'74 CB200 - Tall Dude, Tiny Bike

Thanks for the pics man...good news they're working.

My buddy works at jiffy lube so I knew he knew something (at least more than me) about mechanics. Then the icing on the cake was I saw him on a motorcycle the other day and I didn't even know he rode! I asked him if he'd be down to come over and wrench on it a bit and he was down. So we fixed and worked on a ton today and really I owe it all to him for figuring out my issues!

I had a multitude of problems I will list below for anyone else having troubles shifting with rearsets on a cb200 or really any bike really.

1 The shifter arm I purchased from DCC was a little to thick for the rods that I had from Viets Rearsets. I was stretching the rods to fit around the shifter creating unnecessary friction. If the rods were connected to just the shift arm you should be able to hold the shift arm in your hand and swing the rod back and forth on its pivot point. I definitely couldn't do this. I switched back to the stock shift arm that I had drilled holes in for the rods previously, mounted it upside down and it worked! I think it worked better too because the rod had been stretched a bit from the DCC shift arm so on the stock arm it moves very freely.

2. The two arms (the one on the shifter and the one on the rearsets) have to be parallel, if they aren't and one is leaning in and the other out it will make it really hard to shift. I pointed mine both down because the extending mounts I'm using right now get in the way if the arms are pointing up. This will probably change because honestly, I don't trust these mounts too well yet.

Ok the first two are no brainers but it was this last one that really got me (there could be a deeper issue here so please diagnose if what I'm saying sounds bad or not right)

3. The shifter rod, (please excuse my poor knowledge of the right terms), the toothed rod that goes into the bike that the shift arm clamps onto. This rod has to be all the way out, when my shift arm is off, this rod wiggles back and forth a bit (is this bad?). When I was trying to put the shift arm back on it would just push it in a bit allowing me to not get the shift arm fully on, and also preventing the gears (this is totally a guess) to align up correctly. Therefore when trying to shift they would grind and click like something wasn't right. To fix this we took the chain guard thingy off so we could see the rod inside the bike. Then I held that rod with pliers pulling it so it would stay all the way out, and my buddy who had stretched the shift arm a bit to allow for easy installation slipped it on there being careful not to push the rod back in. Once that arm was clamped down it held the rod in place so everything inside aligned up correctly. YAY shifting fixed.

So lesson learned. SHIFT HAPPENS, when in doubt keep playing with it and call someone who knows more than you do. Now pictures:

We also fixed the rear break, same issue, rod wasn't fully pulled out and also this was BIG noob mistake. I took the brake arm off and put if back on wrong. Lesson learned: make sure that the toothed threads of the break knob line up with the break arm. If you look closely on the break knob/rod on the cb200 it is toothed but the teeth don't go all the way around, they stop for a few millimeters...I totally thought it was just stripped in that area so I forced mine on..WRONG. Make sure that the area that is smooth is the area between the arm sides. So that every tooth on the arm is lining up with a tooth on the rod. Hope that made sense. Total beginner mistake. Also we used the old spring from the old break hooked into the old exhaust mount hole. This helps the break pop back into place and gives it that tension that it needs. Then we stretched the old rear light trigger spring thing around the backside of the frame and hooked it there as well. Took some tweaking to get it right but its working great now!!!

The new taillight from eBay/china worked amazing, bolted right on in the previous holes from the stock rear light. Had to drill wider holes for the license plate though. Thinking about chopping the back fender a bit. Any thoughts or know of any threads that explain the best way to go about doing this??

Next steps: find/fab a mount to hold up the CL175 exhaust pipes. Fix the hole in the pipes with muffler putty and wrap em. Paint it? maybe...we'll see.

Guys, it felt so good just to be able to ride it down the street again. After struggling with this issue for so long. im super grateful i found some help. cant wait to RIDE IT MORE

Glad you got it working but I need to point out a few things for you. The clutch and the brake are both design to "pull". So the way you've rigged the clutch is putting strain on the rod and those clevis' every time you up shift. I'm sure its fine since if you have it the other way, then the strain occurs on the down shift... I don't know about you, but I don't trust those clevis' and I will be eventually replacing mine with heims.

