That's such a gorgeous 'Custom I really really like it. The wire wheels really kick ass. I've got an 'F, in the middle of a wire wheel swap here, figuring out the rear brake a bit still, waiting on my rear rim etc, and I'm dicking around with putting passenger peg brackets that were cut off a SOHC (hardtail project here on this forum) I wanna weld 'em right onto the 'F frame and get rid of the alloy block plate shit. If you put longer shocks on that baby it would really kick ass. You should also look at rims. Motocicli Veloci Milano sells 3.00x18" Borrani for 95 Euro, I was told 30 Eu shipping from Italy to Alberta for one - they've got lots of awesome stuff, you name it - but yeah I'm putting that Borrani up front with a four and a half wide rear - gotta do my build thread soon - but I've seriously considered doing rims in 2.50x18 and 3.00x18, both Borranis - you've already got the right rim up front so you'd only need the one. That and a taller shock and you'd have that much sportier look of the 'F bikes, the better versions of 'F bikes I should say, with the 18" front rim you've already got and which is so coveted amoung the comstars, some of the Eu spec 900s, the 1100, and any with the GL1100 18"-er. That's the best proportion on these bikes, and the 'K wheels right there have the one. It took some time for me to figure out, but looking at ALL of my favourite bike porn and which bikes seemed to look ALMOST great but NOT QUITE, I put "Two and Two Together", so to speak, when I figured out that all -and LITERALLY ALL- of my favourites had the same diameter rim on both wheels. Didn't matter what the measurement was, just so long as it was the same. Even scooters with 8-10-12" rims, kids' dirt-bikes with 14" etc, "Underbone" bikes like the Honda Cub with what were actually the very FIRST 17" rims, old Harleys with 16" balloon tires, British racers with 19", Italian vintage stuff with anything from 16" to 19", Super-Bike era stuff with 18" of course, modern crotch-rockets with 17" fatties, from the knobbies to the "pizza cutters" through the Bias to the Radials, so long as they've got the same size of rims on 'em they've got a perfect balance to 'em. It's something I did on my very first bike when I was 16 in '89, a CB100 parts bike for the SL100 I'd picked out at a garage sale, the CB was an additional $60 how do you like that ha ha - anyway I laced both rear rims on it - ostensibly looking to use to two fattest tires with the most "grip" on 'em - it wound up looking awesome lemme tell 'ya - long story short there was a certain something about it that I never saw in the CB100 bike porn in recent years - I thought it was the fatter tires and scrambler-esque details, but then I looked up the rim sizes for those first years and it clicked, as I was looking to do matched rims on my then current bike.
So while I LOVE the 'C models AND the 'K models - as well as certain of the 'F models with 19" front, and even the 1100F which when you think about it just has slightly fatter versions of the same set on the 'K model - my favourites have always had the 18" rear AND front rims. So I figure, just IMHO ... or IMnsHO ... this is one of the best things you could do for the bike, whichever way you went about it whether it was the rear rim moving up front and a wider 17 in the rear - probably the more expensive option though Buchanan's DOES cut down and re-thread spokes for a lot cheaper than a whole set, as oppposed to a spoke set and rim for the rear, new tire that's it - AND that alone would jack up the ass end that half inch plus whatever extra profile there is on the tire, so anywhere up around an inch. That and shocks from the supersport, maybe pop some shrouds on 'em I've tinkered with doing it it could be done well ... bigger rim fatter aka taller tire AND the shocks and you're sitting high on the Honda so to speak! That'd give quicker steering too, and for pretty cheap. The rear up front would be quicker still. And the funny thing about a smaller tire on a longer shock giving the same seat height, is it tips the swing-arm DOWN giving better suspension spring rate and anti- accelleration-sag ... whatever that's called.... So many people drop the front end trying to get the same effect as all of this but it doesn't quite work right, especially when stuff bottoms out. Ha ha. You wanna take that front end height off the BOTTOM of your front end, NOT the top! And the best way to tip the bike forward is to jack up the ass! Only, not with what Ken Kesey called an "Ass Jack", not unless you REALLY love your bike! It's too bad, they've always had those lowering link kits for the SOHC etc, it's too bad they don't make a RAISING kit, like they do for all of those muffler-less trucks. Here in Alberta, anyway. I guess there were those weirdo triangular rear suspension kits, I dunno if it was Tony Foale or Jack Difazio -SOMEBODY made them things that zig-zagged the shock for a rising rate to the spring ... as opposed to just sticking a rising rate spring in there. I guess they had alternate holes or something, for adjusting the rising rate. ANY WAY - I was just thinking more along the lines of a couple inches added to the bottom of the shock, maybe it could copy the lowering link but still raise it up. The Honda Cub and it's ilk they have a tall stubb at the end, over the rear axle, such that the shock connects a good two or three inches above the axle. Not a great look for a Super-Bike swinger, but I've seen ever so slightly similar stuff on modded swingarms, where they move the position of the shock bushing....
