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So lately I've been wanting to get a bike for my girlfriend. Not sure how much she'll actually like riding, I didn't want to spend a fortune. Since I'm into cafes I figured I would get her something that we could work on together to turn into a cafe. I posted an ad up on Craigslist and someone hit me up with a '71 CL175 that they wanted $200 for. I came and checked the bike out. It had a cracked side cover and the tank had seen better days. The kick start had also been sheared off at some point. I offered the guy $150 for the bike and he accepted. I should have went even lower just because I think in hindsight that he would have probably accepted. Oh well.
Here's some pics as the bike sits right now.
This is going to be a project that my girlfriend and I will work on together, which I'm hoping will be fun. I'm going to try and salvage the tank and add some knee dents. I'll probably make the seat and back fairing section myself from fiberglass. Not sure if we'll replace the kick starter or not. I've never opened a motor before, so it might be more trouble than I can handle, though I am pretty mechanically inclined. Luckily my friend Mark, username Reinhard, is a bike mechanic and I'm sure he could lend his help at points when I need him. I think tonight we'll actually start tearing the bike down. It has definitely been neglected over the years, though the PO said he had it running a few weeks ago but that it wouldn't idle, so who knows.
Awesome build man. I think that's really cool that you and your gf will be working on it together. I know I wish mine would do that with me, instead of complain I like my bikes more than her haha. Looking forward to the progress!
I'm excited to do this with her. She has never ridden before but I think if she actually works on the bike it'll take away the mystique of it and make her more comfortable when it is time to ride the thing.
So I accidentally left my CL ad up looking for a CB175. Someone contacted me with a '75 CB200T that had 1900 original miles on it. He happened to mention that he would be interested in trading for guitar gear, which I have WAY too much of. So I traded him a Marshall amp straight up. The bike doesn't need any real work but I will be painting the tank metallic orange, since orange is her favorite color.
So the fate of this bike is that it is all mine now. I'm still planning on her working on it with me but now it has gone from a rush to get it on the road to becoming a long term project that I'm going to be super meticulous with.
Figured I'd update this thread, since it has been forever.
Went to AMA Vintage Days and picked up a fiberglass cafe seat and a nice CB175 tank. The tank has been sent off to DTT member boobby so he can stretch it into a track bike tank.
In the meantime I've been tearing the bike down. The kick start shaft is sheared off, so I'm going to have to tear the motor down to replace it. I went ahead and picked up a gasket set for the motor so I can replace those while it's apart.
I've never torn into a motorcycle engine, so in a bit nervous. That said, I am mechanically inclined and have no problem learning the shop manual inside out.
So that's where it stands at the moment. I want to do my best to make this bike something special, so I'm really going to take my time with it.
Here's some pics of the tank stretch so far. Decided to just add a dummy section on instead of having the tank cut up and stretched. I'll end up hiding a lot of the wiring and other electronic bits underneath.
I've also finally gotten around to getting the motor out of the frame, which is always fun by yourself! I still need to locate the side sprocket cover. If someone has one, hit me up!
I started to take the top cover off and already ran into my first snag. There's a spot where a motor mount bolt goes through. Inside there is a bolt that holds the top cover on. Mine is completely caked with old grease, dirt and god knows what. At first I didn't even know there was a bolt there but after trying to pop the thing off to no avail, I had a hunch. So I took a flathead screwdriver and started chipping away all the dirt and finally the bolt top revealed itself. Unfortunately that stuff is caked all around the bolt too. I sprayed a bunch of engine degreaser in there. Hopefully that will loosen it up enough that I can take a small Dremel bit with a felt end (or some other soft bit) and get the rest of the gunk out of there.
Let me know if you still need the side sprocket, I have an extra one laying around. Also, which fender are you looking for I have 2 front and 2 rear CL175 ('71 K5) fenders in pretty good shape.
Let me know if you still need the side sprocket, I have an extra one laying around. Also, which fender are you looking for I have 2 front and 2 rear CL175 ('71 K5) fenders in pretty good shape.
I need the sprocket cover, not the actual sprocket. I might be interested in the front fender. Are the CL fenders different than the CB fenders, as far as how high/low they sit from the wheel?
Re: '71 CL175 - More tank pics + STILL NEED A KICKSTART SHAFT
Haven't posted much on this. Since November I kinda took a break from it. Was just busy with work and holidays. Now I'm back at it! I replaced the kick start shaft, which was pretty easy to do. Transmission looks to be in great shape. Of course now that I've put the clutch basket back on something isn't lining up right or something because the little lever that catches the back of the clutch basket (had to depress it to remove the clutch basket) doesn't seem to hook back up, so I'm at a standstill until I figure it out.
In the meantime I've been cleaning 40+ years of dirt and grease off the motor, which is a huge chore itself. Whoever had this bike before me didn't really do much to take care of it.
Here's a pic of the tank that is finished being fabricated.
The back welding portion is covered in carbon fiber, which should make it easier when it comes time to Bondo and all that fun stuff. Eventually I'll cut the seat down to fit correctly. Hopefully I have the engine buttoned up in the next week or so. Then it will be on to stripping the and prepping the frame, swingarm and some other bits and pieces for powdercoating. I think I'm going to do the frame gunmetal grey and the rest of the paint scheme will be the vintage Honda red, black and white color scheme. I've also decided to put a half fairing on the front.
Finally got around to welding in the seat pan yesterday. At some point this week I'll get all the stuff out to the powder coater so I can then get to reassembling the bike.
I ended up getting a triple tree and forks off of an old Honda XL175. They are in amazing shape and I scored them for $25 on eBay. The forks are longer than the stock CL forks but I'm just gonna pull them through the triple tree and probably clamp my clip ons on the top side of the triple tree.
Other than that, not much of note going on. Started doing the body work on the tank. That's going to be a big project in itself.
Parts were sent off to powdercoater last week and in the meantime I've been slowly acquiring the rest of the parts I'll need for the build. I've also almost finished up the tank bodywork. Today I went ahead and etch primed it so I can see where I still need to fix up. There's some tiny pinholes that I couldn't see or feel too well before priming. I have some 2 part glazing/spot putty to fill the pinholes and then I'll sand them down. At any rate, here's how the tank sits right now.
Also, here's a Photoshop mockup of how the bike will look, more or less, when I'm done.
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