1971 Honda SL350 Dirt Bike Bobber Build

1971 Honda SL350 Dirt Bike Bobber Build


This is the story of how i turned a 1971 Honda SL350 into a dirty old dirt bike bobber

I never had any desire to build or ride a chopper or a street bike for that matter but ive been riding dirt bikes all my life... then one day i decided to build a dirtbike bobber


so heres what i started with...

<img src="https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1516/26098064146_931e8c791a_o.jpg" alt="Honda SL350 Dirt Bike Bobber">


and this is what it looks like now


<img src="https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1493/26098112496_294971610c_o.jpg" alt="Honda SL350 Dirt Bike Bobber">



<img src="https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1600/25519271784_eb83d354cb_o.jpg" alt="Honda SL350 Dirt Bike Bobber">



<img src="https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1481/25521412853_6e5c5bda7e_o.jpg" alt="Honda SL350 Dirt Bike Bobber">


<img src="https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1462/26098099866_fbb6f4ffff_o.jpg" alt="Honda SL350 Dirt Bike Bobber">

heres a video of the bike running before the tank was painted

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hBe3zvMhEbc

Tags: Honda SL350 SL SL70 SL100 SL125 dirtbike dirt bike brat cafe hardtail hard tail welding cb cb350 cb100 cb125 cl cl350 boardtrack board track scrambler

heres some pics of the bike before i touched it... the bike wasn't mint so it was a good candidate to chop up


<img src="https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1566/26031489802_9d48f74e68_o.jpg" alt="Honda SL350 Dirt Bike Bobber">

one of the reasons the Honda SL350 is a good bike to hardtail is because of the double downtube / cradle frame.. or so i thought

<img src="https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1719/26123992445_b9c4e22b47_o.jpg" alt="Honda SL350 Dirt Bike Bobber">

<img src="https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1583/25521369643_f64180ab98_o.jpg" alt="Honda SL350 Dirt Bike Bobber">

first project was some bars

i call them mini drag/z bars

<img src="https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1646/26057726531_4b802fb60a_o.jpg" alt="Honda SL350 Dirt Bike Bobber">

i spray bombed them black but later had them powder coated

<img src="https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1516/26098117686_5de06e8a17_o.jpg" alt="Honda SL350 Dirt Bike Bobber">

then i cut the back end of the frame off.

i welded a brace between the two downtubes and the rest of the frame before i cut anything so that i wouldn't loose the original shape

<img src="https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1450/26031574822_9718057054_o.jpg" alt="Honda SL350 Dirt Bike Bobber">

check out that sexy back bone

<img src="https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1596/25521454563_c008295dde_o.jpg" alt="Honda SL350 Dirt Bike Bobber">

then i butt/plug welded some solid steel slugs into the ends of each downtube

<img src="https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1704/26057721611_4dee9c343c_o.jpg" alt="Honda SL350 Dirt Bike Bobber">

<img src="https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1696/25519318254_f3e3186d64_o.jpg" alt="Honda SL350 Dirt Bike Bobber">

next i built the battery tray and started to get an idea of how i wanted the tail section to look

<img src="https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1718/26031573872_bf82ff75da_o.jpg" alt="Honda SL350 Dirt Bike Bobber">

<img src="https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1468/26098146146_cd7cfe3179_o.jpg" alt="Honda SL350 Dirt Bike Bobber">

i needed to make sure the geometry of the frame was good so the bike would ride straight. i also wanted to use the original rear wheel dropouts. i dont have a fancy frame jig so i made some swing arm extenders so i could float the dropouts out in space and build my hardtail frame around them. once the frame was built i planned to cut away the original awing arm

<img src="https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1718/26124069765_e445174378_o.jpg" alt="Honda SL350 Dirt Bike Bobber">

i made the swing arm extenders adjustable in length so i could play around with different frame stretches until i got something i liked

<img src="https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1580/26098142236_97045c2bc1_o.jpg" alt="Honda SL350 Dirt Bike Bobber">

<img src="https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1626/25521445533_d102b84499_o.jpg" alt="Honda SL350 Dirt Bike Bobber">

<img src="https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1468/26098144026_1e1781556e_o.jpg" alt="Honda SL350 Dirt Bike Bobber">