Now on the brake, I'm not sure why you are using that spring on the lever. If you have the drum installed properly then the brake rod will pull on the brake arm and when released, the spring tension on the drums pulls the brake rod/lever back. Please check this out. Even though its the rear brake, I would hate to see if fail if its ever needed.

I believe Seeking Zero means "shifter" instead of "clutch".

What has me concerned is the mounting brackets between the pegs and frame loops. Are they just drilled through and bolted on? If so, any considerable amount of downward force could bend the pegs right down (and near the chain). Hopefully I'm wrong though.........

Totally guys, I'm working on fixing all these issues, I'm not riding the bike seriously for a while anyway.

Things I want to fix:

1. The mounting brackets between the pegs and frame loops I got with my rearsets, they screw into the old passenger peg holes, and yeah...they're not the strongest. Well they're strong, I just don't trust em with my life because they only have one point of contact which means if I put a lot of pressure on them they could just swivel.

2. The rear break, it works, but it doesn't work like it used to. I think I messed something up inside, I'm gonna pull the wheel off and check it out. Anyone have suggestions on what I should be looking for (what would be causing it to not spring back). Basically (without the ghetto spring I put on there), I would push the break down and it would stay down. Sounds fishy. Thanks for the feedback guys, really appreciate it!

-Stephen

Also, does my licence plate look legal? It's kind of on a sharp angle, but the bike is pretty low, I don't know what the rules are per say...

As far as the plate goes, your local regulations would specify that. But if a cop glances at your bike and doesn't see a plate right away, they may get a closer look. Usually as long as you aren't doing stupid stuff on a motorcycle, you'll be left alone though.

Can't wait to see this thing done! I am also a tall dude with a 74 cb200. How tall are you? I am 6ft 5". Will be tearing my bike down this winter for the final clean up and painting. Glad to see someone else doing a dry build as well.

BTW let me know if you are in the market for any parts. I have a cb175 I have canibalized.

alec.korver said:

Can't wait to see this thing done! I am also a tall dude with a 74 cb200. How tall are you? I am 6ft 5". Will be tearing my bike down this winter for the final clean up and painting. Glad to see someone else doing a dry build as well.

Click to expand...

I'm 6'5" as well, '74 CB200 as well...we should be friends.

We need a shot of your lanky ass on this bike. It should look ridiculous. At only 6'3", I make my KZ750 twin look small.

haha I'll take one soon enough! trust me it looks better than when I used to ride a Puch Magnum Moped:


that thing was so tiny

Specially TDR (two dudes ridin') hahahaha good times

UPDATE:

Made a little rough mount to hold my cl175 scrambler pipes up. Just bought a little metal bracket from Home Depot, drilled some holes in it, and bolted it on. I'll probably shape it and paint it later, for now I want to just get ridin!

Last night I put some muffler putty on the whole I had in the pipes. I'll wrap em as soon as the wrap comes, but this'll do for now.

This morning I rode the bike to the skatepark for a little morning workout sesh and then to upper park where there's some nice open road. Very fun. Stoked to be ridin again!!!

Goodies from the mailbox. More to come.

UPDATE! Wow it's been forever. Since I last posted I wrapped the pipes, and let the bike sit for a little too long. More importantly, I got married! Been super busy and finally am getting around to updating this.

It's better weather now so I brought the bike over to our new place and am ready to get back at it (slowly, as usual).

Congrats on getting hitched!

hey i just bought a cb200, and i see you installed 350 tires in your bike, you think i could get away installing those in the front also?? i wont be using a front fender.

^^ I'm not sure if you could get away with it in the front otherwise I would have! Without fenders though...maybe! I'd take it into a shop and just hold a larger tire up to it and see if it'll clear.

Also, this will be my last update for now on this thread. Just sold this bike after toying with the idea for awhile. We're in the process of buying a house and need the cash more than the bike right now. Stoked it is going into good hands, a guy named Josiah from Sacramento. I'm sending him to this site so treat him well

Since the last update I've RAW'd the tank, clear coated it, and done a bunch of other maintenance things to the bike. Still runs like a champ, gotta love Hondas! Farewell for now, but I'm sure I'll be back someday, thank you for everyone's help over the years!