CM185t Twinstar - Is it a swan yet?

NeightRG

New Member
Greetings, all.
This month, I picked up a Honda CM185t. Sold as a "Great running bike"
It was a windy 10 degrees F when I picked it up. It was stored outside, battery had been removed for Winter, and I wasn't going to try to start it.
With a little good faith, and a lot more signatures on a bill of sale describing the bike as running, I bought it for less than $2 per running, titled CC.
I brought it to it's new home in a work space that some of you may recognize.

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I gave it a day to thaw out, and then I removed the racks, turn signals, charged the battery, and got it running.
The "Great Running Bike" sounded like a chainsaw, revving like mad. I pulled and cleaned the carb, checked that the cables and slide moved freely, checked for air leaks.
All checked out. Still revving way too high without the choke. Turned out that the throttle cable housing was too long, and held the slide at about 3/4 throttle's height.
The housing was trimmed to proper length, and things started to sound a lot better.
I replaced the fork seals, changed out the hideous baby ape hangers, and lost the square "We're ready for the '80s" dash/speedo.

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And most recently, I raised the front forks into the triple trees, to level out the stance a bit.
I found a replacement for the missing side cover, bobbed the front fender, filled the dents in the tank, and did some painting.

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Next up, I'll show you what I'm doing with the tank badges and tail light. Once my headlight ears arrive in the mail, I'll shorten my cables and build the new dash.
 
Re: CM185t Twinstar - The Ugly Duckling.

Nice start, crazy how much better it looks with having the forks moved up.
 
Re: CM185t Twinstar - The Ugly Duckling.

True that, Steaksauce. Kind of shocking what a difference 5/8" makes.
 
Re: CM185t Twinstar - The Ugly Duckling.

I'm about half way through my 1978 cm185. going full cafe with it.
 

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It's been a while, but I've gotten a lot of work done.

I installed new rim strips, tubes and tires -
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Installed new Oury grips, which I also use on my bicycles -
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Replaced the original, bulky stop/tail light -
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With a smaller trailer stop/tail light. Cut out a new metal plate to fit it to the original light/license plate bracket -
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Painted -
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Pinstriped. Here you also see the tank badges, which I stripped of their old paint, then painted black, then filed and sanded back the raised lettering to bare aluminum, which I clear coated -
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Shortened my cables -
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Now I need to get my arse to the DMV, register, and ride it.
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I don't have any photos of the the dash that I made, which attaches to the shock mounts that were originally used for the stock headlight bracket. I'm cutting out a new one, to include an aftermarket speedometer.

I don't have photos of the new dash that I made, and mounted in the shock mounts for the original headlight bracket.
 
Chris - have you run the bike with the pod filter? I considered it, but my bike came with a cheapo aftermarket carb, which will complicate the re-jet. What did your rear shocks come from? Looks like they might be a bit stiffer and taller than stock, which could be nice for these bikes.
After I build the new dash, and done some solid riding, I'm looking to build up a cafe seat like the one you're using, or find a donor seat to strip to the pan and modify.
 
It runs great with the pod, I just got new mufflers and wrapped the headers, I'm running a 105 main jet right now but ive got a 110, 115 and 120 im going to play with once I put it back together. have it down to frame right now to weld in cafe loop and fabricated electronics/battery box then go to paint. I just dropped the front forks by an inch by putting in a sleeve and chopping the springs. The shocks are bigger, they are 14" but I just got in some gas shocks that I put on there. Hoping to have it all wrapped up next week and post all my pics.
 
Re: CM185t Twinstar - The Ugly Duckling.

chris7981 said:
I'm about half way through my 1978 cm185. going full cafe with it.

Hi! Did you custom the seat? I'm keeping an eye on a 1980 cm200t - pretty much stock right now. If I get it, I'll be putting clubmans on it and painting it. The seat is hideous and fat, and I'm little (5' 3") so I'd love to get a seat like what you have on yours. I can't find anything online.
 
I gotta say I always found Twinstars to be really ugly bikes.

Your build makes it look almost like a whole new bike. It looks great! nice work :)
 
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