New member budget build CB400A Cafe/Brat or what ever it turns into

itsauto!

itsauto!

New Member
So I bought this gem the other day in great shape runs perfect... everything original almost a shame to hack it up but hell its damn ugly in stock form.

Goals: For under $300 turn this into a one of a kind good looking bike so far im off to a great start. Things I plan to do, custom seat, paint, lights all around, handle bars and other cosmetic odds and ends. Bike runs great has relativity low miles no need for a total frame off since its in such great shape. Also my goal is to try to incorporate as much original parts.

So here it goes:

Stock form
 

Attachments

  • 2012-05-16_19-34-45_666.jpg
    2012-05-16_19-34-45_666.jpg
    1.6 MB · Views: 423
Here is some progress on the seat. My goal here is a simple seat made of 3/4 ply with yoga mat foam layered to give comfort and shape. Using original seat cover and cutting down luggage rack to be like a mini-bitch bar. I am also trimming the original passenger strap and add that in. Im leaving stock air box and fairings. Cut the seat and support brackets off frame to make pan fit, have to add some in later. Pics are just mock up
 

Attachments

  • 2012-05-20_15-04-27_899.jpg
    2012-05-20_15-04-27_899.jpg
    1.8 MB · Views: 376
  • 2012-05-20_16-57-09_405.jpg
    2012-05-20_16-57-09_405.jpg
    1.9 MB · Views: 409
  • 2012-05-20_17-10-53_157.jpg
    2012-05-20_17-10-53_157.jpg
    1.7 MB · Views: 413
  • 2012-05-20_21-56-42_738.jpg
    2012-05-20_21-56-42_738.jpg
    861.8 KB · Views: 404
Ah! My first bike was a 400T. They are a lot of fun to ride and work on.
 
sxecafe said:
Ah! My first bike was a 400T. They are a lot of fun to ride and work on.
Click to expand...

Cool man I would love to see some pics if you have any. I checked out your build thread but all pics expired :(

Swivel said:
Keep the OEM airbox or the thing will never run right and the auto will go nuts.....Just ride the thing.....
Click to expand...
That is the plan. Its not like I will be winning in speed contests with the airbox in or out anyway lol



*** some updates
Cut the front fender
Removed headlight brackets so I can move head light and gauge pod down.
Tinkered with rear fender idea's as you can see in the pic. I think I like the way that looks. What do you guys think

Decided on color scheme black and white. Frame, forks, wheels, handle bars exhaust black. Tank and Fenders white. Undecided about the color of the fairing Im thinking black so they will blend in a little better.

Ohh and here is some hot chicks i met the other night lol
 

Attachments

  • 2012-05-21_20-09-46_779.jpg
    2012-05-21_20-09-46_779.jpg
    981.2 KB · Views: 376
  • 2012-05-21_20-39-27_432.jpg
    2012-05-21_20-39-27_432.jpg
    967.1 KB · Views: 422
  • 2012-05-20_01-43-41_452.jpg
    2012-05-20_01-43-41_452.jpg
    899 KB · Views: 441
Looks somewhat familiar to me. ;) I am thinking I am going to trim the rear tabs off the frame and just do a hoop for the seat next. Looks like some good progress though. If you plan on doing a different exhaust the jets I am currently running are a 112 main and 85 secondary. With this I was able to average 63 mpg on a 300 mile trip Sunday. Not too bad for an old air cooled auto.

My try at it so far.
2012-05-02_20-25-47_449.jpg
 
Independent said:
Looks somewhat familiar to me. ;) I am thinking I am going to trim the rear tabs off the frame and just do a hoop for the seat next. Looks like some good progress though. If you plan on doing a different exhaust the jets I am currently running are a 112 main and 85 secondary. With this I was able to average 63 mpg on a 300 mile trip Sunday. Not too bad for an old air cooled auto.

My try at it so far.
2012-05-02_20-25-47_449.jpg
Click to expand...

Thats a clean looking bike! A hoop is def the way to go.. i should have done that. Anyway finished the seat not bad for my first time settled on the front fender cut as the rear fender.
2012-05-23_19-04-28_331.jpg

2012-05-23_19-04-21_577.jpg

2012-05-23_18-47-51_197.jpg
 
Looks good. I like the recycled front fender for the rear. Are you going to run clip-ons or clubmans or just drag bars? I ended up cutting up the old handle bar bracket to remount the speedo lower. I also just flipped the headlight brackets to lower the headlight.
 
