1974 CB450 - Gentleman's Express/Racer (part1, cosmetic)

A

andrew embassy

Been Around the Block
IMG_0493.JPG


I was thinking of calling this the Gentleman's Express (in homage to the great CB550 article), but the paint scheme has kind of pushed it into race territory, no? Although its role is still as transport, and not racing...

Future performance mods: 2-into-1 exhaust w/ wrapped headers, race muffler, upgraded rear shocks. Probably will keep the stock air boxes, although we'll see. Also toying with the idea of going kick-start only, as that's pretty much the only way I start it now, with my halogen bulb I want to make sure I keep the battery full.

Future Cosmetic Mods: MUST get that rear taillight assembly under control - anybody have any good suggestions beyond the standard Lucas taillight? I was thinking maybe attaching some thing to the grab bar...

Anyway, there it is. It needs a wash right now, seeing as how I've been riding it around in the rain, but I'm not really thinking I need/want to make it spic and span; I like the kind of dirty racer look... What do you guys think about other cosmetic mods? Performance mods?
 
This looks pretty good already. I might bob the rear fender about 4 inches. Hopefully that just means shortening the fender at the top and using the existing bottom tail light bolt holes to mount your new light on a custom made bracket. This will preserve the chrome finish and the factory flange on the edge of the fender . No matter what you do, post more photos as you go.
 
nono, do not shorten that fender, those look great with that seat, just replace the tail light with something smaller. I regret chopping the rear fender.

IMG_0277.jpg


I got that from ebay, for about 25 shipped or so, I drilled two holes into the fender and bolted it right on. I suggest you go with clip ons, as clubmans + stock seat looks a bit funky.
 
ericngsta said:
nono, do not shorten that fender, those look great with that seat, just replace the tail light with something smaller. I regret chopping the rear fender.

I got that from ebay, for about 25 shipped or so, I drilled two holes into the fender and bolted it right on. I suggest you go with clip ons, as clubmans + stock seat looks a bit funky.
Click to expand...

I think any shortening of the fender will definitely be subtle - that looks like a lucas taillight assembly, those are cool - I think I'm going to drop my license plate to the left rear shock bracket, try to clean up that area a bit too...

Clip ons, eh? I kinda like the way the bars are right now, but I never thought the clubmans looked odd with the stock seat...
 
I'm just gonna throw it out there that clip on's aren't always the best option... I'm considering going back to clubmans myself.

Bike looks great, I like the paint.
 
Wow those knee indents are amazing! I really like the color too.

I have no idea what I'm going to do with the rear fender. cbcafe, can you explain your method of preserving the lower part of the fender?
 
On most fenders the factory places a rolled or formed edge along the outside of the fender. If your fender is the same width all the way through to the frame, I would just cut it at the top the length you wish to shorten it and redrill for reattaching. In my case the fender flared out at the top and was wider where it attached to the frame. I sectioned 4 inches out of the fender where the width and shape were consistant and rewelded it back together. I was careful to preserve the rolled edge at the joint and after filling and painting the fender looked unmodified. I was even able to use the factory holes to mount my lucas tailight assembly. In my case I could not make the joint under the seat which meant the fender had to be painted. I would try to preserve the chrome finish with the gentleman's express which may scrub the fender shortening option if the cuts and or joints can't be hidden.
 
Obviously it's all a matter of personal preference but I'd;
Loose the rear fender handle completely, that will force the chicks to hold onto you.
Change the rear shocks to a more performance style to help with the racer look
Change over to rear sets so you feet point down instead of sitting flat, you'll be a little more comfortable and shifting will be easier.
Loose the chain guard and what ever else you can strip to get a cleaner look.
Change the turn signals to the smallest, but still visible, ones you can find.

Like I said it's personal preference, that's a list of things I'd do if I owned your bike and wanted to keep it as stock looking as possible but with as many changes as possible.
 
