bojica
New Member
Hello. I'm fairly new to DTT and have been snooping around grabbing ideas from different threads around here on a 1974 Honda CB200 that I snagged last month.
I've finally decided to start my own build thread to document my work and hopefully get some pointers and advice from all you knowledgeable people. This seems to be a great and down to earth community, especially compared to some of the jokers you encounter on what's becoming more of a "hipster" forum, VWVortex.
My resources and mechanic knowledge are somewhat limited, as a majority of my work will be done in a single car garage at my apartment complex with basic tools, and this being my first bike. I am more of just a weekend mechanic having done a few things here and there to the modern cars that my wife and I own.
I'll warn those of you reading right now, there are only 2 things I can guarantee:
1) This build will be somewhat slow compared to a lot of the threads you see here. The summers in FL are humid and uncomfortable, so it takes a lot of will power for me to work during the afternoons. I try to squeeze in a few smaller projects during the week after my normal 9-5, but most of the action will happen on the weekends.
2) I will try and use as many "bolt on" upgrades as possible. I am not a craftsman by any means, and I will do my best not to pretend to be. I realize that some things will need to be fabricated, and if it is necessary I will take on the challenge. I don't own any specialized tools and such, so mostly hand and power tools will be used.
This will be a 2 stage restoration:
Stage 1 - get her running and tuned well as a stock bike for commuting.
Stage 2 - strip her down to the frame, clean, polish, and restore cafe style. My focus here will be engine & efficiency first, aesthetics second.
Now that introductions and expectations are over, let's get to the bike. Her name is Layla, and once up and running (and running well), my hopes are to make her my daily driver.
7/21/12 - Shots after I trailered her home
Bike = $900
Summary of observations when I picked her up:
Lots of work ahead! Needless to say, I'm thrilled to start building this new bike. It's been almost a month since I picked her up, and I've done a little bit of work so far. I'm going to be working on catching up on the posts, so stay tuned.
Thanks for reading!
I've finally decided to start my own build thread to document my work and hopefully get some pointers and advice from all you knowledgeable people. This seems to be a great and down to earth community, especially compared to some of the jokers you encounter on what's becoming more of a "hipster" forum, VWVortex.
My resources and mechanic knowledge are somewhat limited, as a majority of my work will be done in a single car garage at my apartment complex with basic tools, and this being my first bike. I am more of just a weekend mechanic having done a few things here and there to the modern cars that my wife and I own.
I'll warn those of you reading right now, there are only 2 things I can guarantee:
1) This build will be somewhat slow compared to a lot of the threads you see here. The summers in FL are humid and uncomfortable, so it takes a lot of will power for me to work during the afternoons. I try to squeeze in a few smaller projects during the week after my normal 9-5, but most of the action will happen on the weekends.
2) I will try and use as many "bolt on" upgrades as possible. I am not a craftsman by any means, and I will do my best not to pretend to be. I realize that some things will need to be fabricated, and if it is necessary I will take on the challenge. I don't own any specialized tools and such, so mostly hand and power tools will be used.
This will be a 2 stage restoration:
Stage 1 - get her running and tuned well as a stock bike for commuting.
Stage 2 - strip her down to the frame, clean, polish, and restore cafe style. My focus here will be engine & efficiency first, aesthetics second.
Now that introductions and expectations are over, let's get to the bike. Her name is Layla, and once up and running (and running well), my hopes are to make her my daily driver.
7/21/12 - Shots after I trailered her home
Bike = $900
Summary of observations when I picked her up:
- She runs and sounds great, but would stall once you let off the throttle and/or open the chokes. In hind sight, the lack of fuel in the tank may have also been a culprit ;D.
- Lots of surface rust on some parts of the frame, but no pitting.
- Minor surface rust on the exhaust and some of the chrome parts.
- Only rust in the tank is some at on the filler neck
- Tank paint is in good condition for being original
- Control cables are in OK shape, and seem to all be functioning
- Mostly stock, minus the air boxes and rear fender/tail light assembly
- There are a lot of spider webs
Lots of work ahead! Needless to say, I'm thrilled to start building this new bike. It's been almost a month since I picked her up, and I've done a little bit of work so far. I'm going to be working on catching up on the posts, so stay tuned.
Thanks for reading!