Bert Jan said:
I'm not burning the BOT bike because i helped build the cb200. The BOT came a long way and a lot of hours have gone into polishing. You can see it's made with love and its a crazy kickass bike for a first build! But... (and dont hate me for this, its just my opinion and nothing more)
When looking at the buildthread, i see a lot of money (chrome) went into it. I'm not saying everybody can build a bike that way, but it helps a shitload. To me, bikebuilds who truly stand out are crafted, not bought. i dont feel the "bikebuilding butterflies" as much as i do with the others, and imho the details on it wich could have made it an absolute winner are just not there.
Now flame all the way, i thought it thru and felt i had to post it.
i might come on a little harsh, but english is not my first language.
Thank for everything you wrote, seriously
Now... if I may.. let me tell you something about building a bike in Israel..
Guess how many Honda CB (200, 350, 750, 900, 1100 etc. etc. ) are in Israel in running condition.... hint - you won't need more than 2 hands, maybe 3
Guess how many shops that sell parts for bikes older than 20 years are to be found in Israel?... use one of the hands above, cut 2-3 fingers and you will have the number
Back in the '70, not so many bikes were imported to Israel and most of those that did, didn't survive through the '80s...
When a part is broken here, like my rims for example, I can't just go and find replacement from another CB... I need new ones...
There are no replacement parts here what so ever... not to talk about new ones..
The front fender of my CB, it's the original, I shorten it and re-chromed it.
Rear fender is from a Ducati 900SD I own, shortened it, polished it.
Chain cover? worked 5 hours to recover the original one and make it re-chrome worthy...
Bolts? 75% are from other bikes I own, zinc plated or chromed for this project...
All the aluminum parts you see on the bike are either original parts that I cleaned, buffed and made like new or are parts from other bikes that I modified.
What's left? headlight and its bracket, , clipons, gauge, grips, rearset and just few other parts are new, just like you would replace them in almost any project...
Few pictures:
Front wheel, before:
Front wheel, after, everything you see (excluding the rim which was damaged, had to replace it) is original part from the original bike:
Engine before:
Engine after, no replacements, all parts are the same parts, after my hands worked on them... well, had to get new exhaust pipes as I wanted 2-1
Well... I think you got the picture...
So.... building a bike in Israel is a bit different than in many other places... when I buy parts, it's usually because I had no choice or I really wanted to change something.. 8)
Guess how may cafe racer bikes are in Israel? where are those 2 hands?.... lol
And again,
I do thank you for what you wrote, it gives me the chance to talk about the difficulties that we have here building bikes... nothing is obvious and what can look in the pictures like clean, shiny and $$, well, check out the restoration process and see how much work was done to make it look like that, by my own two hands...
Lior. 8)