CD175 Honda "Baby Tracker"

If you are saying it is properly functional as a dirt machine you are wrong, regardless of your memory. There is not enough allowable uptravel. And there isnt even a rider on it yet.

This part REALLY doesnt make sense. You personally said the bike is "a little twitchy", and we are telling you that you have cut yourself short on room and that the front of the bike is too low. The front tire is large in aspect because of the stance, the bike is twitchy because you have reduced the trail. Lowering the tubes in the clamps/raising the frontend height fixes all of that! However your tank will look even smaller then.

For the most part I'd just like to see the level of function match your craftsmanship. How bout we split the difference, raise it an inch and a quarter eh?
 
Hi X,
Yup, thought you'd probably turned a wheel or 2 in anger at some time, LOL.
Dohc,
I have not changed the travel on the forks - it has 100% of the travel that Honda designed for the CB350. The CB350 stem has been shortened to fit the shorter CD175 neck (the head bearings are closer together on the 175) and the steering head itself is a little lower in the frame than a CB350 is, so the 2 combine to make the tubes - not the travel - a tad long for the little 175. If I had used one of Bullit's billet top clamps instead of the stock Honda drop clamps, hardly any of the tubes would have stuck up above the upper tree and if I can figure out a way to get the handlebar mounts fitted to it, still might do the change down the road.
When I was mocking up the bike, I had the forks, wheel and fender mounted on the bike with my mule engine in it and the exhaust pipes on the bike. I had the springs out of the forks so I could easily get full stroke and nothing touched at full compression, so good there.
The front tire is a 3.50X18, mounted on a WM2 (1.85") rim, a little bigger than the 3.00X18 standard CB350 tire - the tire on the donor bike's front end was a 3.60X18 on the stock WM1 (1.60) rim if you can imagine - glad I never rode it before disassembly.
I'm using Duro tires on the bike; they're DOT-approved, have the same tread pattern as the MT53 Pirelli that was used back in the day, have a decently rounded profile (not squared off like the Firestones) and aren't a real heavy tire. My stock CB350 front wheel with a Yokohama tire feels heavier than the one on the tracker, but I should weigh the two of them someday to be certain.
I generally like bikes with quicker steering input and as far as twitchy, perhaps that description was a gaff on my part, since the baby tracker feels about the same as any 350 Yamaha I've ridden.
The bike weighs 260 pounds complete, with oil in the motor, battery onboard but no fuel. I have stock CB350 springs in the forks
and wonder if they will be too stiff (CB350's were around a 100 pounds heavier), but I'll find out when I start riding it.
The tank looks small because it is supposed to, being almost the identical size to the one that was on my race bike...
Pat.
 
"Almost identical size", let me guess... Just a tad smaller than the original. Mm hmm.

I tried putting it nicely. Your tank is too small and your bodywork leaves ugly gaps everywhere. It looks horrible. The frontend is not set up correctly, it should be swapped or its a certified hack job.

Even if something took everything i had to build, i'd still be able to admit when it is time to change stuff. Swore to god I'd never put fenders on a motorcycle at one time in my life. What a moron i was.

It's your bike man if you wanted it to look and handle worse than it should, by all means rock on dude.

There ya go.
 
Dohc,
The tank on the Baby Tracker is 1-1/8" shorter than the tank on the Knight-framed short tracker, but the Knight bike is about 4 inches longer, so the bodywork proportions end up looking the same - ugly gaps and all, like a real dirt tracker.
I'm the first guy to admit when something isn't working out; there have been a numerous changes throughout the build - and I'd change the forks if I thought they needed changing, but the steering feels fine.
I've had a couple of inquiries already, regarding whether or not the bike was for sale, both inquiries from guys with 30 to 40 years riding experience (each) - and nothing seems amiss to them.
Pat
 
I always liked the triumph exhaust clamps. Good job. The motor is awesome to stare at.
 
I got the exhaust clamps at the Paris CVMG National Rally Flea Market a couple of years ago, cheap - 'cause they weren't in great shape. I welded up the Triumph clamp slots and a crack in one of them, opened up the center holes to just fit over the exhaust pipe flanges and had the reliefs and stud holes done by a machine shop, so they bolt to the cylinder head using the standard studs and exhaust gaskets. I bead blasted them, sprayed crinkle finish paint and sanded and polished the fin edges after the paint had cured. I don't know if they aid cooling, but they weigh less than the stock cast iron clamps and I always dug how they looked on a bike.
The final polishing and detailing still has to be done on the motor and I'll probably do that over the winter when I can't ride it.
Pat
 
Re: CD175 Honda "Baby Tracker"

I love the bike. I am more impressed that you were able to install the scrambler pipes with the triumph clamps. I shaved mine virtually to nothingness to make installation of those pipes easier. I'm stunned you made that work, and works it does :)
 
1st,
If you go back to the pictures I posted on this thread last December 15, there are 2 photos of the cylinder head. Look closely at a couple of the fins on the left exhaust clamp - they've been shortened to allow the right cylinder's exhaust pipe to fit correctly. When the pipes are installed, not noticeable. Took awhile, but it was winter and I had the time, right?
When I was a kid, you could buy finned alloy exhaust clamps for the little CB's from aftermarket suppliers, but I haven't seen a set - new or used - in ages. Like the finned tappet covers, I was getting real close to making a set of foundry patterns to start casting my own, but we went with the resurrected Triumph ones and they work well enough for me.
Pat
 
Re: CD175 Honda "Baby Tracker"

Ah ok I see - good call. I didn't see how that was possible without some modification like that.

You mean like these Cappellinis?

http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.view&alt=web&id=360797116256&globalID=EBAY-US
 
1st,
The Cappellinis are a fine bit of kit but a different look than I wanted - if I was building a road racer, probably buy a set. The ones I was referring to were cast aluminum, finned like the ones I'm using but a bit smaller.
I have a NOS set of cast finned CB450 exhaust clamps that I bought in 1974 or thereabouts, still on a shelf in the store room. They're not in the original box, but I think it was Webco or one of the other aftermarket guys who flogged various sizes for anything from the little CB125 twins up to the CB450. Nice looking parts, sandcast, not permanent mould cast like almost all of the replica parts I see today. I like that rough sandcast look for parts going on an older bike like the Baby Tracker and I sometimes get a part sandblasted to get the rough look (don't laugh, Harley did it on the engine cases when they brought out the EVO big motor in the early '80's).
Ya, I know, I'm a Luddite...
Pat
 
Can't believe that it's been 18 months since I posted anything on the Baby Tracker.
It's been in storage for most of that time, but I took it out to a friend's shop about a week ago, put it on the work stand, got the ignition issues resolved, bump started it and in the short time I rode it, handled and felt great - so much for the "experts" who said the front end was set up all wrong LOL - it turned great and felt light as a feather, but then again, not even 250 pounds with gas and oil in it...
Right now, I'm fighting a hanging float on the right hand carb (fie on me for believing someone when they say, "like, totally rebuilt, man") and will probably have to strip and rebuild the "rebuilt" carb I got from evil bay.
Put the Tracker back on the work stand and looked at the Duro MT53 Pirelli clone tires I've shod it with, lotsa dirt and sod in the treads (things are just thawing out after the winter here), which looked great to me.
Am going to build a new battery box as the existing one is a bit klugey and have the Off-Low-High Switch modification to finish up, plus the normal debugging with a new build, but so much fun today...
Just thought I'd let you know.
Pat
 
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