liam
1970 cb350/1980 xs250/2004 klx400/BMW E30 323I
hi guys, i'm liam, from melbourne, australia.
i've always had a bit of a soft spot for stripped back vintage racing cars and bikes.
i like the look of this sort of thing, brutal and utilitarian, which is the kind of long term aim, but it's hard to make a 350 look menacing...not my bike btw, just one i saw on the street.
i figured a sort of scrambler look would work ok. the new triumph scrambleris pretty impressive, so i took a few cue's from that
i've been following mysta2 and chrisf's projects, and getting the hang of what was possible. (a lot is possible
)
i picked up a cb350 off ebay in november, never owned a motorbike before, but figured it was best to start with one that there was a lot of information on converting and restoring.
not running when i picked it up, and alot more rust then can be seen in the picture, plus loads of corrosion on the aluminum.
put some fuel in it, wouldn't ignite, tried roll starting it down a hill, turned over, coughed a bit, no joy.
i got a new battery, whacked it in and replaced the only fuse in the bike, all the electrics worked, which was a big relief. electric starter works, engine starts, but only runs at full throttle. (by this stage i'd had it for a month and had cut the exhausts down and removed the baffles because i knew i'd need new ones anyway) so it was really loud!
i took this as a good sign, it was a big relief to hear any sound at all.
next stage, stripped the bike down, drained the oil from the engine, found lots of little chunks of hard rubber in the oil, which i believe from what i've read is the cam chain tensioner somethings? most probably. i'm thinking this would mess up the timing, which might be why it would only run at full throttle
anyway, i pulled everything off, painted the frame,
prepped,painted and striped the tank in white and black, spring covers etc black. they all still need to be finely sanded and then buffed, because theres a couple of drips on the tank, but i won't finish them off, because i know i'll scratch them as soon as i do...
here it is now
the seat has been dismantled, an the seat pan narrowed along the sides, and some foam skimmed of the top, with the cover not attached yet, hence the wrinkles. i want to replace the tailight with this kind of british one,
at the moment its a pretty straight mods, but after then engine is fixed and the bike is registered, it'll get some slightly less legal mods. i'm a little concerned about being able to register it if it's too far from stock.
in the long term, a disc front end swap, one of the longer chrome headlights, a big tank, maybe a ducati monster one, something with lots of angles like a norton manx anyway. i quite like the traditional flat seat look, so i think a slither thin padded leather one would be cool. oh yeah, the battery should probablt be moved as well, i was thinking of putting it inside a bigger tank, at the rear, maybe a hinged tank. the stock filters have been swapped for pods. i think i've spent about $250 on top of purchase price, but i still need new cables, seals, front tyre, rear shocks etc.
so anyway, in the pictures it doesn't look that impressive, but it's been a great learning curve for me, and i've had a great time pulling stuff apart. now for the engine, a little more complicated i imagine.
anyone else from melbourne around?
cheers
Liam
i've always had a bit of a soft spot for stripped back vintage racing cars and bikes.
i like the look of this sort of thing, brutal and utilitarian, which is the kind of long term aim, but it's hard to make a 350 look menacing...not my bike btw, just one i saw on the street.
i figured a sort of scrambler look would work ok. the new triumph scrambleris pretty impressive, so i took a few cue's from that
i've been following mysta2 and chrisf's projects, and getting the hang of what was possible. (a lot is possible
)i picked up a cb350 off ebay in november, never owned a motorbike before, but figured it was best to start with one that there was a lot of information on converting and restoring.
not running when i picked it up, and alot more rust then can be seen in the picture, plus loads of corrosion on the aluminum.
put some fuel in it, wouldn't ignite, tried roll starting it down a hill, turned over, coughed a bit, no joy.
i got a new battery, whacked it in and replaced the only fuse in the bike, all the electrics worked, which was a big relief. electric starter works, engine starts, but only runs at full throttle. (by this stage i'd had it for a month and had cut the exhausts down and removed the baffles because i knew i'd need new ones anyway) so it was really loud!
i took this as a good sign, it was a big relief to hear any sound at all.
next stage, stripped the bike down, drained the oil from the engine, found lots of little chunks of hard rubber in the oil, which i believe from what i've read is the cam chain tensioner somethings? most probably. i'm thinking this would mess up the timing, which might be why it would only run at full throttle
anyway, i pulled everything off, painted the frame,
prepped,painted and striped the tank in white and black, spring covers etc black. they all still need to be finely sanded and then buffed, because theres a couple of drips on the tank, but i won't finish them off, because i know i'll scratch them as soon as i do...
here it is now
the seat has been dismantled, an the seat pan narrowed along the sides, and some foam skimmed of the top, with the cover not attached yet, hence the wrinkles. i want to replace the tailight with this kind of british one,
at the moment its a pretty straight mods, but after then engine is fixed and the bike is registered, it'll get some slightly less legal mods. i'm a little concerned about being able to register it if it's too far from stock.
in the long term, a disc front end swap, one of the longer chrome headlights, a big tank, maybe a ducati monster one, something with lots of angles like a norton manx anyway. i quite like the traditional flat seat look, so i think a slither thin padded leather one would be cool. oh yeah, the battery should probablt be moved as well, i was thinking of putting it inside a bigger tank, at the rear, maybe a hinged tank. the stock filters have been swapped for pods. i think i've spent about $250 on top of purchase price, but i still need new cables, seals, front tyre, rear shocks etc.
so anyway, in the pictures it doesn't look that impressive, but it's been a great learning curve for me, and i've had a great time pulling stuff apart. now for the engine, a little more complicated i imagine.
anyone else from melbourne around?
cheers
Liam
