CB450 K7 "Espresso Love"

Well kids, I guess it's about high time I stepped up and started a big arse build thread on my little project.

I bought the bike a year ago this February, so I've been working on it off and on for a long time now. Hopefully my "time lapse" thread will catch up with the build at about completion.

When I bought the bike it was not running. It had a poorly cobbled on tank (from a HD maybe) and the wrong type of coil, but the engine turned over and felt like it had good compression. The clock showed low mileage, the overall condition was pretty good and the seller claimed he had the title that he would get to me later (I should have known better).

Anyway, I offered $250 (his asking price was $500) and drove away with my new obsession in the back of my van.

My plan is to complete the build as inexpensively as possible (but not skimp too much on the important stuff) by doing/building everything I possibly can myself and by using as many of the original parts as will fit in with the design.

Design wise, I hope to end up with something that retains the full vintage look, but makes you wonder "vintage what?"

Here are a few photos to get things started:

The day I bought it:




Sexy tank:


Came w/ the original tank too:


Decent engine:


Low miles on the clock:


I'll try to update often and maybe I'll be finished up in a month or two.

CC

try to get it registered first BEFORE you spend a penny on it.

It would suck to go to register it to find out it was stolen... bye bye hours of work and hundreds of dollars.

Rocan said:

try to get it registered first BEFORE you spend a penny on it.

It would suck to go to register it to find out it was stolen... bye bye hours of work and hundreds of dollars.

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Seller's story was that he got the bike from a buddy of his who got it at a garage sale. One of them had the title but no one could actually put their hands on it. A friend of mine who's a cop ran the VIN for me and nothing came up so I knew it wasn't stolen. After a couple of months the seller agreed to contact the garage sale seller to apply for a lost title but that never worked out. Finally after about 14 months the seller agreed to foot the bill for me to get a title through ITS. That's been done for the most part, but the NC DMW is so anal they're requiring me to get the bike inspected since it's an antique before they'll issue a title. Of course that will have to wait until the bike gets put back together.

The moral of the story: Don't buy a bike without a title in hand unless you're willing to deal with a lot of headaches.

CC

In Georgia, bikes older than '86 don't require a title. We can get some good deals from neighboring states becuase of that. However, you do still have to show the ownership trail. The guy I bought my bike from never registered it, so it was still listed in the system as being owned by the previous previous owner (PPO?). So the DMV said I had to get the bill of sale for the transaction between the PO and the PPO. Out of blind luck, I knew the PPO even though he lived in another state (small world). I figured this out before I bought it. I didn't end up needing to contact him though because the PO found both the bill of sale and the title a couple weeks later when he was moving.

CC, the bike looks to be in fairly good condition. That tank is hilarious. With the tank and seat build teasers, this thing should end up looking pretty badass.

Flugtechnik said:

In Georgia, bikes older than '86 don't require a title. We can get some good deals from neighboring states becuase of that. However, you do still have to show the ownership trail. The guy I bought my bike from never registered it, so it was still listed in the system as being owned by the previous previous owner (PPO?). So the DMV said I had to get the bill of sale for the transaction between the PO and the PPO. Out of blind luck, I knew the PPO even though he lived in another state (small world). I figured this out before I bought it. I didn't end up needing to contact him though because the PO found both the bill of sale and the title a couple weeks later when he was moving.

CC, the bike looks to be in fairly good condition. That tank is hilarious. With the tank and seat build teasers, this thing should end up looking pretty badass.

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Unfortunately, not the case here in NC. Everything's got to have a title and the DMV likes to be a pain in the ass about anything "non-standard".

Although the tank is not my style, it is very nice with good paint except for a couple of chips.

CC

After getting the seat going (here's a link to my seat build for those who haven't seen it yet: http://dotheton.com/index.php?topic=7890.0), I got to work on the handlebars.

Since I like to fab things, I decided to have a go at making my own clip-ons. I bought three feet of 7/8"X.095, a foot of 1/2"X.120 and a foot of 1-3/8"X.120 4130 chrome-moly tubing.

The 1-3/8" tube has an ID of almost exactly 35mm and was used for the clamp around the fork tubes, the 1/2" tube was cut into short sections for the pinch bolt bosses and the 7/8" tube was used for the bars of course.