Rat400F said:
Obviously it's all a matter of personal preference but I'd;
Loose the rear fender handle completely, that will force the chicks to hold onto you.
Change the rear shocks to a more performance style to help with the racer look
Change over to rear sets so you feet point down instead of sitting flat, you'll be a little more comfortable and shifting will be easier.
Loose the chain guard and what ever else you can strip to get a cleaner look.
Change the turn signals to the smallest, but still visible, ones you can find.

Like I said it's personal preference, that's a list of things I'd do if I owned your bike and wanted to keep it as stock looking as possible but with as many changes as possible.
Click to expand...

Totally - I've been doing some photoshop mockups of what it would look like without the rear fender and I think I like it better with the fender (shortened a very small bit), but without the rear taillight assembly. One other consideration is that I ride in the rain a fair amount (again, the bike is primarily transportation) so *some* kind of rear fender will help my laptop bag to not get a whole lot of road crap all over it, and the chain guard - well, maybe that could go...

But shocks. Definitely. I need some idea of what shocks work well on 450's - somebody on the HTF said they used Hagons - other person said "progressive 12" - but I have no idea what model number they're talking about... Other folks were saying that even the stock 750 shocks are an improvement, and bolt right on.

Here's a couple mockups - I can totally see the sans-rear-fender idea, but I think I'd need a flatter, skinnier seat to pull it off....

Here it is without taillight, and a slightly shortened fender
no_taillight.png

Here it is without grab bar and taillights, and shortened fender
sans_grabrail_lights.JPG

Here it is without the fender & stuff completely
sans.JPG

And here it is with a flatter seat
skinny_seat.JPG


Right now I like the lines of the first one best, keeping the grabrail (with smaller turn signals) and just figuring out some kind of different taillight setup - I like there being some chrome back there, at least for right now.

Although I have to say, I *get* the flat seat... Its' tempting, maybe I'll get a seat pan and see what I can come up with...
 
http://www.davequinnmotorcycles.com/

Dave Quinn is the US distributor for Hagons and you tell him what bike you have and how much weigh and he tells you what to buy. I wish everything was like that sometimes.
You could put the license plate on to act as your fender and loose everything else like the last pic with the lower seat. One of the things I really like about my bike is the lower sitting position with the really flat seat seat. I feel like I have better control sitting that low.
Yours would look kind of cool like this IMO
http://www.postimage.org/aV1OtwQJ.jpg
 
Rat400F said:
http://www.davequinnmotorcycles.com/

Dave Quinn is the US distributor for Hagons and you tell him what bike you have and how much weigh and he tells you what to buy. I wish everything was like that sometimes.
You could put the license plate on to act as your fender and loose everything else like the last pic with the lower seat. One of the things I really like about my bike is the lower sitting position with the really flat seat seat. I feel like I have better control sitting that low.
Yours would look kind of cool like this IMO
http://www.postimage.org/aV1OtwQJ.jpg
Click to expand...

Awesome about the shocks. Hmm- that bike in the pic looks pretty awesome, but it's not really my style...
 
That's cool, like I said it's purely a matter of personal preference. I think I'm going to use the style of that bike as inspiration for my CB350t.
 
Andrew I'm diggin' the stockish look! Bike looks great as is, maybe a smaller tail light.
 
I'd go, stock fenders, flat seat and an aftermarket taillight that's a bit smaller.

Bike looks great, btw. Love the paint job.
 
You could really easily dye (or buy replacements) the rear turn signal lenses red, wire up dual element bulbs or LEDs and hang them from the rear grab bar behind the seat. You'd have turns and tails, the OEM housings would lend a little 'Factory Special' flair and would suit the existing rear fender well....

PM me with an email address and I'll send you a photochop of what I was thinking.....
 
nice job on the bike andrew, good to see that tank painted, it was in my crawl space for a year, i have a 74" as well , you can't really chop that fender, it's 1 piece unit with the bolt at the grab bar, if you can track down a half fender from a 360 , i have one, you can tuck it up further,of course you can chop it half way then weld it up further, i also have an extra seat pan, a board member has dibs right now but i'll let you know,
 
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