Hey folks,
New to the forum. My name is Matt and I have a Honda motorcycle.
Who cares?
Well - some of you just might. For this build I will be meticulously documenting everything, posting build-progress and how-to videos, parts reviews and the like; generally just trying to provide some supplementary legitimate content to the community. I'm not selling anything or using SEO to drive traffic to an ad-ridden site. I have "taken" plenty from the internet in previous projects, and I want to give something back. During my research for this project over the last couple of months I've found a few gaps in content that I will be attempting to close up by blazing some new trails, ideally with help from this forum.
Me:
First the disclaimer - I am not a custom bike builder - I'm actually a Development Consultant in L.A.. If you want to know what that is - you are in the minority. I am not a mechanic, nor have I ever worked in any adjacent industry; no ASE certs adorn the walls of my shop - in fact, it's not even a shop - it's an airplane hangar with no ventilation and wiring that haunts my dreams at night. You might take issue with some of my welds and you might scoff at the fact that my toolbox is 75% filled with the orange and gray of Pittsburgh, Central Machinery, and Chicago Electric tools. I will likely make some design choices that are questionable and show my naivete through some classic bonehead moves.
In spite of all that, I think this will be a build to follow and here's why: While I've never worked "under the hood" of a classic Honda motorbike, I've built a chopper (HD), a bobber (V-Star), and a sportbike (Interceptor) as well as a muscle car (Camaro), a classic truck (F-100), a drag-car (Mustang), a rally-car (Subaru), and an autocross racer (BMW 2002).
In the 20 years that have passed since my first day of high school auto shop, I have followed one vehicular passion after another, in which I've invested immeasurable amounts of time, money, and mental energy, consistently draining my emotional coffers completely only to have them refilled by catching a glimpse of a possible new project. It's a sickness, but I wouldn't give it back for the world. I've lost girlfriends over NOS Mopar parts and sold a house because the HOA rules for automotive work were too restrictive. So although I may lack the classic training and occupational experience, I make up for it with conviction, obsessive-level research, and the ability to squeeze blood out of a nickel. Next fixation is a Honda CB750 project called "Cafe Brimstone."
the Bike:
Picked it up at a decent price for Orange County, California; it's a '78 bike with a '76 motor; it's perfect mechanically, and perfectly disgusting aesthetically. No rust, no damage - nothing like that, but it has been treated to a full line of eBay goodies - clipons, headlight, cafe racer seat, grips, MC, gauges, etc. Someone bottomed out their PayPal account in the worst possible way. The back of the frame has been chopped off and filled with bondo and cardboard, and it's got the faint memory of checkerboard sticker running down each side and the phrase "Short, Stubby Little Bastard." It looks like a project borne out of all action and no planning and it's the motorcycle equivalent of a three-legged, one-eyed dog with a heart of gold looking for a home.
What should you expect from the build? It will be a super-clean, budget-conscious, DIY, spend-the-money-where-it-counts, high-attention-to-detail, impeccable-build-quality, and understanding-of-limitations cafe racer project. I am only going to build one Honda cafe racer in my life before I move on to the next project, and I am going to do it the way I think it should be done. I assert that sportbikes should be fast, cruisers should be cool, bobbers should be cheap, and cafe racers should be a little of all three. It's a 70's Japanese motorcycle that would love to spend the rest of its days zipping through traffic to the Cheesecake Factory across town and I can't imagine doing anything else with it. Track days or canyon carving? It's clunky and slow (relatively). Cruising Coast Highway or the Strip? It's not very comfortable (relatively). So I will be building a cafe racer - purposefully and intentionally.
A couple of features that this forum might be interested in - some slightly-fringe mods that I feel are under-represented online - like an external oil tank delete, detabbed and smoothed frame, internal throttle, remote master cylinder, cables trimmed and tucked, custom seat/seat pan/cowl, high-tech electronics, and a laundry list design details. I had trouble finding many pics of white bikes with white frames, so I'll try it out.
That's about it, two-more quick notes. I have a full-time job, two full-time kids and a sporadically understanding wife. Build will run from August of this year until June of next year with updates every two weeks... so if you are interested, I'll post some details in the main forum and I look forward to getting some help along the way.
Thanks in advance,
m@
