71 Honda CB350: Enthusiast turned builder!

Korbin091

Life on II wheels
Hi, my name is Korbin, and this will be my first post for my first cafe racer build I've been looking forward to for some time now. I own a 1971 Honda CB350k4, purchased from my father this year. He had owned it for about a year in hopes to start a cafe racer project, but he just couldn't let it go; until now. I am so excited to finally start my cafe racer build, I have been researching for over a year now. I am proud to say I've used DTT for practically all of my research thus far. I hope this will be as much of a learning experience for you all, as it will be for me. I will be posting my progress every week, and have been in the process of building a motorcycle work table! Here are a few stock pictures of my bike so far. Enjoy.



 
I know its in great shape, but believe me although I will be doing a whole makeover, it will keep its vintage patina. So there's one side of the coin, in which you totally rehab a barn find, and on the other side, you restore a vintage relic to stock new condition. I aim for the middle road, a comparable mix of form and fashion, to exceed what it once was and build it into something better. It's unfortunate, when you take such a beautiful classic and tear it to pieces, but you know in the end, its all for the better. It's all what makes you smile, what satisfies you, and for us (guys) what turns you on, that matters. Some of you DTTers will approve and some will shake their heads....too bad. cheers
 
Here's some pictures of my motorcycle work table! I plan on painting it grey, and I have a ramp that will butt up to the one end. Tell me what you think!

http://s1224.photobucket.com/user/TheSSWerks/slideshow/71%20Honda%20CB350
 
Fixed height, I made it at about 24", so for me its an average workable space for this size bike, either standing up, sitting on a stool, I can reach everything easily.
 
Well you are not short of belief in your own importance - no shrinking violet. You are here to teach us it says in the first post and you also have told us that you know who we are as a group and that we share the same set of values and opinions as yourself.

Funniest part is that you refer to D.O.T which is the Dept of Transportation and this site is DTT Do The Ton.

I don't mean to bust your chops but you claim one year of research and don't know the site that you are posting on.

There's an old expression that may apply: An excess of enthusiasm over experience.

Welcom Korbin, but please don't believe all your own BS. :) Now let's see what you plan on doing to that CB350. What's your vision for it - no vague waffle - hard facts please. I suspect that you have a plan and that you will implement it cleanly, so please share it with us.
 
Korbin091 said:
Fixed height, I made it at about 24", so for me its an average workable space for this size bike, either standing up, sitting on a stool, I can reach everything easily.

I think you will find that a 24" fixed height work table will not make your life easy. To start with, it will be very difficult getting a bike on it. Even an 8' long ramp will be quite steep. Then, as the bike goes up the ramp, you will still be on the floor, and the bike will be up in the air and difficult to control. Better have a couple of spotters there, because an injurious accident is not at all unlikely.

You will also find that having the bike up in the air all the time is going to suck. Like working on the handgrips, and controls, handlebars, headlight bucket...those things will be so far up in the air, that you will end up climbing up on the table to get to them. That table doesn't have a lot of room for you to get up there. Stepping off the edge while you are working is a very real safety hazard.

You did have the forsight to give it some overhang, but you will probably find that your knees are constantly banging against the cross braces while you work from a stool.

IMO, you would have been better off to have added a couple hundred bucks to what you spent to build a fixed height table and gotten a Harbor Freight lift table. Either that, or just buy a motorcycle jack for about $60. You will find that the fixed height pretty much sucks. :)

Now, you should make something like this:

ScissorJack.jpg


It's just a surplus automotive scissor jack that I welded onto a plate of steel to give it a more stable base. It's good for putting under the bike to lift a wheel off the table. You may also want to make a cut out where the back wheel will sit, so that you can jack up the back of the bike, pull out the panel, and drop the wheel. Also, install at least 4 "U" bolts along each side of the table to hook ratchet straps into. One of the mods I did to my Harbor Freight lift tables was to add more "U" bolts. It's an easy, and important upgrade.
 
Thanks for your input, and making my table sound like crap. ??? I decided to build this table because I didn't want to spend HUNDREDS on a hydraulic table. Plus I believe it will be perfectly fine for what I am working on, thanks. Oh and sorry to DTT and teazer, I was half drunk when I wrote that post. I don't mean to come off as a know-it-all, because I'm not. My aim was to use this forum as everyone else does, as a way to express their interest in motorcycles furthermore, building them. And btw, 90% of what I say is BS.
 
AlphaDogChoppers said:
When you start using that table, you will say, "Damn! That fuckin' Alpha Dog wuz rite!"

Not going to happen... :) Even if you were right. Make that, especially if you are right. :)

I actually had a pair of work tables like those at around 18" that I copied from a Team Obsolete design. They turned out to be a PIA for what I was doing at least and after a year or two I chopped them up. One day I need to get a couple of lift tables.
 
Man that is a clean bike.

So.. Here is the thing that I have seen just from lurking.. and shooting my mouth off with little to no real world experience....

Nobody is into building motorcycles to save money. They are money pits. Your table might work fine for this build but if you keep going.. you are going to want the right tools for the job.

That being said.... you are all a bunch of wimps.. get down on the ground and get dirty.. who needs a stinkin table.
 
LazloH said:
That being said.... you are all a bunch of wimps.. get down on the ground and get dirty.. who needs a stinkin table.

Hey, you whippersnapper. I have half a mind ta give you a whoopin' for that crack. That is, if it wasn't for the bad knees, bad back, and arthritis... Oh, and I might git a bit winded...
 
Ha. No worries ADC... the training wheels on my motorcycle makes it harder to corner... I am sure you could catch me.
 
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