Damn gents, kudos - those are some nice looking rides. I'm floored to be nominated - never saw this coming - and I'm thrilled that Rhonda has come as far as she has. When I pushed her 5kms home back in November I barely knew a carburetor from a clutch plate, this is the first bike I've ever worked on. Ridden the things for years but everything I did on my '81 CB750 I did for the first time. With a lot of help from this forum. Thank you one and all once again (big high fives to AdvCo and Maritime for the nominations, thanks guys)
For the brave there's an 81 page thread over in the Members Introductions to wade through, where you'll discover every single one of the questions I asked concerning every aspect of this build, and consequently every single one of the answers I received. Otherwise, here's the brief...
The bike was completely dismantled down to the last bolt, a top-end adjustment of the engine made, new seals, rebuilt calipers, new wheel bearings, chain, rubber...all the usual suspects. Tensioner bolt thread was stripped (and had been blowing oil over the front of the engine for god knows how many years) so in went a TimeSert. Kept the stock airbox and battery because, well, because I wanted to ride the thing sometime this millennium. Bike #2, that's a different story...
Went all out on the tank - took over five weeks inside and out - de-rusting and de-varnishing, hand sanding until a nice brushed finish, and carried the brushed look throughout. Gold accents, powder coated frame, gorgeous seat from Rod Alves here in Montreal, I made the sidebags (first - and probably last - thing I'll ever stitch, took weeks, not to mention cutting out the stainless steel panels with a Dremel - neighbours must've loved that), new Renthal bars, indicators, tail light, grips, master cylinder (I painted the levers gold, because, well, gold) and dials.
Haven't done the ton yet - ran out of balls at around 140kmph. But this thing is faster than a fart in a fan factory. Once I find a stretch of pothole-free road, I'll be a blur...
Tons of other stuff but balls to that here's some photos -
Thanks again good people, good luck to these other 2 beauties and let the good times roll