My Cafe Racer (Build Log)

I am building a 1980 Honda CB650c.

[mycaferacer]

Interests Shift

April 6, 2015.

I’m ditching the motorcycle for a new project to soak up my time and money. I’ll perhaps get the motorcycle running and sell it immediately here in Cleveland. Or sell it as is. Or part it out. We’ll see.

I’ll take what I learned from two wheels to four. If you’re interested, you could check out the new build log for my 1974 Datsun 260z.

http://nices30.tumblr.com/

[mycaferacer]

I love your build progress, so far. Can't wait to see what the finished product looks like.

Thanks yo. 👍

[mycaferacer]

February 15 2015 For Valentine’s Day I got my valves seated. Engine assembly to come soon. Been drawing up more tank/seat renderings. I would like to take each polygon, cut it out of poster board and tape it together. Then resin/fiberglass coat the hell out of it, from the inside. Plan to add some kind of feature into the tank.

[mycaferacer]

February 5, 2015 Looking good. Sent the heads to be resat and new valve stems put on. I'm in the process of putting brake assemblies together.

[mycaferacer]

January 29, 2015 Assembly. Cutting the 4-4 exhaust up to make it shorter. Might have to fabricate a bracket. Gasket kit came in the mail today. Will start engine rebuild soon. Trying for rolling chassis first.

[mycaferacer]

January 24, 2015
With an extra set of hands, my dad, I took the engine apart further for a top end gasket replacement.
Wire wheeled the pistons. I plan on lapping the valves and replacing all the gaskets. Looks like the previous owner had an oil leak and just gummed it up real nice.
Been occasionally spraying some parts/prepping for assembly.
Put the reconditioned forks and suspension on. Along with the swingarm.
Gonna run a lot of crucial parts stock, and upgrade bit by bit so I can both afford it as a broke college kid, and to minimize variables in case something goes wrong.

[mycaferacer]

They say you’re supposed to use a rubber mallet or ballpein hammer I say a hammer and sock is workin alright for these tank indents. I didn’t feel bad for trying this because it already had a giant dent on one of the sides from the previous owner. I also have to cut out the gas cap because I wasn't given the key for it. Will weld in a new cap in. This explains why the knee indents have to be massive. I had to work with the giant dent and make them symmetrical. These rough hits will be finished at another time.

[mycaferacer]

December 22, 2014

This is the motor that the dude crashed. Using some parts until I can pull the other engine. Gonna sandblast/steel wool these parts for the outside and inside respectively. Gonna stop talking about it and put a bike together. Gonna upgrade the bike as I go.

[mycaferacer]

November 18, 2014 Got a call from my CL ad of parts for sale. Guy lookin for an engine wanting to buy the one on my bike. Was gonna do an engine rebuild anyways, so it's fine by me if I sell the worst of the engines. Should be fun having to pull from the frame. Thinking about using the money towards a CNC router I'm saving for so I can maybe start making some custom parts for my bike and maybe some to aswell. If ya need any cb650 parts, lemme know.

[mycaferacer]

I think white with a really bold color as a trim would be really cool. Thin lines, but really dark. A dark blue or even black.

I was thinking maybe a flat black. With white accents, yeah. Especially since much of the bike will be flat black.I'd add in a tertiary color aswell.

[mycaferacer]

September 30, 2014 I've been spending some time designing my new tank/seat for my cb650. Pic related, measuring the underside of the tank so the next one fits. (That is me by the way, sup) My tank and seat will flow into each other but will remain separate parts but will appear to be connected. The battery and some electronics will be held within the seat. The tank and seat will be geometric and look like it came straight from a 3d low-res rendering. I'm not sure about the color combination that I'll do. But I like the color placement, as to highlight some characteristics. Any suggestions to the tank/seat? Color suggestions?

[mycaferacer]

September 25, 2014

Been spending my time thinking about the project more than doing anything with it. Well I’m getting a welder soon and going to fabricate a seat/tank combo like shown avi d.

along with a monoshock and some frame modifications.

[mycaferacer]

Sold some levers, tach bezel, mirror & throttle controls for $25 today, Working on the frame. I also bought these parts today.

[mycaferacer]

May 9th, 2014 Got the tires in, soon to be mounted and balanced. Soon to get a battery. I still need a seat that’s not all torn apart. I’ll fab one up soon. I rode my bike for the first time some two weeks ago. It was up and down our dirt path, felt nice, I still really need a 4-1 for this thing

[mycaferacer]

May 9th, 2014 Got the tires in, soon to be mounted and balanced. Soon to get a battery. I still need a seat that's not all torn apart. I'll fab one up soon. I rode my bike for the first time some two weeks ago. It was up and down our dirt path, felt nice. I want to be on the actual road next week, I still really need a 4-1 for this bike. Please internet? Can I have one?

[mycaferacer]

April 26th 2014 Just bought tires off of Dennis Kirk’s website. I almost went with some Shinko tires, but I opted for a tried and true known name. Dunlops.

[mycaferacer]

April 3rd, 2014 Some views of my motorcycles. I did a mock fit of the clubmans I bought. They feel nice. Very racer-like. A signature of the cafe racer look. I bought them 3am yesterday and when I came home today they were on my porch. I guess from NY to Cleveland is a quick shop. Motorcycle classes start today at six at my local HD dealership. Which conveniently is also a Honda Certified mechanic shop. That may come in handy. I'll maybe buy my wheels today before I leave to go. Probably from JP Cycles.