Miob's CB750 cafeish-cruiserish bike thing

[miob]

Had a Suzuki SP370 cafebike, but that was wayyyy to small for me (6'7) and I just got annoyed by it. So I sold it and bought a CB750 K2 (1972) yesterday. It's hiding somewhere in this photo

I thought it was in a pretty shabby state when I saw it the first time. The owner had already told me that it was running on only 2 cylinders, but when I got there it was running on only one.... So I got it really cheap

Took it home and had a better look. It's actually in a really good shape! It;''s been repainted badly, that's what makes it look horrible, but overall it's in great shape. Took me about an hour of work and only 1 kick (startermotor is not hooked up) to get it running on all 4 ;D

firststart

How I bought it:

The object is to get a good running bike that can safely carry me and my girlfriend at highway speeds and it should be able to carry my side bags, so it's not going to be a very radical build.

I already had a nice fairing lying around and I borrowed the seat of this great litle KZ400:

(that's not my bike unfortunately, made a wiring loom for it to help someone out)

With the fairing and the seat loosely plased on the CB it'll give you an idea of how I think it'll end up:

But the first priority is to get it on the road and check all the vital parts like the engine and gearbox.

 

[rjz5400]

nice bike and nice transport vehicle. i wish i could fit a 750 in my mercedes.
but seriously two-up highway cafe should be interesting. !!

 

[Big R]

So the Zook is gone, huh? What a shame, it was a neat little bike. Still got the BMW?

Can't wait to see what you do with this one as well!

 

[valvesprung]

Love the seat, love love love the fairing...please paint the bike to match. that would be so perfect...

 

[CresentSon]

Nice find. I'm straining to visualize the side bags on there, but it sounds wicked cool.

 

[miob]

So the Zook is gone, huh? What a shame, it was a neat little bike. Still got the BMW?

Can't wait to see what you do with this one as well!

Yep, the Zook is gone, it just wasn't the right bike for me. Still got the BMW of course, don't plan on ever selling that bike.

 

[miob]

Love the seat, love love love the fairing...please paint the bike to match. that would be so perfect...

I agree that it would be nice to paint the bike to match, but I'm not that good with ratle cans and having someone else paint it for me in those colors is going to be too expensive unfortunately.

 

[miob]

Nice find. I'm straining to visualize the side bags on there, but it sounds wicked cool.

Don't strain urself too hard, it must be able to carry those bags, but not permanently of course, only when I need the luggage space.

 

[CresentSon]

I have faith in you. I'm sure you can pull it off with class to spare.

 

[miob]

The previous owner had done an incredibly lousy attempt at installing the front brake, so I did it all over again:

And then started work on making a frame for the fairing today:

Almost done. Not too sure yet it looks better with than without the fairing, but I'll finish it first before I decide.

 

[Big R]

I'm not sure, but is there enough room between the fairing and the fender?

 

[jay_kent]

I'm digging that fairing but it may the angle of the shot but it looks too far forward. Seeing what you skill levels are, I'm sure that if it is forward sitting there's a purpose.

 

[miob]

This is the oly position the fairing can be in. It's can't go higher at the back because of the tank, it can't go lower because of the engine. I can't raise the front because then it'll shine up, can't drop it because then the fender will hit it. Can't go further back because of the engine and because the forks will hit the fairing at full lock. So it's this, or no fairing at all

I'll finish it and then I'll decide. I can always take it off

 

[Big R]

Not doubting you, just curious.

Looks good Miob!

 

[miob]

Not doubting you, just curious.

Looks good Miob!

No worries, I appreciate all opinions

Hit a few snags yesterday trying to replace the steering bearing. It was a big mess. A lot of ball bearings were missing when I opened it up. The lock nut was missing too, the stem was badly damaged as a result and strangely enough turned out to be too short.

And the new bearings I ordered last week turn out to be unusable too:

This one isn't straight and when I apply pressure to it it doesn't rotate smoothly. I'll have to find a new stem and I'll have to wait for new bearings to come in. Shame, I was hoping to do a test ride in a couple of days.

 

[miob]

It's been a while, time for a little update:

I had to buy a lot of small stuff to get a lot of small problems fixed, like the steering bearings. Those things took a lot of time, but you can't see any of it.

The visible stuff are:
- Bought a headlight, wanted a rectangular one I could place really low, found one at a swapmeet.
- Found a nice set of adjustable clip ons
- made a rear light (but that's only temporary, I'll later make my own light on the lathe)
- Took a Virago muffler and modified it to look and sound a lot better

The exhaust:

the head light:

The tail light:

What it sounds like:

cb750

(don't worry about the smoke, I sprayed oil inside the exhaust to prevent it from rusting from the inside near the new welds. It's also not as loud as it might seem in this clip, I made a muffler system for inside the cone that works fine)

I'm going to order some stuff from Dime City (like the contact points and fork seals I desperately need) and I can swap the fairing for a custom made seat (I ditched the fairing, not going to work. It has to be placed too high to work and it just doesn't look right. One of the best seat makers over here wanted to have the fairing, so that was an easy decision).

 

[tommygun]

dude, that thing is fucking sweet! i love how low it is. are you runnin the shorty shocks? i love the look of the fairing btw. since it sits so low in the front, the fairing gives it a whole different look. looks alot "meaner" then a bike at stock height with it.. i say keep it! lots of inspiration here for my 82 750!

 

[miob]

dude, that thing is fucking sweet! i love how low it is. are you runnin the shorty shocks? i love the look of the fairing btw. since it sits so low in the front, the fairing gives it a whole different look. looks alot "meaner" then a bike at stock height with it.. i say keep it! lots of inspiration here for my 82 750!

It's got the shocks and forks of a CB500, those are a lot shorter as you can see.

Unfortunately I had to ditch the fairing, it had to be too high up to work and it didn't look good on the bike. I've done a ton of stuff on the bike lately, a lot of it 'invisible' like the wiring loom. It's finished enough to do some riding, so I did the first real testride last sunday and the second one yesterday. Feels great and I didn't find any major issues. Handles like a dream, even with the dodgy front tire and leaking forks. I'm now really looking forward to the parts I need (forkseals!, podfilters, ignitionpoints for example). I ordered them at Dime City, it was cheaper to order them there than over here in Holland.... Also made a seat pan, I made a nice deal with a professional seat fabricator, so I'm sure that's going to be nice. Really looking forward to being able to use the bike!

cb750caferacer


Also made a photo of the BMW tat I'm really happy with:

 

[jay_kent]

love the taillight, saw your site getting some props on lecontainer yesterday.

 

[dcmspikes]

wow, somehow i missed this. another bike. awesome. too bad about the fairing not working. looking so far. cant wait to see more