Here's a couple shots of the pieces ready for welding:




I kinda dropped the ball on my process picture taking, but here's a shot of everything welded up with holes cut for controls (and yes I know I'm a shitty welder so don't comment )


Test fitting on the bike:


Since my welds look like crap, I added some nice bondo fillets:


And finished up with silver appliance epoxy paint:


Thanks for reading, CC

looks awsome. i've been thinking about doing that for a while now. what did it end up costing in material if you don't mind me asking? Also how did you make sure they were at the same angle when you welded them?

Goldberg2363 said:

looks awsome. i've been thinking about doing that for a while now. what did it end up costing in material if you don't mind me asking? Also how did you make sure they were at the same angle when you welded them?

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Thanks, cost was somewhere around $20 plus shipping. I ordered from Aircraft Spruce and Specialty.

I made a jig out of scrap wood to hold things in place while welding.

Also, here's a great little online program to help make the notches in the tubing. You plug in the tubing sizes, offset, angle of intersection etc. and it spits out a pattern drawing to mark the tubes with.

http://metalgeek.com/static/cope.pcgi

CC

About a month ago I also ordered some 7/8 tubing (.065 wall) for my CB 450 clipons and am doing the exact same thing. I had some scrap tubing allready for the other parts. I have not fabbed mine up yet, but planned on doing nearly exactly the same thing. I notice also that you have some AN bolts in the photo. Mine might get the same as I have a pretty good selection of AN hardware. Pretty odd that we both chose the same way to go fabbing up clipons for a 450.

Hancock said:

About a month ago I also ordered some 7/8 tubing (.065 wall) for my CB 450 clipons and am doing the exact same thing. I had some scrap tubing allready for the other parts. I have not fabbed mine up yet, but planned on doing nearly exactly the same thing. I notice also that you have some AN bolts in the photo. Mine might get the same as I have a pretty good selection of AN hardware. Pretty odd that we both chose the same way to go fabbing up clipons for a 450.

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Great minds think alike .

Good work on the clipons, I'd be stoked with them if it was my project they were going on! Crazy custom tank, too, definitely looks like it'd be off a cruiser. Not saying I like it, just saying its crazy haha.

Sucks about the whole 'title' affair. Over here you just get handed the rego papers if its regoed, or a written receipt of sale from the owner if its not (or they can't find the papers). As long as it has the plate/chassis number, amount paid and name of seller you're set to go. Hope it works out for you man, messing around with beurocracies sucks.

Keep up the good work - boingk

Are you getting full lock to lock action with those bars or do the grips/controls hit the tank? I am guessing that being forward of the fork tube, you have enough clearance.

Hancock said:

Are you getting full lock to lock action with those bars or do the grips/controls hit the tank? I am guessing that being forward of the fork tube, you have enough clearance.

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Yes, but I'm not using the stock tank. Here's the link to my tank build: http://dotheton.com/index.php?topic=6339.0

Big tank w/ big recesses for the bars.

CC

You don't think the bondo will crack from stress?

CCRider said:

Yes, but I'm not using the stock tank. Here's the link to my tank build: http://dotheton.com/index.php?topic=6339.0

Big tank w/ big recesses for the bars.

CC

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So just to be clear, it does work with the stock tank ?

PS, I just checked out your tank build...... Very nice workmanship!!!

Kev Nemo said:

You don't think the bondo will crack from stress?

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You mean on the bars? God I hope not. Bondo's pretty flexible and if there's enough flex at my welds to crack the Bondo, I've got bigger problems .

CC

Hancock said:

So just to be clear, it does work with the stock tank ?

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Sorry about the ambiguity of my answer. No, if I remember correctly, the bars DID hit on the stock tank.

Hancock said:

PS, I just checked out your tank build...... Very nice workmanship!!!

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Thanks very much, CC

Just down from the clip-ons are the headlight ears. The clamps are built just like the clip-ons except with only one pinch bolt.


The bracket arms were cut from some heavy sheet metal I had laying around.


I made a wood buck, clamped them in a vice and folded over about 1/2" on each edge for rigidity.




Everything was cleaned up and trimmed for welding. The four sets of holes at each end of the arms were originally going to be the corners of a parallelogram pattern but I decided I liked the swiss cheese look.


All welded up:


And fitted to the bike:


Thanks, CC

CCRider said:

Sorry about the ambiguity of my answer. No, if I remember correctly, the bars DID hit on the stock tank.

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Thanks...... I better hold off on priming my tank until I get my clip-on fab project rolling.... might have to do some more cutting or denting of my tank.

I am loving the clip-ons and headlight ears. I am taking a welding class in the fall and I just found some projects.

Keep up the great work!!!