Back to YOUR BIKE for a minute now it's a beautiful bike I like it a lot it's just one of those things where - well first of all, my mind goes "Shit, I wish that was MY bike...." and then the mind takes a little detour, a little bit of a tangent, and I go "but if it WERE my bike, I'd do a whole bunch of different shit with it, to make it PERFECT!" So don't take it as a criticism, so much as a compulsion. Ha ha. Really though, you could put all SORTS of stuff on it, and not expensive shit either. Cycle Exchange does a 4-2-1 exhaust now that's cheaper than a MAC, and the only other 4-2-1 I can THINK of would be the SCHULE - they did massive research and this config makes more power. Plus "Carpy" has his Dunstall tank, too bad it's in fibreglas which I regard as a fire hazzard - but there are loads of other tanks that make a great swap. CB650 came with a model just like the supersport 750 DOHC but it's missing the lower tabs, which would look great ... IF it's a big enough capacity. But yeah, like I said I LIKE the 'C tank, it'd look killer with paint and decals mocked up like a '69 model. What's the fuel capacity on it though? That's a main question for me. I was keen to put on a "plastic maggot" tank - ( I freakin' LOVE thank nick-name for the CX500, you can just picture the type of die hard slow-assed Harley schmuck who made it up, ha ha. And if you've watched the Cafe Cult short-film "Tunnel of Love" on you-tube, you can see the appeal when the CX is next to that Norton, hell the movie was made the same year as the CX there's only one way I can think of that they got the bike as dirty as it is in the movie, and that's by letting the freakin' Norton DRIP all over it for a while, ha ha ha ) there's this bike builder who really inspires me, he put an 'F tank and body-work on a GL650 version of the CX, so it got me thinking "Does that work the other way around?" I mean, the CX is a GREAT looking tank - but I asked the guy, and though he only had the GL version of the v-twin's gas tank, he said it's got too different of a back-bone, and it wouldn't work out. Thing is, I was kicking it around when I came upon the actual FUEL CAPACITY of the Plastic Maggot, and it's just nowhere NEAR what you get in the 'F tank - but then, I don't know what's on the 'C so far as fuel goes - the 'K seems to have more due to it's sides not being all flattened down like the 'F tank. Truth is, the 'K tank is the better looking of the two models, I'd swap to that if I could find one cheap, or maybe swap direct with somebody.... Hmmmmm..... I've got a spare 'F tank that I cut open, it was all dented to shit from a fender bender - which is to say some prick hitting my parked bike and knocking it down - but yeah, I banged the thing out all round, looking for something like those extended-length SOHC 'K tanks that Steve "Carpy" Carpenter makes, only the dents in it were fragile, like there was a preliminary crack already in there, as they split really easy whereas all sorts of heavy stretching on the rest of the tank didn't harm the metal at all. It's such a mess at this point it'd be a good practice project for welding one back together, and I DO still plan to do one up like that, one of these days. Mean-time, I'm keen to get something aluminum, and the CB1100R tank is the number one candidate. CR750 stuff was high on the list but then I got a look at 'R tanks with non-stock paint on 'em, and now I'm fixated on polishing the sides and sticking wing badges and rubber knee pads on one, as a sort of tribute to the CB450. You know, the 900 makes the same power per liter as the 450, it's also the bench-mark bike in that next incarnation of DOHC Honda products - well, it was the 750 in North America, but in Europe and Japan etc, the 900 was around in '79, so....
But yeah, obviously I'm obsessed with my rather slow-moving DOHC cafe project, I've been making little baby steps for a VERY long time, but for health reasons it's just as well that I delay my return to riding for a while yet. But that's allowed me to evolve the concept of the whole bike past a few ideas that I'm glad I didn't move ahead on.
