as promised my cx500 bobber finished

barnbuilt said:

Another smart comment-its -2F outside, its 3 feet of snow!!relax
gosh its like 3-rd grade all over again

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Well, I suggest that when people don't like being treated as children, it's probably a good idea to stop acting like one.

None of us knows everything about everything and people who mean well have asked you to check something. A simple - "It's too cold this evening but I will measure it to be sure" would be a more mature response.

BTW, if the swingarm has not been adequately modified to allow for the change in the way that the suspension forces act through it, it is highly probable that it will bend or break at some point.

Are you a licensed reseller of motorcycles and a certified mechanic and welder, which I believe are necessary licenses to carry on business as a bike builder and re-seller in MI? You probably need at least a Class B motor vehicle trader license and an Auto Mechanic License.

It's -20 to -30f here and I'm spending hours outside feeding cattle and thawing out waterers. Grow a pair I say. I'll step aside and let the veterans here berate you but if I was to pop on a forum to basically show off my wares and drum up interest, before adding anything of substance to the community, I'd be an idiot not to expect a bit of resistance. If I knew I was being falsely accused, especially if it was about building something unsafe, I'd be bundling up and braving the elements to prove the naysayers wrong. So get on it, and prove them wrong. The spacing in the photos indeed looks tight.


Cheers from the real great white north

Nothing like three pages off free advertisement.
I'd be hard pressed to believe that on a mushy by today's standards CX front end that tire doesn't hit the pipes.

Greetings Mr. barnbuilt,

Would you be so kind as to send me the pics of your bike?
I would like to use them in a future public service announcement video.

kind regards, Ichiban Moto

Just another clueless "builder" and another bike for sale at top dollar that haven't moved under its own power.

Not sure what all the ooogleing is about, it's a ruined stock bike with some paint on it.
Works less then stock, and nothing is actually improved.

Guy just saw to many bikes on pipe burn and is cashing in on hipster stupid.

I think you guys are getting a bit too harsh now. I don't think it's constructive to bash his build style.

The removing of the springs would likely prove it hits. But let's say hypothetically it clears by a couple mm so one thinks it's safe. Tires expand under load and changing the tire to a different brand, model or profile and poof the clearance is gone. I guess what I'm trying to say is you can test certain ways but it may not prove the safety 100%, the exhaust design clearly needs correcting regardless of tests to protect the unsuspecting buyer.

Lessons learned here for everyone; build a safe bike to avoid flaming. When a significant amount of people bring up a safety concern and you think they are wrong, you're probably wrong.

If he's building and selling dangerous machinery, Hollywood, I disagree entirely.

thanks everybody for being so kind to me.I appreciate all your input and advices-i have checked the front end the 3-rd time-it doesnt hit the headers. And i will also add a fork brace-i had it but did not install it yet. Im a guy that likes to build stuff, and if someone didnt like what i built-they are entitled to their own opinion.Nevertheless i will continue building and improving my work. Its easy to bash someone when they are not in someone else's shoes and dont know how hard and long it takes to build something-from start to finish. Handling wise this bike is way lighter than stock. Performance wise this bike will have Mikuni's installed by me advising the owner, and plus the 2 in1 exhaust-thats should be a 20-22% improvement.
On top of that i didnt build this bike for track-NOT EVERY BIKE IS BUILT FOR TRACK! It will hit the 100 miles an hour without an issue-because i had the same design which i got on the road in the summer. Just couldnt get a built at that point.It didnt take me 1 week of working after hours for 20 hours total to build this. It doesnt just have paint-everything has been primed,painted and cleared with epoxy. On my next one i have the powder coat set-up already. And its not just for the looks-thats why i have the fenders both front and rear, sporty tires(not cafe style rubber)everything has been greased and oiled per Honda manual,new master cylinder(i use it personally on my bike),rebuilt brake system,good and strong engine and so on. The swingarm is not going to bend-i tried it for an extensive period of time in the summer.And so on-plus some fabricated stuff for the looks.
So again thank you all-and now i have to get back to building 2 bikes for 2 costumers-same bikes,different paint jobs.
As soon as the roads clean up-i will have a video of this bike on the road. And i dont have to grow any balls-i have been working the whole Winter in my garage in 40F and lower(non heated garage)If you dont know someone dont bash him just to go with the flow and wave of other people.
Ride safe

Stock horsepower is 48 from the factory. Carbs and exhaust is getting you close to 60 now?

barnbuilt said:

As soon as the roads clean up-i will have a video of this bike on the road. And i dont have to grow any balls-i have been working the whole Winter in my garage in 40F and lower(non heated garage)If you dont know someone dont bash him just to go with the flow and wave of other people.
Ride safe

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i held out on posting...but theres just so many excuses being made, 40f isnt that cold, and im from texas. i work on my cars, and my bikes everyday and the past couple of weeks its been in the 20's here down south. my garage isnt heated, but if i built something and i expected to sell it for 10 times original stock value, i would boot up and go the fuck outside to take pictures that a potential customer wanted. not only just to fuel an ongoing fire, but to protect my pride.
theyre either trying to validate negligence or end a debate on whether or not the wheel is gonna slam the exhaust

no one on here knows for sure that "you built 8 bikes in 10 months" and that they were sterling and fantastic and SAFE. its a lot of simple requests, its other riders trying to make sure other riders are safe, its a group of gentlemen trying to make sure that like minded people that build and sell bikes dont get haulted, or maybe even harassed by police (do you even remember what happened to honda civics after the fast and furious movies came out? )

just look at it as a common courtesy, theyre trying to cover your ass, and someone elses when that monoshock comes apart and rips someone a literal new one

The thing about front forks is that they bend quite a long way under braking forces. I can show the result of that on one of our CB160 race bikes. Statically there is no way that the front wheel could touch anything and yet there are significant rub marks where the forks have bent under the modest braking forces one of those can generate.

