1981 CM400, Project "Dorothy".

mohabie

Been Around the Block
So I picked up this Honda CM400 a couple years ago, with the intent on gutting it, and transforming it into something cool for my wife to drive. She liked it so much she named the bike "Dorothy" for her grandmother. This, is that story.....

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As it looked after a quick paint job, when I gave it to her. Nothing fancy just yet.....

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A happy rider....

After about a year sitting around, I got around to playing with the seat, and swapped out the tank to a mid 70's CB500. If you've seen the MuchMuchGo bike, the seat arrangement was very attractive to me. With a little prodding, she agreed and that was the direction I was heading...

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byby CM400 tank...

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Notice the cutouts in the battery box....

Playing around with the lights, I had a couple PIAA's from my Jeep laying around, and mounted them on a bracket just to see how they would look...
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Interesting... I have to run to a meeting- I'll post more later....
 
The bike is coming along nicely. Here are some pictures I snapped today. Pay no attention to the ducktape covering the seat. Its going to the upholsterer soon :) And remember, its a chicks bike (actually, the wife's), hence the heart shaped cutouts on the battery box!

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what did you do with all of the electrical junk? on my cm200, there's a big flasher, r/r, and like 2 other big and ugly things all strapped around the battery/airbox area. i want a big open spot like yours, but i dont know how to pull it off. sadly my skillz are not quite that good yet.
 
ha! I took all of the electrical off for the time being. Welding, grinding, etc it was all getting in the way. Thats the next big step, figuring out what I need and what I dont need!
 
Thanks, they are two PIAA 520 fogs. With the electrical system not wired in as of yet I'm not sure how they'll do. Might have to put a lower wattage bulb in as well. I mainly wanted to use them because the lens element is just so cool. Kind of a blue/yellow depending on your angle to the light.

johnd900 said:
Yes great look on the headlights!
 
The good thing is I can always go back to that ;)

loosenoose said:
i think it would look better with one light, sunk in between the forks, but yeah, the pearlescent lights look neat
 
I like what you did. I have a 91 cb250 and I'm looking at a very similar tank and seat set up. Im trying to figure out if I can do a seat like that but longer for 2. I'm really contemplating an interchangeable setup between a solo and 1+1.
 
cbdork190 said:
I like what you did. I have a 91 cb250 and I'm looking at a very similar tank and seat set up. Im trying to figure out if I can do a seat like that but longer for 2. I'm really contemplating an interchangeable setup between a solo and 1+1.

Thanks! I've been working on it here and there the past few weeks, not making quick progress... But progress nonetheless.

My inspiration for the seat came from the build "MuchMuchgo". I basically cut the seat supports so it could be bolted to the two motor mount bolts that sit directly under the tank. It took a couple trys, the first was out of 3/16" steel, but was too think and it interfered with parts of the frame. It would work, but had to be set at such an strong angle that it raised the seat height to a point where my wife (who will be riding it) would have a hard time holding the bike up at a stoplight. I redesigned it using 1/4", and made them a bit skinnier to get the seat to lay more flat. It works, but I'm worried it may develop some flex in it over time (I'll have to watch that).

Currently, its the wiring that has me buggered. Just taking connections and extra wire issues step by step. Gonna spend a good portion of Saturday on it!

:)
 
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