OzFab
New Member
A couple years back came across this CM250 stuck in a swamp behind a trailer - turns out a couple kids inherited the bike, trailer and other things a few months earlier, while "playing around" with the bike they got in stuck to the axles and left the bike there - when I found it they said it had been there a few weeks, maybe a month - I offered $100 for it, they didn't hesitate to say yes, except for having to throw in the cost of a Papa Johns' pizza for them to dig it out for me .
Stopped on the way home and pressure washed the carcass and pulled it apart maybe a week later, I was surprised to find the engine and other parts in much better condition than they initially appeared. Pulled the top end down just to make sure, but the wear and tear seemed to match the 7,000 miles the odometer showed, I kinda forgot about the thing for a good while, dug it out about a month ago after I just missed a great deal on a Ducati 250 - I talked myself into justifying the purchase of the Duc by thinking it would be nice to have a small cc ride to run around in town, or take to lunch or the occasional run to get smokes. In the past I used more radical customs I have owned for such jaunts, but having thousands of dollars in a bike I ride maybe 1,000 miles a year just does no longer appeals to my senibilities in my advancing age and hopefully advancing wisdom.
After finding myself upset that I missed out on the Duc, I did remember that I had a perfectly suitable donar for such a thing right in my garage! The CM250 from the swamp! - So I set about building a fun little bike just for such use - I also decided that simce I was building it under such circumstances, I'd try to use as much stuff as I already owned as possible and still try to build something that can turn a few heads and see just how inexpensively I could build it for.
There are some things that there is no getting around buying; new tires are a much as is chain, sprockets, a new battery and some other odds and ends - my target budget to complete" $800.
So it began; While digging out the bits to the CM, I happened across a Benelli Mohave tank I had bought for a Sears/Allstate moped project that never got used, so that piece was my springboard for the rest of the project. I had a Buell "aircraft style" filler cap and bung - and nothing that fit the Benelli bung, so that was piece number two. Cleaned up the welds and painted the frame in some paint I had left over from my GS1000 project; no idea why I didn't use this color back than I frickin love it now.
The Benelli Mohave tank with hole for Buell aircraft cap roughed in
One piece after another I polished up during re-assembly. I was going to use an old v-rod rear fender and tailight for the tail, and make a bump-stop out of that, but while searching the shop for the v-rod parts, I stumbled across the inner-rear fender from a Buell Lightening, ( yes, it is fiberglass) the trim section on it matched the lower body line so nearly perfect, it was going to have to be the new tail for the CM. I'll have do do some fiberglaass work to "connect the dots" but when finished I should have a nice, fluid body line around the lower portion of the sheet metal.
One of the early "reject" sidecovers
Shown below is the second evolution of side cover ideas; as the originals were missing when I got the bike, and they go for stupid money on ebay, I figured I just make my own - ( I don't really care for the open triangle look) - I made several one-of using aluminum using the english wheel, brake, etc - just wasn't hitting on anything I could say "fuck yes" about. This time I'm thinking dam near flat, the part in cardboard made out of either steel (and paint to match the other tins) or maybe copper (to match the engine inserts) with a stainless mesh on the inside panel - jury's still out on that.
Side cover idea number 123 mocked up - also shows Lightening fender placed
View from the top: I do like the narrowness ( is that a word?) of the flatter side covers vs traditional ones - keeps the profile sleeker me thinks
Wishing I hadn't jumped the gun ( - no pun intended- ) so much on the frame paint - it's quite apparent that some mods are going to make it necessary to re-paint... my own dam fault, I should have known I wasn't going to be content leaving all that stuff stock - at least there is still plenty of paint left !
Also started to play around with different bits to male rear sets from - slow progress there, but haven't given those a lot of thought yet.
first work on the rear sets - checking angles, clearances, etc
More to come as stuff happens and/or I remember to take pics
Stopped on the way home and pressure washed the carcass and pulled it apart maybe a week later, I was surprised to find the engine and other parts in much better condition than they initially appeared. Pulled the top end down just to make sure, but the wear and tear seemed to match the 7,000 miles the odometer showed, I kinda forgot about the thing for a good while, dug it out about a month ago after I just missed a great deal on a Ducati 250 - I talked myself into justifying the purchase of the Duc by thinking it would be nice to have a small cc ride to run around in town, or take to lunch or the occasional run to get smokes. In the past I used more radical customs I have owned for such jaunts, but having thousands of dollars in a bike I ride maybe 1,000 miles a year just does no longer appeals to my senibilities in my advancing age and hopefully advancing wisdom.
After finding myself upset that I missed out on the Duc, I did remember that I had a perfectly suitable donar for such a thing right in my garage! The CM250 from the swamp! - So I set about building a fun little bike just for such use - I also decided that simce I was building it under such circumstances, I'd try to use as much stuff as I already owned as possible and still try to build something that can turn a few heads and see just how inexpensively I could build it for.
There are some things that there is no getting around buying; new tires are a much as is chain, sprockets, a new battery and some other odds and ends - my target budget to complete" $800.
So it began; While digging out the bits to the CM, I happened across a Benelli Mohave tank I had bought for a Sears/Allstate moped project that never got used, so that piece was my springboard for the rest of the project. I had a Buell "aircraft style" filler cap and bung - and nothing that fit the Benelli bung, so that was piece number two. Cleaned up the welds and painted the frame in some paint I had left over from my GS1000 project; no idea why I didn't use this color back than I frickin love it now.
The Benelli Mohave tank with hole for Buell aircraft cap roughed in
One piece after another I polished up during re-assembly. I was going to use an old v-rod rear fender and tailight for the tail, and make a bump-stop out of that, but while searching the shop for the v-rod parts, I stumbled across the inner-rear fender from a Buell Lightening, ( yes, it is fiberglass) the trim section on it matched the lower body line so nearly perfect, it was going to have to be the new tail for the CM. I'll have do do some fiberglaass work to "connect the dots" but when finished I should have a nice, fluid body line around the lower portion of the sheet metal.
One of the early "reject" sidecovers
Shown below is the second evolution of side cover ideas; as the originals were missing when I got the bike, and they go for stupid money on ebay, I figured I just make my own - ( I don't really care for the open triangle look) - I made several one-of using aluminum using the english wheel, brake, etc - just wasn't hitting on anything I could say "fuck yes" about. This time I'm thinking dam near flat, the part in cardboard made out of either steel (and paint to match the other tins) or maybe copper (to match the engine inserts) with a stainless mesh on the inside panel - jury's still out on that.
Side cover idea number 123 mocked up - also shows Lightening fender placed
View from the top: I do like the narrowness ( is that a word?) of the flatter side covers vs traditional ones - keeps the profile sleeker me thinks
Wishing I hadn't jumped the gun ( - no pun intended- ) so much on the frame paint - it's quite apparent that some mods are going to make it necessary to re-paint... my own dam fault, I should have known I wasn't going to be content leaving all that stuff stock - at least there is still plenty of paint left !
Also started to play around with different bits to male rear sets from - slow progress there, but haven't given those a lot of thought yet.
first work on the rear sets - checking angles, clearances, etc
More to come as stuff happens and/or I remember to take pics
