1980 Honda CM400T cafe build(Built with a time frame to compete with)

[cmessinger]

Hello!

I thought I'd post up the process of my frst cafe racer build for everyone to critise, make suggestions, and maybe someone can even enjoy it!

Saddly I didn't become a member of this forum until I was about 1.5 weeks into the build, so I'm going to just start uploading all the pics of my progress up till the current date. (I know most people search around here just for the eye candy! )

Before: (pic taken somewhere around august 2011??)

 

[cmessinger]

I was able to buy a parts bike for the start of this build. The parts bike had the same gas tank, seat, frame, and more matching parts that I could use on my bike. The only difference is that the parts bike is a kick start hondamatic. My first day was spent tearing the parts bike down, trying to get my vision for what the bike will look like. The pics are of the parts bike torn down ready to start some fab work.

 

[cmessinger]

 

[cmessinger]

After day one of tear down, I went home with a bag full of parts and a mind full of ideas. I needed to paint the trun signal housings as you can see in this pic.
Before

During

After color

 

[cmessinger]

This is out of the order of the bike progress, but I was out riding yesterday, and when I hit some big nasty bumps, the rear cowl rubbed on the tire. I had this issue originally and I had to re-mount the cowl higher to compensate. I rode over some bumps after the remount and it did great, no rubbing. But yesterday it suddenly started rubbing on occasion. Any thoughts on why? My guess is the shocks are worn.

 

[itsauto!]

This is out of the order of the bike progress, but I was out riding yesterday, and when I hit some big nasty bumps, the rear cowl rubbed on the tire. I had this issue originally and I had to re-mount the cowl higher to compensate. I rode over some bumps after the remount and it did great, no rubbing. But yesterday it suddenly started rubbing on occasion. Any thoughts on why? My guess is the shocks are worn.

Did you check the preload on the shocks? i was rubbing on my 78 and realized they were on the lowest seting

 

[cmessinger]

I did notice that they are on the lowest notch. have you adjusted yours then?

 

[cmessinger]

The second day of the build was a good day throwing sparks! I used the gas tank off of my parts bike to create a 10 inch rear cowl. The bottom cut was a little nasty due to me being nervous!! but after some work with a hand file, i was able to make it look nice and even ;D

I cut the top and the bottom off,

And BAM!! My first piece is cut out!

 

[itsauto!]

I did notice that they are on the lowest notch. have you adjusted yours then?

I did, I just grabbed a big pair of channel locks a turning them to the highest notch, ride seems a little more stiff, but I have not rubbed once

 

[cmessinger]

Thanks for the suggestion itsauto, Ill see what I can do with mine.

 

[cmessinger]

We cut the seat pan down to be 13 inches long. I would have rather made an all new pan but with only having about 2 weeks max to make this this, I needed a fast easy way to make a new seat.

After I cut the seat pan out, I went back to looking at the rear cowl. The old tank had the riveted mounts on the side for the honda logos so I had to grind them down to make the side smooth and flush.

Before:

After:

I'm not sure If many others have gone this way for building their cafe racers. I got the idea for the rear cowl from a picture on google that had a description of how they used a gas tank for there rear cowl. I figured that if I used the same tank thats currently on the bike, then the lines would look real good between the tank and cowl. Do most people just go with fiberglass now?