 on: November 05, 2011, 09:03:45 PM »
Very exciting.
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Offline scottly

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Re: Foale frame CB750
« Reply #23 on: November 05, 2011, 09:44:47 PM »
Hey Rupert, try to get a weight on that frame while it's still apart.
As far as horses, I won't have anything to do with them, after one kicked me in the knee for no reason. Motorcycles, on the other hand, have only hurt me after I kicked them first. ;)
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maduncle

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Re: Foale frame CB750
« Reply #24 on: November 06, 2011, 02:34:02 AM »

This looks like another fine thread you have gotten me into!

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