Well, here we go again.
Didn't really plan on building another bike right now, but heck with it, spring is coming.
I sold my face-lifted XS400 last September. It went off to Finland and my last ride with it was at DGR, proper end to a story of the kind.
Then I had a knee surgery related to the mistakes from the past and had some time to think - what's nest..
I've been collecting tons of ideas and pictures from the blogs and forums on our scene and I started to notice what I like and what not. And two of them all stood out for me, Tarantulas CB750:
..and MotoHangar's SR500:
It's pretty obvious, isn't it? So It appears I like rugged finishes, rough edges, metal and black, the simplicity, which gives the vibe of a pure mechanical beast.
To categorize, the outcome should still be cafe racer (ish), hence the sub-forum choice.
And to be honest I already had built a trailer queen once (twice). Sure, I rode it hard, but the looks made it too precious. still.
So I got a nice looking SR500 from German eBay, It was a steal and had to be brought back home.
Although, once I started looking into it, it turn out to be in pristine condition, only one previous owner and very well maintained. I just couldn't send it under the knife and sold it for relatively good profit.
At the same time Hookie had finished their sixth build.. again, jackpot. The pictures came up everywhere and I was blown. I Still stare at it whenever it comes through the feed.
Suddenly I didn't necessarily need a thumper anymore, kinda glad the SR was gone.
Fast forward about a month. A friend got in contact saying he can't store his CB900 at the old place anymore. So I offered it a shelter, at the same time thinking numbers in my head.. Didn't need to think hard, tho, a few weeks later he texted me: 'Hey, I'm in great mood today, you can have the CB'. And there is that,
I was now a proud owner of a '79 model SC01 imported to Estonia in '05. For the next 5 years the owner rode it hard without any inspection til he didn't need it anymore and just left it in front of his house.. for 2 years. Then the friend mentioned before bought it with a two-up cafe plans in mind. This is how he picked it up back in 2012 (I guess):
And then he started his thing. He made a custom tank, some clip-ons, seat pan, relocated the battery under the swing-arm and all that, but the 2 years of no roof had done the damage: all the pistons in calipers were stuck and what could rust or oxidize, surely did that. But the project was stalled, he now wanted something lighter. Ducati Monster clearly is..
So the looks wasn't that promising when I got it.
As I just got my bachelor's degree and recently quit my old job, I've been spending all my time on building this thing. It's been a month now and as of today I could say I'm half way there. I haven't documented it that well as previous times but I try to make it up from now on.
Luckily I got the stock tank and all the original parts except the carbs (they appear to have walked away on their own). And as I already found out from the wide web, the stock carbs a a no-go with cone filter anyway so no biggy.
I'm probably going to update on different topics rather than chronological sequence.
Stay tuned,
Sander
Didn't really plan on building another bike right now, but heck with it, spring is coming.
I sold my face-lifted XS400 last September. It went off to Finland and my last ride with it was at DGR, proper end to a story of the kind.
Then I had a knee surgery related to the mistakes from the past and had some time to think - what's nest..
I've been collecting tons of ideas and pictures from the blogs and forums on our scene and I started to notice what I like and what not. And two of them all stood out for me, Tarantulas CB750:
..and MotoHangar's SR500:
It's pretty obvious, isn't it? So It appears I like rugged finishes, rough edges, metal and black, the simplicity, which gives the vibe of a pure mechanical beast.
To categorize, the outcome should still be cafe racer (ish), hence the sub-forum choice.
And to be honest I already had built a trailer queen once (twice). Sure, I rode it hard, but the looks made it too precious. still.
So I got a nice looking SR500 from German eBay, It was a steal and had to be brought back home.
Although, once I started looking into it, it turn out to be in pristine condition, only one previous owner and very well maintained. I just couldn't send it under the knife and sold it for relatively good profit.
At the same time Hookie had finished their sixth build.. again, jackpot. The pictures came up everywhere and I was blown. I Still stare at it whenever it comes through the feed.
Suddenly I didn't necessarily need a thumper anymore, kinda glad the SR was gone.
Fast forward about a month. A friend got in contact saying he can't store his CB900 at the old place anymore. So I offered it a shelter, at the same time thinking numbers in my head.. Didn't need to think hard, tho, a few weeks later he texted me: 'Hey, I'm in great mood today, you can have the CB'. And there is that,
I was now a proud owner of a '79 model SC01 imported to Estonia in '05. For the next 5 years the owner rode it hard without any inspection til he didn't need it anymore and just left it in front of his house.. for 2 years. Then the friend mentioned before bought it with a two-up cafe plans in mind. This is how he picked it up back in 2012 (I guess):
And then he started his thing. He made a custom tank, some clip-ons, seat pan, relocated the battery under the swing-arm and all that, but the 2 years of no roof had done the damage: all the pistons in calipers were stuck and what could rust or oxidize, surely did that. But the project was stalled, he now wanted something lighter. Ducati Monster clearly is..
So the looks wasn't that promising when I got it.
As I just got my bachelor's degree and recently quit my old job, I've been spending all my time on building this thing. It's been a month now and as of today I could say I'm half way there. I haven't documented it that well as previous times but I try to make it up from now on.
Luckily I got the stock tank and all the original parts except the carbs (they appear to have walked away on their own). And as I already found out from the wide web, the stock carbs a a no-go with cone filter anyway so no biggy.
I'm probably going to update on different topics rather than chronological sequence.
Stay tuned,
Sander