Like the wire spoke wheels I bought for it, which almost made it onto the bike, until I realized the rims themselves were skinnier than the stock comstar rims I already had, so I just couldn't do that to my side-walls etc..... Really though, other than the rear rim being chromed steel and all, it just might have been a bit lighter than the set that's coming together right now.
Anyway, it's given me literally YEARS of diggin online for better concepts and methods, and there are some great tricks I've overheard on my home 'F-orum, the CB1100F.net, where you put CBX calipers on the CB750F or preferably 900F forks (39mm vs 37mm - though I'm going ahead with the 37 I picked up an alloy lower yoke from CB900FZ '79 got it off a pal in Holland - paying $30 for my CBX calipers just won the auction!!!!) anyway, see the trick is in the Caliper hanger, it's longer 'cause while they both use the same rotors and calipers, the CBX fork leg has the mounting lugs further down toward the axle - net effect is you can use ... not sure if it's 310 or 320 or 330mm rotors, I bought some cheap FZR1000 ones I beleive they're 327 or 317 ... anyway yeah, I also found out that ONE of the THREE different versions of CBR900RR front rotors will bolt up to the GL1000 wire spoked dual disc front hub - got my GL wheel for fifty bucks plus shipping -in ANY case I'm not only pumped about saving so much on this recent caliper purchase, I'm pleased as punch that I'm no longer budgeting for the "Fisch-Head Big-Brake" kit with the $600-$1000 worth of labour involved mosty in the custom caliper hangers the guy makes. I mean, brilliant how he makes 'em, but Melchiro's CBX caliper hangers are more along the lines of "Work SMARTER not Harder" ha ha. As for the OTHER wheel I'm using KZ750B twin rear hub, it fits the DOHC front rotor but I wanna go with smaller SOHC comstar front one, mill it down to as tiny as I can to use some kinda 200mm-250mm caliper etc etc - 110/80-18 front tire seems widely discontinued but 120/70 is still out there, 160/60 rear is very common.....
Thing is, the DOHC has sort of been bumped onto the back burner, as lately I'm blowing a lot of dough on an old KZ440LTD for my lil' GRRL's sweet sixteen, as in a good thousand bucks worth of parts ... no more like fifteen hundred to two thousand ha ha - and all in really short order AND with no end in sight ha ha - for starters I got NOS belt drive pulleys, GT750J front drum hub, actually off 550 so nobody else knew it was on e-bay 'cause the seller didn't know it was the same hub, most seekers don't look for it either, so I got it for a great price, it just needs new plating on the hardware etc - ANYWAY it's also got a 3.00x16 NOS Borrani Record rim, gonna have to re-drill it for extra heavy duty spokes (putting 'em on ALL my wheels for extra stiffness ... contemplating a KZ1000CSR rear hub for it's 48 spokes might be even tougher, could use VN1500 classic rotor beautiful cross drilling plentiful and cheap, just don't like the big hub that's all) so yeah it's gonna be "sweet sixteen", both 16" rims, looking at a 3.5 off a Victory for rear but I've got TWO KZ-CSR 48 spoked rims in 3x16, looking into a funny lacing pattern on a 36 or 40 hub, KZ400 early rear I HAVE, KZ305 has 36 is smaller fits LTD existing brakes etc - with the 40 maybe add 8 more holes that's what one extra between every FIVE spokes so would alternate side to side in an odd pattern - maybe higher up the flange closer to the axle ... or the 36 could get 12 such holes in similar locations, one per every 3 spokes or six per side meaning again alternating, or perhaps some other interesting solution - 60 spoke rims sometimes get a special six per group lace patterns, and Sheldon Brown's bicycle site shows many many different spoke configurations. Because of the NOS belt drive pulleys, I'll need to stick with the four lug cush drive and four bolt carrier for it. ONE other, final possibliity is that there DOES exist a four lugged cush drive, drum braked rear hub with 48 spokes, in exactly the right diameter to bolt up to the existing spoke sets that I've got - it's from the VN800 Vulcan. Thing is, if I found one, it's got the three and a HALF inch rear rim, albeit in chromed steel. And all the MORE importantly, it seems to be an expensive second-hand wheel, as there are a lot of non wire wheel Vulcans out there seeking replacement wheels. As such, it sells for around the same as the Polaris Victory rear wheel, which has got a mid-medium