1977 CB750 F2 Super Sport

[rafanomenon]

I've been documenting the entire process, from original purchase in October 2007, to now.

From October 2007 until just last month, it sat in a garage basically frozen in time. No additional rusting on top of what was already there and everything appeared to be okay. Just last month, I made the decision to sell it. Instinct, and a couple local vintage lovers' emails, told me to keep it and repair it - so I did.

I ran into some major and minor problems along the way, but what do you expect for a cold-blooded lady that's been around for 30+ years?

Going for a cafe racer style, but keeping a lot of components on the bike that identify it as a true '77: Black engine, Comstar Mag wheels, F2 seat cowl, SuperSport tank... One thing that annoys me that I plan on removing are the huge aluminum brackets that serve as the swingarm spacer, brake fluid mount, foot peg spacer, etc. I plan on cutting those down to free up the lower area, but I'll live with it for now until I get some rear-sets.

Performance:
- Pods (performance/cosmetic)
- Older K-model carbs rejetted
- New fuel lines, T-splitter
- New oil and filter
- Cycle-X 4-2-1 exhaust (in transit)
- New Sparks
- Clipped Wires
- New Battery
- Avon Road Rider Tires (19" front, 18" rear)
- Dyna 2000 Ignition (this month)
- Dyna 2000 Coils (this month)
- Oil Cooler
- Big bore engine rebuild (next winter!)

Cosmetic Mods
- Clubmans (clip-ons soon)
- Rear-sets (soon)
- Chrome swingarm (soon)
- New Tank (scrapped old one. details on blog)
- OEM seatpan chop
- OEM padding chop
- Frame chop (back 3" behind battery/oil)
- Helmet bracket chop
- Removed center stand
- New engine paint
- Painted forks
- Touch-up Frame
- Removed Chain guards
- Polished all chrome
- Polished all aluminum
- Integrated Tail light (Yamaha R1)
- Upholstery (soon!)
- License plate bracket
- Chopped front turn signals

Geez, I know I missed something... I'll try to post here as I go along, but all progress can be tracked via my blog: rjrcreative.com/bike

I wasn't trying to go for anything too fancy since I'm planning on doing a complete tear-down and big-bore rebuild next winter. I did a poor-man's job by masking parts off, giving a light sanding, paint prep, primer, and high-temp satin black paint. It came out a lot cleaner than expected, and for a daily rider, this thing will be turning heads. I'm also looking for a 350 to restore to stock (minus clip-ons), so that'll keep me busy during the summer while I break necks riding around on this.

Big shout-out to Seattle's KnuckleBusters Crew for all the help and advice. And 'Mike the mechanic'!

 

[BigBSBusa]

That's a nice job! Hope mine turns out half that good.

 

[boomshakalaka]

looks sweet. About the 350: you plan to restore it to stock except youll run clipons? Are you planning to run highrises above the forks? Cuz otherwise the riding position with midsets and low bars could be less than comfortable.

 

[rafanomenon]

looks sweet. About the 350: you plan to restore it to stock except youll run clipons? Are you planning to run highrises above the forks? Cuz otherwise the riding position with midsets and low bars could be less than comfortable.

thanks! all that's really left to do before another serious mod overhaul is to install the pipes (still in transit) and sand, primer, and paint the seat and tank. Oh, and then there's mounting the tail light and upholstery, but that'll be a piece of cake (so let's hope!)

I'm still feeling out the 350. I want to keep it as stock as possible, but I'm 6'0" 200lbs. I just want a more aggressive riding position, so I may have to go with rearsets as well. And yes - high-rise clipons

 

[andrew embassy]

hey dude - that's looking awesome! Where are these pics taken, your garage? Am I remembering correctly from the Member introductions thread that you're in North Ballard/Greenwood too?

 

[rafanomenon]

hey dude - that's looking awesome! Where are these pics taken, your garage? Am I remembering correctly from the Member introductions thread that you're in North Ballard/Greenwood too?

That's where the bike was stored for the past 17 months :

It's now in its rightful home in West Seattle, in a garage with 13 other projects! The KnuckleBusters Motorcycle Club took me under their wing and showed me a lot of the ins and outs of repair and detailing while keeping my vision. They were hating on my Comstars for awhile, but I wouldn't budge. Now they like em

It has turned into somewhat of a collaborative piece, but that's what it's all about! Can't wait to ride!!!

 

[boomshakalaka]

Ive always been a fan of the comstars!

and def feel out the riding position. If you decide it will feel better with rear sets, its not all that hard or expensive to set them up.

 

[rafanomenon]

Comstars, black engine, dual-front disc, rear disc, F2 cowl and tank... a true '77!