It's not your sincerity that's being questioned, it's your design and engineering expertise that is behind your decisions. If you are not an engineer or a mechanic but rather are a hobbyist, then it's likely that there are many things that you may not know or fully understand yet and that's the danger zone.

I personally have no time for your aesthetic taste, but that's so subjective and there's no reason we should all like the same things. The fact that you have sold some of those bikes is not a testament to your engineering or fab skills but does talk highly to your ability to sell what newbies seem to like. That's a fine attribute to have but it doesn't mean that the bikes are safe or fast or handle - and it doesn't mean that they don't. That's selling and cashing in on a trend which all fine.

And if you look at CXman's comments, he uses upgraded components when he does a monoshock conversion because he knows it's safer and a more sound approach. And his comment about not knowing f any failed swingarms doesn't mean that they haven't or that they won't fail. Granted, if the bike is rarely ridden, it's less of an issue because it's a toy to be shown off, but that's not the point now is it?

The comment about it not being a race bike is irrelevant. A bike that is capable of say 100MPH must be capable of going around corners at that speed safely and under control. Race bikes are a whole different set of issues. But let's try to avoid getting labelled as "Unsafe at any speed" with all credit to a certain Mr Nader.

BTW, those tires appear to be Shink 777 which are classified as "Cruiser" tires and are not sport oriented in any way or shape. They are so cheap it's amazing that they do much of anything other than protect rims.

I get that they save 100 bucks a pair versus something that works really well and that they are Whitewall for that certain look, but please be a little careful how you characterize them.

shift_love said:

i held out on posting...but theres just so many excuses being made, 40f isnt that cold, and im from texas. i work on my cars, and my bikes everyday and the past couple of weeks its been in the 20's here down south. my garage isnt heated, but if i built something and i expected to sell it for 10 times original stock value, i would boot up and go the fuck outside to take pictures that a potential customer wanted. not only just to fuel an ongoing fire, but to protect my pride.
theyre either trying to validate negligence or end a debate on whether or not the wheel is gonna slam the exhaust

no one on here knows for sure that "you built 8 bikes in 10 months" and that they were sterling and fantastic and SAFE. its a lot of simple requests, its other riders trying to make sure other riders are safe, its a group of gentlemen trying to make sure that like minded people that build and sell bikes dont get haulted, or maybe even harassed by police (do you even remember what happened to honda civics after the fast and furious movies came out? )

just look at it as a common courtesy, theyre trying to cover your ass, and someone elses when that monoshock comes apart and rips someone a literal new one

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hold on man-hold on...its not worth it for me anymore, the guy who asked me was not a customer!on top of that it was 0f at that point and i was exhausted from working a month straight for 12 hours a day.I dont have to explain anything to anyone-period.But dont talk to me like i owe you something....Jesus...

This is a dead thread to me. I will not spend my time and try to explain myself anymore.
Like i said-thanks all, and i will keep u posted.Or not.Anyway as alway its nice to be a member of any forum!!Really-you get so much knowledge its amazing how everyone is an expert, but only a few truly are.And no way im talking about me.
Ride safe

I bet you'll read this post

barnbuilt said:

hold on man-hold on...its not worth it for me anymore, the guy who asked me was not a customer!on top of that it was 0f at that point and i was exhausted from working a month straight for 12 hours a day.I dont have to explain anything to anyone-period.But dont talk to me like i owe you something....Jesus...

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Everyone is a potential customer though, right?

I know it might not seem like it, but the folks here are just trying to help.

If there were quality issues with any of the products I sell, I'd want to know about it.

And yet not a single picture of the forks dropped. Actions speak louder than words.

no 2 into 1 exhaust will ever pull 60 hp out of a cx500 and if it does i will buy it

i have tested 13 2 into one exhausts and they just dont work with the configuration of that engine
'
and its operating rpm range (mostly over 5k)

Re: Re: as promised my cx500 bobber finished

Rich Ard said:

If he's building and selling dangerous machinery, Hollywood, I disagree entirely.

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Re-read my post. I think you might have misunderstood it.

I was trying to diplomatically say the exhaust needs to be changed regardless of any suggested tests proving anything. And that the bashing of the hipster style which is unrelated to the safety issue was no longer constructive.

I'm actually quite surprised he still is not going to change it after all this. It's not that hard of fix. It would take less than an hour start to finish I don't understand why it's a big deal.

I meant to quote your first sentence - but I agree that aside from the swing arm it wouldn't take much to make it safe.