Independent said:
Looks good. I like the recycled front fender for the rear. Are you going to run clip-ons or clubmans or just drag bars? I ended up cutting up the old handle bar bracket to remount the speedo lower. I also just flipped the headlight brackets to lower the headlight.
Click to expand...

Yeah I think that looks good too. Not sure on the bars. But not clip ons . Either clubmans or eurobars... I dont know yet honestly im open to ideas this is my first bike so my motorcycle costuming level is low. What bars are you running? how do they feel

I realized once I removed old head light bracket that I can mount the gauge cluster flush with the the top of the tree. and mount headlight lower
 
I ended up just making my own clip ons. I was too cheap to buy them and had the steel laying around anyway. I almost flipped the stock bars over and bolted them down but I didn't like how high the bar holder stood up off the triple tree.
 
Independent said:
I ended up just making my own clip ons. I was too cheap to buy them and had the steel laying around anyway. I almost flipped the stock bars over and bolted them down but I didn't like how high the bar holder stood up off the triple tree.
Click to expand...

well I just bought clubmans so we will see how I like it.

How was the 300 ride with the clip ons?
 
It actually wasn't too bad. I installed a throttle lock before we left and with intermittent use it made it much more tolerable. Can't wait to see the new bars on there.
 
Independent said:
It actually wasn't too bad. I installed a throttle lock before we left and with intermittent use it made it much more tolerable. Can't wait to see the new bars on there.
Click to expand...

Yea I cant wait till they get here.. have all my goodies coming, turn signals, headlight bracket tail light, the bars with grips and mirrors the bike should really start to take shape then.. im still deciding on the paint though.
 
Bars are here :)
2012-05-31_15-05-19_213.jpg

2012-05-31_14-59-14_671.jpg


Looks damn good to me... the feel is going to take a little getting used to.
in hind sight I should not have cut off the headlight brackets should have waited til the bars got here
 
Dropping the front forks in their triple-trees an inch or so, and maybe sourcing out some longer shocks for the rear will really change the stance of that thing a lot!
I also love the shape of those tanks; it's just the crazy graphics that ruins them. A simple, clean paint job will keep it from looking like a 1980's tube sock...
 
teabowl13 said:
Dropping the front forks in their triple-trees an inch or so, and maybe sourcing out some longer shocks for the rear will really change the stance of that thing a lot!
I also love the shape of those tanks; it's just the crazy graphics that ruins them. A simple, clean paint job will keep it from looking like a 1980's tube sock...
Click to expand...
The stripes are undoubtedly the ugliness thing about these cb's bikes.. the tank is a little large I like that shape but it could be a little slimmer for sure. Anyway I like how low the back end is and don't really want to change that.. the front on the other hand would be nice but call me retarded I have no clue how I would go about doing that
 
Yeah the forks can't be lowered in the trees on these. They bolt to the upper plate/ triple tree and only slip through the lower tree. Bars look good. I had a set of those on an old KZ400 I used to have.
 
Independent said:
Yeah the forks can't be lowered in the trees on these. They bolt to the upper plate/ triple tree and only slip through the lower tree. Bars look good. I had a set of those on an old KZ400 I used to have.
Click to expand...

Thats what I thought ohh well.. im fine with the bikes stance really.
Yeah they look good for how cheep they were.
Got all the lights in just figuring out the mounting.
Started sanding and preping for paint.. now if I can just decide on color. The tank white for sure, just unsure of fenders black or white?
Redid the seat with better adhesive.

2012-06-02_12-29-50_104.jpg

2012-06-02_12-22-08_15-1.jpg
 
It is a paint to lower those kinds of forks. The ones on my Savage are just like that. You have to disassemble them and replace the internal spacers to get them to go down, but it can be done.
Here's a great how-to for the Savage forks. Your Honda might be slightly different, but I'd bet the theory is the same...

http://www.chopcult.com/forum/showthread.php?t=7129
 
teabowl13 said:
It is a paint to lower those kinds of forks. The ones on my Savage are just like that. You have to disassemble them and replace the internal spacers to get them to go down, but it can be done.
Here's a great how-to for the Savage forks. Your Honda might be slightly different, but I'd bet the theory is the same...

http://www.chopcult.com/forum/showthread.php?t=7129
Click to expand...

That sounds like a real pain in the ass. I wonder if there another triple tree that is compatible with this bike??
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

DTT Light or Dark

  • DTT Light
    • www.jadusmotorcycleparts.com
    www.lostapostle.ca/
    www.sparckmoto.com

    Spread the Love

    Back
    Top Bottom