sized hub in 40 spoke, which would lace up to a late model ie SMALL KZ400-440 rear drum, AND it's got the 3.50"x16" ALUMINUM rim. Looks like a rim that's MORE SHOW THAN GO, with it's round profile if there's a chance it's solid that means it's one heavy mother of a rim, compared to this here Borrani I've got up front. Tempting to seek out another Borrani, maybe a 2.50 even, and go 100/70-110/70 front and 110/70-120/70 rear. Which would be LIGHTER. With the belt drive pulleys being large AND being cast steel , I wanna save as much weight as I can. This here KZ650CSR 48 hole rear hub looks identical to the VN800 item other than the cush side of it, and it's approximately two and a half to three times as heavy as the larger/earlier model KZ400 rear hub I've got right here, due to the drum liner being like an Angel-Food-Cake pan, as opposed to a simple ring, ie most of the hub is thick steel - probably good for anti-fade characteristics, as a heat sink. Though, I'd rather go with good ventillation on a lighter item such that the heat LEAVES the hub as fast as it builds up. So I'm looking into cross-drilling the drums, circumferential fan-like air holes etc on the larger KZ400 hub hopefully making it as light as the smaller KZ400-440 hub, maybe with some alloy heat sinks riveted onto the brake shoes with some of that CPU heat sink adhesive they used to fix those first generation X-box's etc - and no I'm NOT a VIDIOT game addict, not anymore. Yeah, anyway I wanna do up a really well lightened and force-ventillated hub, which points me right back at the 48 spoked CSR rims.
WHY GO TO THE TROUBLE of using the 48 spoke rims? Well, it's not just the fact that I've already got 'em, it's the fact that I've got TWO. TWO aluminum rims, I'd originally hoped to use em front and rear ... I was STONED ... as always. But yeah, I STILL think they're a good purchase. If nothing else, I'll use 'em on an old C70 Passport I'll work on next, and of course with upgraded hubs so again I'd be talking about KZ440 rear hub, Kawasaki H1 or Suzuki T500 front hub ... or at the very least a CB175 2LS hub, it'll HAVE TO be 2LS and as large a diameter as possible even if it makes everything difficult, as the 140cc clone engines are just too tempting! Ha ha.
But yeah, I wanna use the 48 hole rims on the KZ anyway. I'm really keen on having that spare rear wheel for a number of reasons. I've already got at least two or three sprocket carriers for each bike, the DOHC's got several different KZ types with alternate offsets for whatever hub spacing Buchanan's recomends -hopefully the type I've got two of so I can have a means of quickly changing gear ratios for wheelies vs MPGs, and the KZ for the belt drive and an alternate chain drive - the belt will keep grease off the kid's jeans and I'm just obsessed with belt drive for it's better rear wheel horsepower it doesn't rob it like a chain, it's like chain is supposed to be halfway between shaft and belt, which makes it sound like a performance part - but yeah I've got 22:65 and they DO make a 60 but it's like $400 NOS, maybe I can find a cheap used one - anyway for wheelies AND MPG it may make sense to grab a chain and sprockets down the road, so it's either for the spare used 65 rear pulley or it's for quicker swap to chain drive ... anyway having a spare rear wheel would kick ass for a number of reasons, maybe having a SLICK for whatever a SLICK can do for you on a KZ440 ha ha - or for trying different tire widths out, or better still for keeping one with a tube for long distance trips, as opposed to the silicone sealed tubeless, ala "Team Incomplete Boxer Beemer"
http://cmtk3.webring.org/l/rd?ring=bmwbikering;id=75;url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Eteamincomplete%2Ecom%2F
To QUOTE:
"Here I'm covering the spoke nipples with silicon (household type) to seal the wheel so I can use tubeless tires. I got the tip from Kenny Buchannan who laced up the rear wheel and so far (three years now) it's held air just fine. I would use a lot less if I was to do it again but I was being cautious here."
See, that's so freakin' AWESOME I'd be crazy not to put some G.E.1200 on ALL of my rims, (I used to use it to build giant fish tanks years ago, it's the best and I've used ALL of 'em!) YET, I'd be even CRAZIER to go on a long long trip with my KID on that bike, and not use an inner-tube or two. Right? So yeah, there are lots of reasons for having a spare rear wheel. Seeing as I've already got the two rims....
