What you get with $600.00 and a hacksaw

[Matt_the_Rat]

friend of mine picked up a $400.00 CB250 nighthawk for his son. Kinda an ugly bike, with crappy paint, shot tires, wore out chain,leaking carb busted ignition switch. The bad news was there was no title. Luckily he knew a guy with a tow truck who could help him out.
So me and the kid went about fixing it up. We bought new tires, tubes, chain/sprockets, carb kit, Clubman bars. We made up a battery box out of sheet stainless I had, cut off the mufflers, changed the rear shocks, Put all that together, then found a nice seat in my parts pile from my sr500, hacked off the rear frame and bolted it on. The bike works really good, runs nice, goes fairly fast. The ton is out of the question, but it will run 80 wide open.

The kid is riding it everyday about 70 miles to an from work, and has put 1700 miles on it in 4 weeks.
groovy little bike......now I want one

 

[nicebikemate]

Love it mate, that's one lucky kid!

 

[SONICJK]

Nicely done man looks good

 

[Z2Z]

Looks Great! And even better... its getting ridden.

 

[Matt_the_Rat]

That's a fact. It's getting the Crap ridden out of it.
I was riding my SR500 with him, and I had to work pretty hard to keep up with that little 250.
Trey has already scuffed up both of his boots cranking it over as far as he can....which is hard to do in FL. We don't got too many of them twisty roads.

 

[crazypj]

Where are you in Fl.?
Cafe Moto is Orlando area, they have some interesting rides and know of some twisty bits

 

[xb33bsa]

so you are cool with teaching a young rider that open pipes on the street are ok ?

 

[crazypj]

loud pipes are just a pain if your following someone with them, plus, you almost always lose performance except over a very very narrow rpm range (usually around 1,000~1,500 rpm where they actually work - sometimes)
With the mild cam in the Honda it probably 'sounds fast'

 

[SONICJK]

so you are cool with teaching a young rider that open pipes on the street are ok ?

High horse much?

 

[xb33bsa]

High horse much?

there are already WAY too many assholes running straight pipes
it is starting to lead to movements to ban any modified exhausts and to start enforcing that
when a j q public is starteled out of his her whits by a stupid loud motorcycle,(granted the vast majority are on harleys)or interupted trying to enjoy a peaceful moment, they think what a fucking asshole,and they are right,there is no excuse for it, it is just attention starved assholes that dont have any respect for other peoples thoughts or peace.
if you run straight pipes on publik roads you are an asshole .period

 

[crazypj]

Apart from the threadjack, I agree.
It has happened before all over Europe and it will lead to totally draconian laws when 'they' get round to it
Your not a 'outlaw' with open pipes, just an ass

 

[SONICJK]

Ride however you want. Open pipes or mouse quiet I don't care.
It's personal preference, there is absolutely some truth to the "loud pipes save lives" theory, and you're absolutely going to piss some people off.


My point was its a douche bag move to come into a guys thread and imply that he is a shitty individual / role model because he's helping a kid modify a bike to his taste.

 

[o1marc]

Douche or not. Fortunately it isn't his kid. But I agree with the negative aspect of young riders with loud pipes. Not only that but scrubbing his boots off at 80 mph and trying to hit the ton is just plain foolish for a young rider and will only get him in trouble or hurt or worse. It sounds just like me when I was young. Oh wait, I did get hurt and arrested for those types of behaviors and while I learned to ride in a high performance manner I can honestly say I thank God I lived through those years and am lucky to be here today to let young people who will never listen to me know the evils of their ways.

 

[xb33bsa]

Ride however you want. Open pipes or mouse quiet I don't care.
It's personal preference, there is absolutely some truth to the "loud pipes save lives" theory, and you're absolutely going to piss some people off.


My point was its a douche bag move to come into a guys thread and imply that he is a shitty individual / role model because he's helping a kid modify a bike to his taste.

the guy is fuking bragging about cutting off the mufflers.look at them they are straight ridikyou-kless open megaphones
the kid most probably doesn't know any better.he is learning by example my guess.
if we are to retain the right to modify our exhausts at all then we should not turn a blind eye to the excact thing that is going to spoil it for us all

 

[xb33bsa]

the guy is fuking bragging about cutting off the mufflers.look at them they are straight ridikyou-kless open megaphones
the kid most probably doesn't know any better.he is learning by example my guess.
if we are to retain the right to modify our exhausts at all then we should not turn a blind eye to the excact thing that is going to spoil it for us all

 

[crazypj]

I still ride like that sometimes, nothing wrong with hard cornering, bits dragging on the floor 8)
It's a damn sight safer on a lightweight 250 than on a 600~1000 with 100+bhp.
There are loads of squids who never really learn to ride and can only 'point and squirt' when dead upright in a straight lin
Learning on a low power bike means you actualy learn to corner, if you shut off it takes too long to get back up to speed

 

[Matt_the_Rat]

so you are cool with teaching a young rider that open pipes on the street are ok ?

YES. I am Cool with open pipes on a 250, and I'm OK letting a 22 year old ride a bike that makes noise. The bike came with stock mufflers that were gutted megaphones full length and wide open and sounded like crap. We cut them down twice. When we got them short it sounds better. The little bike has some tone for sure, but it is no more loud then my SR500 with only a head pipe with a 5 inch baffle in it. Nor is it louder then my CX500 with a modified emgo megaphone. I like loud bikes. I'm sorry if my motorcycles are going to be single handedly responsible for causing draconian exhaust laws for motorcycles.
I do understand that loud pipes do not save lives. The loudest bike I ever had was my Bonneville America, and as I was riding down a 2 lane road making all kinds of rumbley racket, a van made a no look left turn right in front of my loud ass like I wasn't even there, and totaled my bike and right leg. (bike gone leg better)

He got pulled over on it one night a week ago. Not for the exhaust, but for the taillight being out. (the wires broke off of the bottom of the socket) The cop followed him home, and there was no discussion about the sound of his exhaust.
I am NOT OK with a kid riding a bike home from work at night without a taillight and I fixed it for him the next day.
Jeez.......

 

[Matt_the_Rat]

Where are you in Fl.?
Cafe Moto is Orlando area, they have some interesting rides and know of some twisty bits

I'm in the panhandle near Destin and Panama City. Only 900 miles from Orlando. We have some twisty roads around here. Just a few through the farm lands in the north and just over the Alabama State line.

 

[crazypj]

Shame about that, there are several 'good' roads around here
Are you coming down to Orlando for the International Motorcycle Show in October?

http://www.aimexpousa.com/AIME/AIMExpo.aspx

 

[loosegravel]

Great looking bike for the price!