'73 CB250 - Doing it right this time round.

Re: '73 CB250 - 'Rustic Racer' conversion.

I took the forks off to give the lowers a cleaning and slight polish.

Whilst I had the forks off, I checked the condition off the stancions. Towards the top they are pretty badly pitted and rusted. Below the lower clamp, the surface seems to have no pitting, just a little patch of rust.

You can see in the pictures where the lower clamp is positioned on the forks, and how below this point (the fork travel section) is in ok condition.

Would it be ok to keep the forks like this and maybe just spray and clean the rust up for aesthetics?
 

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Re: '73 CB250 - 'Rustic Racer' conversion.

Ok, shoulder seems fine now so back to working on the bike.

This is what I did to the forks. The fork travel area seemed in good clean condition, just the tops were badly pitted. So a few layers of Hammerite direct to rust paint seemed to clean them up relatively nicely. Will be running them without the original gaitors I think.
 

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Re: '73 CB250 - 'Rustic Racer' conversion.

Stripped the paint off of the swingarm and continued on the frame too. Tell you what, regretting not getting it blasted. Yes its money I really could do with saving, but stripping the paint with nothing but a wire wheel and a wire brush takes an absolute age!

Set the tank and seat on the frame as it sits to get a look of how its going to look back together. Really liking the bare metal frame, but know It can be a pain to clear without yellowing. So stuck between painting it black or as close a colour silver/grey to the bare metal as I can find...decisions, decisions....
 

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Re: '73 CB250 - 'Rustic Racer' conversion.

looks really cool man. shocks look too new.. but everything else is fantastic
 
Re: '73 CB250 - 'Rustic Racer' conversion.

fatherjon said:
looks really cool man. shocks look too new.. but everything else is fantastic

Yeah I know what you mean. Going to wait until the front end is back on then have another look. If they still look out of place im gonna have to give them a once over with some scotchbrite to dull them a tad.
 
Re: '73 CB250 - 'Rustic Racer' conversion.

dude cant get over how much i like the tank and seat! i have been coming back here to look at it like 20 times now. you never mentioned what your doing with that amazing faring. or you did and i missed it.. anyway, im really looking forward to seeing this come together.
 
Re: '73 CB250 - 'Rustic Racer' conversion.

Cheers guys. I'm gonna build the bike without the fairing first (because its easy to just bolt on) and then see if I can get it to work with the rest of the bike. Bit of an arse about face way of doing it, but because i'm really not certain on the fairing its easier than definitely including it in the original build and then being disappointed.

The only real problem with it is that once its on, it doesn't leave enough room to tuck behind the screen because its too far back. The easy fix is to just move the entire fairing forward, but then it doesn't look 'right' because its too far forward. I do really like the lines and such of it, but, its just going to be a pain to make it function as well as it looks.
 
Re: '73 CB250 - 'Rustic Racer' conversion.

Not a lot achieved recently. Mostly continuing with painting parts. Put a couple of coats of primer on the swingarm. Think I'm leaning towards a real raw, steel/gunmetal colour for the frame and swinger.

Also did some filling and then painted the front mudguard and the headlight bucket in the same grey as the seat. Still need to continue the stripe onto either the fender, or both the fender and headlight (not decided yet), and then age them both up.
 

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Re: '73 CB250 - 'Rustic Racer' conversion.

While the paint and primer was drying on the above parts, I cleaned a few things up.

Re sprayed the coil/condenser bracket, cleaned up said condenser and replaced the hardware with some stainless bolts. The paint isn't perfect so it fits with the aged look i'm going for, even though its not really important to look 'rough' because, well, its covered from sight by the tank.

Did the same to the tank mounts, and sprayed the lower fork clamp. Was trying to polish and clean it up like the top clamp, but it had a LOT of surface rust and then flash rusted overnight, so I just sealed it with a coat of hammerite.
 

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Re: '73 CB250 - 'Rustic Racer' conversion.

I also realised my budget isn't realistically going to stretch to a sealed battery. The existing battery is way to tall to fit under the rear hump so it's going to have to stay in its stock location. I don't really like the stock side covers no matter how well they are done, so I though about a vintage looking number board to hide the battery.

