New to the forum and have some questions!

Hey guys, brand new to the forum and I had a couple questions, but first let me introduce myself.
I'm 20 years old and this is my fourth motorcycle in two years. I started with a sport bike like every other 18 year old kid and then built two bobbers. I became obsessed with cafe racers. I was tired of the stock bike community and the rocket community and want edit to branch out. As soon as I grot into the modified motorcycle community with my bobbers I noticed that people were much more friendly. Then I heard the cafe racer community was even better. This made me want one even more.

So about halfway through my bobber build and I refused to finish my poor nighthawk. Instead I got it running well and shipped it down to Madison in exchange for a cb350. I loved the look of the honda twin and I figured that It would be an easy transition to a cafe racer. I also knew that they were reliable and had a huge following as well as abundant parts. I'm mechanically inclined and used to work as a mechanic and a manager of an auto parts store when I was 18-19 before I went back to school. I am certified in OPE, and have build and sold over 20 cars since I turned 18. So mechanically I am very sound. However....I have never been very good at wiring. This is where I need your guy's help among other things.

I am not used to systems that are this old but I have heard that they are much easier to work on. The last motorcycle I had was an 82, so I skipped down ten years but love the appeal of the bike and for some reason, the little 350 pounds and is fairly comparable to my 750 nighthawk that I had.

Now for my actual question For those of you who skipped over the bio, I expect no questions about how mechanically or electronically inclined I am. .

First question. I was thinking about turning my motorcycle into a kick start only. I've been reading these forums and realize there is already a place for that but I want to know the answers to my questions not try to relate information to that was for someone else to my life. Not to sound to pushy. . Ok so kick start only, can I do it without a battery? Does this include slimming down the wiring harness? Has anyone else slimmed down the wiring harness so it basically only controls the lights and turn signals? If so does anyone have any pictures or steps to do this?

Second question, I have the stock pipes on it right now, however one is rusted through the head shield and baffle. The other one is in perfect condition and performs like it should. The left header gets hotter than the right because the right is slightly misfiring due to the back pressure issue. What pipes are you guys running for cafe racers? Please Keep in mind that I would like to do a budget build because I am paying for college out of pocket. Or would it make more sense to buy just a right side stock pipe off of eBay?

Third and final question to the novel that I just wrote. I would like to do a brat style seat that will let me carry another passenger. I am 5'5" and done weigh very much, and the bike hauls me around without a problem, and would be able to carry me and a 100# girl no problem. Does anyone have any advice for making a seat? I've seen people make them out of wood which I may try, considering I think I have to extend the stock seat frame about 2" to comfortably fit two people on it. Which isn't an issue.

Any thoughts or pictures would be appreciated. Thank you very much

Welcome to DTT man. It's a great place.

As far as your questions... They have been answered here 1000 times. Do some serching around. A little research on the site will give you more info than you'll ever need.

And pist up some pics of the bikes!

Thanks! However I've been googling and searching forums for weeks now and can't really find things are quite what I am looking for. I don't mean to be difficult :/.

For the electronics questions that I have if anyone has any pictures, even of stuff that seems stupid like the back of your headlight wiring, or a picture of a slimmed harness on a frame or something it would be extremely helpful.

As far as the seat, i was just looking for pictures of designs or thoughts about extending the frame underneath. And hopefully pictures just so I know if it would look awkward if the seat ends enter the rear axle.

You can run a kicker only with a capacitor instead of a battery. I wouldn't recommend eliminating the battery unless you plan on getting rid of your turn signals, gauge lights, etc. which wouldn't pass inspection, at least where I live. It can be done with the right capacitor, but you may struggle with a flickering headlight or stalling out while sitting at a red light.

Try looking for stock pipes at salvage shops or online. If you can find some scrambler pipes off of a CL350 or CL360 even better . Some guys have made their own custom pipes but its not exactly easy.

If you want to have a passenger, the stock frame should be long enough. The question is, though: Will you be running clip ons and rearsets? if so, passenger pegs will have to be custom mounted.

Seek and you shall find. The search doesn't often come up empty.

http://www.dotheton.com/forum/index.php?topic=49775.msg553904#msg553904

Thanks for the link! I'm not quite sure how I passed that up. So I guess I'm keeping the battery, it seems like the easier thing to do anyway. I can't seem to find a good thread about building a brat seat. There are plenty of YouTube videos on it but I haven't quite found a method I like, and I don't know if extending the tail will make it look awkward if the back of the bike ends past the rear axle. If anyone has done this and has pictures it would be appreciatd. Even my google searches go from one or two ok pictures to things that I never searched for. (You know how google is). I just don't want to cut anything before I have a good idea. Really easy to start cutting things off, harder to put them back on...

Anyway here is what I am working with.

except for the horrible clubman's, that is a great looking lil 350
if you go bratarded just try not to make the same fail 99% of the bratarders do by putting a flat seat base down on the frame so it slams into the rear tire
you would be far better off just getting a stock seat anyway

I haven't read everything here yet, but did read enough to suggest you leave the whole kick-only / simplify wiring (the electric start only consists of a couple of wires, so don't associate the two changes) until the very end. Get the bike running perfectly, handling properly (steering bearings, swingarm bushings, rebuild front suspension, buy new rear shocks, tires), STOPPING well (new brake pads, braided lines, new caliper piston seals)...

Your front forks are not braced - you can't just remove the front fender. You need the U shaped thick metal bracket the fender is riveted to. It locks the fork lowers together so they travel at the same time. The mounts where the axle clamps down WILL flex under load. Best case, you have less than great handling in corners. Worst case, one of the axle clamps snaps and your front wheel bounces off your face.

