'74 CB360 cafe/fighter-ish project

yup i love how it looks, but its not exactly comfortable. i had to squeeze the front "horns" together to match up better with the tank, and add a seat pan to it (which is made of carbon fiber).

pics with the longer shocks. now it looks proportional. I hope the bracing doesnt mess up the clean lines in the rear too much.







love this new look. cant wait to get it back on the road.

only a maniac would want to stretch his motorcycle !!! lol. 6 inches looks wild. do you feel confident cutting and welding the arms like that ? Im just concerned it doesnt comprimise the integrity of it. No shimmy or shake ? tire true and sqaure to the frame and front end ? just be careful. dont get hurt. after riding for a while check those welds !!!! often.
Godspeed dude.
Looks AWESOME to me !!!

laugh, thanks!

right now im having some trouble finding a welder to add some bracing to it. going to do a full hoop on the under side. the new chain hasnt come in yet so i havent ridden since its been on. the welds on it are tig and look great and its slugged, so it should be pretty strong. the extensions are 1/4" wall, so its overkill in that respect. everything lines up square, no problem. ill be checking it religiously for any sign of fatigue. cant wait to get back on this thing. I'm going to drop the front end another inch or 1.5" to level the bike back out. also, i have to shorten the side stand.

Hint: They crack round the metal beside the weld at the edge of the slug. A swingarm bends and twists and the slug is stiffer than the rest of the arm, so it bends around the hard point.

I picked up a Z650 tailpiece ;D
Going to modify it a bit

IMHO, that front end would look better with one caliper bracket shaved off and a small spool hub with a single disk. It would look more basic/simple and more open.

Great looking pipes - hope you have plans to baffle them effectively/efficiently.

also keep an eye on those shocks. I have had no trouble w my 4" stretch using stock shock mounts. but that six may put some stress on them, on here somewhere is a guy that moved his shock mounts forward on the arm. retaining the stock angle. if I can find it Ill send link, how he did it.
your machine is looking "super bad".
About the welding. I have no knowledge about tig. but with stick. Its always best to use metal thats as close to same thickness as possible. it allows for the best penetration. Otherwise the thinner can overheat (brittle)...and the thicker will not get hot enough for good thorough penetration. The thin stuff will crack along the edge of the weld...not the weld itself. The thicker will just bust off under the weld...the weld bead will just be sitting on top of the metal...no penetration. Did you see the pics of how I stretched mine. All the steel I used was exactly the same thickness as the original Honda swingarm. the three square tubes machined to fit the round tubes. Its pretty darn tough. and being close to the mount bolt, it doesnt receive near the twisting and flexing pressure and stress as it does out at ends on the arm tubes nearest the tire. Not so much the weight of the bike and rider. (that pressure is placed on the frame through the shocks)....that swingarm was designed to twist and flex most at that point.
Dont get me wrong. Not being a Hater...I just dont want to see "anyone" get hurt doing something this much fun. Its your ass riding on those welds. Apparently at 100 mph.

teazer: Thanks, I'll be checking the whole area for cracks regularly. good to know where its most likely to happen.

i agree about the front brake. def an upgrade i want to do for performance and aesthetics. I would most likely just grab a stock brake setup from a cbr954rr (thats what the forks came off of). gatta wait till funds allow, though. being laid off last week isnt helping that.

no baffles in the pipes currently. I'd like to run them into a sport bike shorty can behind the rear set. again, funds currently arent allowing for progress, so they're staying short and loud for now.

PJ: Nice, cant wait to see some pics of it! i guess ive had at least one good idea, laugh.

Trek: thanks! i love the look of the current shock angle. the shocks are off a sportster and are longer and stiffer than stock. i think theyre 14.5", cant remember. even at this angle they dont compress too much when i bounce on the seat. i guess it helps that the bike weighs 285 and i weigh 135. the whole system is completely over-sprung, so im not too worried about the angle.

where were you guys when i was asking about safety in the thread where the guy was selling these? when i posted the arm in the Latest Purchase thread i got all those safety explanations followed by recommendations to just throw it out. laugh, oh well. thats what i have a life insurance policy for. I'm gonna add bracing and then ride it and check it often. cant afford the bracing just yet, so for now i have a nice garage ornament.

I really do dig the look.

the clip-ons? they're stock cbr954rr ones. I like them because they have a locating peg that fits into a notch in the bottom of the upper tripple that makes sure theyre at the right angle. they came with the front end. i think they're a little high and i'm going to eventually switch to another set from a 50mm front end that are just flat, no rise. i think gsxr1000 ones are like that so thats probably what ill get.

ok, so finally got around to putting the swinger on. didnt brace it. rode it around for a couple hours today. its bouncier. the shocks bottom out easier, but not too often. turning and riding at speed arent bad at all. it feels a little less sure of itself but thats definitely livable. i made sure to do some hard leaning and i feel comfortable on it. the worst part about the whole thing is that since its lower my side stand doesnt lean the mike much, so i have to find a parking spot with a slight grade to it or a hole to put the side stand in so the bike doesnt fall over. I'll have about an inch taken out of it, then all should be well. I love the look and while handling has suffered, its def not as bad as everyone has led me to believe it would be. so for now, im not bracing it and just going to ride and check it often for cracking.

Edit: I'm an idiot. the rear tire had 20 lbs of air in it causing all of those issues. filled the tire and rode it all summer and fall, june-december, around town and on the highway to and from work every day. solid as hell, no cracks, I am exceedingly happy with it. Wrench Tech Racing does a great fab job!

I would swap in a different swing arm
Yamaha Radian or GS500 (or anything box section)
Just have some custom swing arm bushings, made inner same as Honda bearing bush, outer diameter to fit swing arm

Why box tubing? Does it offer some advantage over round?

Directionally stiffer, particularly when your using longer than stock swing arm. Using extensions in any shape or form isn't a good idea, material is too thin all over and wasn't designed for the extra stress

Very cool got some good ideas from this thread, the cbr front end is a really nice touch.

Thanks!

Hey All,

I know its been a while, but to update you, I rode my bike for most of a season as my regular transportation. Everything worked great, the swing arm clacks on hard bumps due to the low shock angle, but thats about it. I love this bike. I havent ridden it since then due to life events; Ive got a wife and a daughter now. With those changes came a change in priorities, and now, sadly, I have to let it go. I started it up this week. took about a minute to charge up the capacitor, then she idled to temperature with no issues. Needs air in the tires, or i wouldve taken a ride. Anyway, the bike will be up in the F/S section soon. I'm looking for $3,000. Let me know if your interested or what you think.

Thanks everyone!

DP