A pain in the ass thing that's bugging me right now are the huge aluminum brackets near the footpegs/controls. I was going to take them off, but those brackets also house the brake fluid and lever and the swingarm bolt. Now i'm on the hunt for some aluminum tubing to use as spacers (not hard), but as soon as those come off, I'll be looking at upgrading to rearsets. It'll also clean that bottom section up a ton.

Performance mods first, cosmetic second. All within a span of 4-6 weeks. Here I come!!

 

[boomshakalaka]

ya, those brackets are oogly!

 

[rafanomenon]

Here are the 4-2-1 pipes I picked up from Cycle X. Waiting on those to ship, then will move on to rejetting.

 

[andrew embassy]

Here are the 4-2-1 pipes I picked up from Cycle X. Waiting on those to ship, then will move on to rejetting.

Daaammn, those look great.

 

[Represto]

Is that a twist-on oil filter?

 

[JRK5892]

great choice on pipes man! wicked looking!

 

[rafanomenon]

Is that a twist-on oil filter?

I'm not quite sure how that mounts? I took those pictures off of Cycle X, and they have an oil filter/cooler combo with shut-off valves. I'm pretty sure that's what's on the bike shown above.

 

[rafanomenon]

Okay.. I made some more progress over the weekend. The pipes shipped on Friday, and I wasn't able to get to it til Saturday afternoon. Being new, one-off pipes, these suckers did NOT want to go on easily. It took a bit of stretching, bending and wiggling, and finally they went on. I removed the old gaskets, stuck on the new ones, positioned the pipes and aligned the flanges. Bolted right on. Started it up with no leaks. We're good to go...

Took a little work to use their stock bracket, but we made it work... Have I mentioned how much i HATE these aluminum brackets on the '77? They're coming off once I make the rearset upgrade.

After the pipes went on, we moved to tuning the carbs. The first set was using a carb rebuild kit, which made them piss like crazy as soon as the bike started and gas started flowing. Could be because the new gaskets needed some soaking to expand, but after sitting a couple hours they still dripped about 4-5 times/second. Fed up, we switched to a different set. Keep in mind my bike is at my buddy Chris' house, who is the self-proclaimed 750 guy in Seattle. Dude's got a TON of parts and spares, which makes troubleshooting problems a ton easier ;D

Ahh new fuel line, T-bracket and clamps.

I'm now running air pods and an aftermarket exhaust with double-baffle, so rejetting was a no brainer. I moved up to 45 slow jets, and 145 mains. I think I may have to move up to 150, but the slow idles it comfortably at 1,200. Aggghhhhh feels good.

Here's the set that my bike likes. no leaks. idles well. and runs even better!

After we got the bike semi-tuned and running, we moved on to seat construction and bleeding the brakes.

Come on.. I can't give away ALL my secrets

Also made a side-mount license plate bracket out of some scrap steel. This thing is solid as a rock. I plan on drilling a hole into the frame right above the plate, and mounting a running LED to reduce the risk of getting pulled over by some burnt bacon looking to hand out tickets.

Can't believe they charge $100+ for these brackets online...

And here's where we left off...

I love photoshop ;D ;D ;D

Follow me here: rjrcreative.com/bike

 

[JRK5892]

looking good man! looking good ... not sure what secrets you ahve that are not used on here but share them man... hell i walk people though my whole built to try an make things easier for the next guy... i plan on doing a chopper build in here ground up to help people

 

[BigBSBusa]

Some great progress you made. Looks good.

 

[rafanomenon]

Alrighty.. here's my stab at seat upholstery. I can't take all of the credit for it, as much as I wanted to. The bike is stored at my buddy Chris' house. After tracing the seat patterns we called it quits for the night, only to find out 3 hours later he emails me a cell phone picture of the cut pieces of fabric already sewn together!

Yes, i plan on fixing the 'cellulite'. Little did i know the foam underneath has to be smooth as silk. Once stretched and tightened from heat/sunlight, it brings out every minor imperfection of the cushion underneath. I picked up some batting, and will smooth it out this weekend.

Sorry for the lack of words. Pictures speak a thousand of them. If you want to read about my process, follow my blog: rjrcreative.com/bike

Such huge leaps and bounds from where the project started just 6 weeks ago. I took it for its first long-haul this past Sunday (75 mile ride) and it screams. However, I did notice that it starts choking for more gas around 6,000-7,000, particularly when the throttle is snapped open, so I plan on rejetting to 125+ mains this weekend. Idle's perfectly. Even starts with no choke. yeah, she's good to me...

I also chopped the side covers to bring out more of the structural lines of the frame. plus, i'm so dang tired of these things snapping. I even reinforced the back with fiberglass, and they still snapped. Anyone selling a spare set for the supersport model???

 

[JRK5892]

looks good man!

 

[WightHorse]

Nice to see another 750F!