Get it running, safe, handling well - then worry about stuff like the 5 pounds you'll save by removing the electric starter. You still need your battery, e-start or not. A smaller one perhaps, but Shorai and other lithium-iron motorcycle battery suppliers have solved that problem - a lot easier to replace your battery and keep your e-start if all you want is a smaller battery. You'll get the weight savings too.

Once you get all that nailed down, sort out

ya, noting worse than being bratarded

The picture above was how I got the bike. I just started working on it. It's good to know that the forks aren't braced, I knew something looked a little funny up front. I also don't think that I will put rear sets on it right now, I can always add those later. As far as the club mans....yeah I don't like them either and would prefer clip ons or drag bars. The bikes runs well and handles well, just needs the tank cleaned and a new right muffler which I found on eBay super cheap . It just had a rust hole coming from the heat shield.

as fR as the brat seat, I was thinking about starting with something brat style but putting a small cowl on the back to house my tail light. The stock seat pan has a loop on the back that I was going to cut off and relocate about 1.5"-2" back just to give me and my passenger a little more room. Believe it or not, those two inches make for a much more comfortable seating position when I was test sitting with a passenger on there. The cowl and the seat have been removed now. I will post pictures of the current build tomorrow as well as some progress that I will be making tomorrow afternoon. Going to sort through some of the wiring and buy some seat making materials.

Edit. I was doing some research about the front fender...I don't think that I need to have one....teverywhere I look says nothing about bracing and there are tons of guys out there who have built cafés from them and they don't really have an issue. Am I missing something?

Also, I'm not thinking about making it kick start only to save the five pounds. I was looking for a way to open up the inside look of the bike, and slim down the wiring harness of any unneeded wires. I know that five pounds isn't life or death, it's not a full blown track bike where every ounce counts. It's just a toy for me to wrench on and create to my own style. Not to mention the best way to travel.

I guess all I'm saying is that I was just looking for a cleaner look, and an easier wiring harness to deal with in case anything went wrong. Not a lighter curb weight.

Man, you've gotten some suggestions from some of the most experienced guys on this forum, with reasoning to boot. My thoughts would be to accept and appreciate that.
Just because someone else has or hasn't done something on their bike, doesn't mean that it's safe, nor best practise.

You're gonna need some form of fork brace for safety's sake, especially if you're gonna be carting around 100lbs of precious cargo on the back. It's easy enough to find a cheap stock fender. Just cut it down to the length you want and maybe spray paint it.

Since you've already got pod filters, opening up the inside is just gonna require relocating the battery, starter solenoid, and rec/regulator under the seat somehow. If you're not getting rid of the starter motor itself, why not leave it connected? the starter solenoid doesn't take up that much space.

Hmmmm....ok.

Go out and stand in front of your bike, looking at the headlight. Now put the front tore between your knees, and one hand on each end of the handle bars. Now try and twist the bars in the opposite direction of the tire .....you'll get a surprising amount of deflection. And you're putting, what? Fifty pounds of pressure to get that twisted? Now think about how much pressure is on the front end with you riding it in a turn. Spend the $15 at a junk yard for a fender, and enjoy a front end that isn't as flimsy as a wet noodle.

And I agree with Tim about the starter motor - wait until the bike is running absolutely perfect before removing anything. I had a bike that was kickstart only from the factory, and it was a royal pita to tune it up when it wouldn't start easily.

Or just ignore any and all advice given to you and learn the hard way.

Thanks for all the advice. I'll be looking for a stock front fender this week.

My wiring turned out to not want to work with me at all. It's frayed in some places from the previous owners, there are wires that should be hot and don't come up as ground or hot to my multimeter. Looks like I will be spending time rerunning wires using the stock harness. This is my build nightmare as I am not good with wiring at all. I have entertained the thought of a simple wiring harness but I'm not sure how that would work.

If the picture comes out...that's what I'm looking at for wiring on the front. The lights that are supposed to be for the headlight and blinkers currently have no voltage through them at all. The white wire that is supposed to supply the power for the light leads to a yellow wire when it gets to the forks....then disappears back into the harness. Its becoming a pain to try to sort out this harness even with two diagrams. Ah well, slow and steady.

A for exhaust, I was looking at a couple of inverted megaphone mufflers, because my exhaust is perfect until it gets to the muffler (like most older bikes), has anyone had any experience with them on the twins? Thanks again! I do appreciate all the advice.

If you're just looking for cheap cones, check Emgo. They get the job done and don't cost your First born. I found a pair on my local classifieds for $40.
Other options include checking the wreckers while you're digging for your fender.

as far as the wiring there is a fella here sparck moto who will make you a custom simplified wiring harness
as far as the muffleres be sure and ad a mid pipe section so as to keep the overall length of the system close to what you have stock giving the muff a lil kick up at the back is always pleasing to the eye as well as keeping your cornering clearance

and as far as the bike be sure and inspect the front brake shoes before you ride it again, if they are very old thay can de-laminate and cause a front wheel lockup which isnt pretty :'( just buy new shoes (check the rear as well) lube/clean the shafts where they go thru the brake plate and adjust correctly
once you get it sorted to run good put some miles on it get some good shocks for the back,check the swingarm bushings for play
if the steer tube bearings are notchy feeling replace those etc
once you get it all sorted then think about mods but dont worry about the looks untill you know the motor is in good knick and reliable, running well
and leave the battery and starter on the thing there is no reason to take it off it doesnt rob HP and makes it easy to deal with going out riding/testing/tuning they are fun bike to ride, find a twisty tight road to thrash on

I used some Harley Sportster take-offs on my 350. Picked them up for $30 at a swap meet.
If you are keeping the pegs in stock location, I wouldn't go any lower than drag bars.