I was thinking of spraying it the dark green found in the old castrol oil logo, and similar to the number board on the RC166. Quickly photoshopped it up with a pic of the bikes original paint. It will obviously be aged and scratched like the rest of the bodywork. What do you guys think?
 

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Re: '73 CB250 - 'Rustic Racer' conversion.

You have to be careful with the number plates. If the feel of the bike is not of a track ready bike, the number plate can look really out of place. I would rethink your feel towards side covers, or make a really clean battery box that can stand alone. I also wouldn't want a number plate on both sides of my bike, so it would only solve the issue of the one side. Are you keeping the stock air boxes or switching to pods?

Just my opinions, of course.

You could also do some covers from scratch.

94717264_d.jpg
 
Re: '73 CB250 - 'Rustic Racer' conversion.

shamus said:
You have to be careful with the number plates. If the feel of the bike is not of a track ready bike, the number plate can look really out of place. I would rethink your feel towards side covers, or make a really clean battery box that can stand alone. I also wouldn't want a number plate on both sides of my bike, so it would only solve the issue of the one side. Are you keeping the stock air boxes or switching to pods?

Just my opinions, of course.

You could also do some covers from scratch.

94717264_d.jpg

Appreciate your opinion Shamus. I was planning on running the boards on both sides. I'm kind of after a 'racer' looking bike so the addition of a number board will help that. I see what you're saying though about it looking out of place. Seeing as they're pretty easy to make I think I'm going to fab and paint a few up, and then see how they look. If they look 'awkward' and out of place I'll have to think about something else.

For some reason I'm not a big side cover person. Don't know why, just something about them. Even the ones on that Guzzi. They don't look half bad, but, there's just something about them....So if the number boards are out, I think I'll have to work on a new battery box.

The bike came with Pod filters, but they're in pretty bad shape, so they will probably be replaced with uni foam filters.
 
Re: '73 CB250 - 'Rustic Racer' conversion.

The reason that number plates look so wrong is that no racer will ride a bike on the street with numbers on it (unless they're getting ready for a race and that's a whole other illegal story). So the only people with race numbers on a street bike are obviously not racers.

No problem with having covers shaped like number plates - that works but replace the actual numbers with model code or something if you don't want to look like a complete poser.

Try taking your stock side covers and make them narrower or change them so they do look good and replicate that new look in F/G or C/F for a more integrated look.
 
Re: '73 CB250 - 'Rustic Racer' conversion.

teazer said:
No problem with having covers shaped like number plates - that works but replace the actual numbers with model code or something if you don't want to look like a complete poser.

Try taking your stock side covers and make them narrower or change them so they do look good and replicate that new look in F/G or C/F for a more integrated look.

Sounds good. Instead of numbers could fill it with vintage decals, such as the old Castrol logo.

Didn't come with the stock, or any side covers for that matter. Just had the battery showing but it just doesn't look right like that.
 
Re: '73 CB250 - 'Rustic Racer' conversion.

Also the numbers on a racing bike have to be in a place that is clearly visible. In the center of the bike they would be obscured by the rider's legs so that's not race legal.
 
Re: '73 CB250 - 'Rustic Racer' conversion.

Agree, missing side covers is an ugly look. Try ebay for a pair of any one of the guys on here that took them off to fit pods and relocated their electrics into the seat.

Someone must have a decent set available for the right price that you could either fit as-is or modify as necessary.
 
Re: '73 CB250 - 'Rustic Racer' conversion.

Got a few parts through today!

Finally managed to get hold of a new intake boot. Got it from David Silver Spares, and got a Universal brake light switch.

Although I have no idea how I'm going to mount it and make it work. Next headache.

Anyway, progress report. Frame is now stripped. Started cutting off the centre stand mounts and the stock seat lock. Just need to smooth what's left of them down. Will probably do that and get the first coat of primer on tomorrow.

Still looking for a decent side cover solution, along with the brake switch problem. Who said bikes were all fun! ;D
 

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