Topic: project 1 of12 started

[rb550four]

I've been side tracked with a 450 that has been sitting in the corner for a while, started playing with it  and kinda like it. Hasn't been much going on with the other 550 s left to rebuild but, I had some time this winter to work on the theater and freeze my ass off. I took some pics of the theater the way it was this morning .
Pic from the bar to the rear

The rear to the bar area

The lower work stations and the upper cubbies are for bikes that I don't ride often,will forklift them up. Should be high enough not to flood the parked machines

 I would have liked to have been able to say it's finished but I was lazy  this winter.

[Tews19]

RB, hope I'm not being to nosey but what do you do for a living? The theatre looks great! I thought it was your POB but if I'm reading right it's your bike storage building?

Great stuff!

[CafeDawg]

Lookin good RB.  Going to be a great place to show off the bikes.

Respect
CD

[rb550four]

Tews 19, I've been a working general contractor for 30 years, I specialize in older homes late 1700's to early 1900's. My favorite years are between 1840 and 1899 but every so often I'll build a new house to stay current with today's technology . The theater was my wood shop until Irene , I had already started parking my finished Hondas in it before Irene hit. The Honda's are the only machines that have been rebuilt/replaced since then. The wood tools went for scrap, and I am old enough now to start looking for a different line of work, something I want to do, but I like to do many things, so I'm trying to set this structure up to be as many things as it can be for for as many that would come to enjoy it. Our small community has no community center, no place for people with interests to share them with others, This (I'm Hoping) will provide that. It will carry a Honda theme (Gotta park em somewhere).
   I'm on 8 th unit of firecode SR and that's just the walls, I still have to double cover the ceiling yet.  I was hoping to be done by mid summer but I didn't book enough time for this in my spring schedule. I'd like to do another update  when it's further along.
   Thanks CD, can't wait to see how they look in there new home.

[Stev-o]

Hey RB....any chance the snowbike will come out of the garage this winter?
(If you still have it?)

[rb550four]

  Stev-O , Thank you for the continued interest in the  550 Snowbike project.
   There is no chance the snowbike will ride again,  I'm afraid. I froze my a$$ off on it too many times and lost interest.
 I had a guy next door that wanted to buy it, but since this was an experimental machine I was too afraid of the liability if he were to get stupid and get hurt or worse. But he would be mad with me if I sold it to someone with a little common sense, and besides, anyone with real  common sense would stay clear of it. The frame was drastically altered you know, 1/2  Honda 550 and 1/2 snowmobile and had some limitations , like jumping it,   even I wouldn't do that,   but the next owner might.
    Sorry to say that I felt obligated to strip the frame  down and gave it to the scrap man to crush . The engine was reused in one of the " 3 bikes at a time " project .  Nothing went to waste and no one was injured in this experiment.

[Stev-o]

    Sorry to say that I felt obligated to strip the frame  down and gave it to the scrap man to crush .

I'm crushed!

[rb550four]

 I have mixed feelings about crushing it, but it was fun while it lasted

                                                                           RB

[SOHC4 Cafe Racer Fan]

Damn that looked fun!

[RAFster122s]

Here's a competing bike ...
https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/332032491141531/?refid=28&_ft_=qid.6910944787395038763%3Amf_story_key.4137468638976419360%3Agroup_id.185595442016587%3Atop_level_post_id.837653910144067%3Acontent_owner_id_new.100023886344598%3Aoriginal_content_id.353489939352603%3Aoriginal_content_owner_id.1605476486%3Apage_id.185595442016587%3Asrc.22%3Aphoto_id.10222531013536498%3Astory_location.5%3Astory_attachment_style.native_templates%3Aview_time.1609079723%3Afilter.h_nor%3Atds_flgs.3%3Aott.AX9k3kaJdx3jxiDR&__tn__=*s-R&_rdr

[rb550four]

  After I built the snowbike , I saw all kinds of stuff just like that. I almost found it  hard to believe that so many people , even from the 40's, wanted to ride on snow and would try almost anything to make it work. I found that advertisement a few years ago but have never seen one on a real bike, got to wonder how many sold, and I haven't found anyone trying to sell one yet. Neat idea for sure and same with a fancy looking Harley chopper I saw on you tube with only one ski....the single ski offers little control and front ends slides out from under it  real easy. There was a similar product who cut an oval in the ski so the front tire could still be in place, probably real good idea if you hit a dry spot but no telling how it would handle only snow. That's why I made snowbike with 2 skis, it wouldn't flop over on it's side and pin the rider.
The newer versions on a larger 2 stroke dirtbike look to be the best to me. They are light weight,  have a smaller foot print that doesn't want to float above the snow, the small width sinks into the snow and grabs everything it can for traction. It'll take a while before someone can beat that idea . It's all fun stuff...except the freezing part.