I'd have a spare rim for tire changes. Dunno if I'd trust anybody to change the front.... OH, about the tires: Maxi Scooter stuff! Low profile, supposedly this entirely new family of tires is derived from seventeen inch sportbike tires, both in profile and in compounds. Michelin Golden Standard, Pirelli City Demon, EVERYBODY makes 'em, Maxxis and Kenda have some with really cool retro tread patterns. But yeah, gonna be some freakin' cool wheels. Lots changing about the bike, though the kid says she'd like to sit up straight for starters - I think that just like I've got planned for the DOHC, I will put alternative mounting locations for rear-set type pegs. Looking at an H2 tank, Missed out on TWO sales of CB1100R gas tanks last month, one due to pay-pal vs bank account transfer dealy of NINE DAYS ugh.... Might never see one again. But if I DO I'm loaning it to an aluminum shop so they can do up a set of replicas.... Anyway yeah, bigger tanks on both bikes for long distance ambling about the country-side etc etc. The Sweet Sixteen oughtta be a "love it or hate it", today I discovered the "Goldammer Notorious", but even THAT ratio of drum hub to rim doesn't come close, talkin' two inch long spokes here, three inch tops. Might as well stretch a tire right over the hub and put it on a Moped with eight inch or ten inch tires. That'd be pretty fuckin' cool actually. But yeah, it's like ALL drum hub in there. I kinda wish I'd got the T500 Suzuki hub, which is the same damned thing just one sided, though the lining is just about as wide as the two linings of the GT hub put together - thing is, it's got that lovely little forrest of fins between it's flanges. Gorgeous. Plus, one could cut holes in the dome side. Only, NOT just straight left to right, people! Man, SOMEBODY'S gotta get around to doing 'em oblong, so they SCOOP the air as they spin around. You know what I mean? Yeah, you'd need to tilt the table in your drill press, build a good jig for it, etc. But you oughtta be using that anyway if you're gonna drill out such a beautiful hub as the GT or T500 ... there was also a ... I think it was a 250cc maybe not - it was a Japanese market, Australian market, etc - version of the Suzuki TEMPTER, it had a drum hub just like the GT hub, only this was in the '90s, and it's not ventillated, anyway it probably commands a high price anyway.
Here, I don't agree with the way they equivocate different values, as though width were equally important to DIAMETER ... still, this is a great table for drum brakes, just plug in the prices on E-bay and it tells you a LOT ha ha
http://victorylibrary.com/brit/2LS-table.htm
'
But yeah, enough about that thing. I was excited about your DOHC when I started typing, but yet again my lil' GRRL's bike took over my entire thought process. Ha ha ha. Keeps happening. But it's okay, all of the spokes go in the same order, they're PLANNED to be completed at the same time, though I still expect the DOHC to take longer. What's cool though, is it'll have some small element of the assembly line to it, where I do all the powder-coat job pack-up and pick-up at the same time, wheel bearings all together, spokes and rims all at once, all of the tires, cables, two seats and covers at the same time, fibreglas, wiring etc etc etc. So it actually DOES make sense doing two bikes at once, Just don't expect to get the first one done as fast as you would have otherwise. The second one though, that should be finished a LOT sooner. And when the whole point is going riding WITH your kid - Why would you do it any other way? Ha ha.
Enough about MY bikes though - I just wanted to give you my two bits about YOURS. I honestly think a simple swap over to some SuperSport shocks (I know where you could get four of em for REAL CHEAP ha ha, I'm putting Hagons and Marzocchis on these guys) you'd raise up the ass end and change the stance of your bike to a much more "aggressive", sportier, etc.
You start off your thread saying "Not very CAFE, but...." I disagree, first of all. But with a few more little tweaks, like I mention here, and NOBODY would think your bike any less of a cafe. When it boils down to it, in the 750cc version, the different versions of DOHC Honda have nothing but superficial differences. I figure it's just like that gun that Tuco made in "The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly", where he put together parts of all those different pistols? YEAH, that's how you'd make the best possible DOHC. And I believe the frame in the 'C or the 'K, these are far superior to what's going on with the super-sport.
-Sigh.
