cx'y 500

[IED]

I just brought this from a guy in London, and I'm off to collect it tomorrow. It will be my first Café build, but I'm no stranger to building bikes so I'm quite excited about the new build.

I'll post lots of pix of my progress over the coming months and welcome any positive input.

 

[IED]

This is my last project, a CBR 900RR Fireblade streetfighter.

It has the D.N.A. of a café racer.

 

[IED]

Well I got it home today and got it naked.

I thought it would be fun to flip the bars and use the clock binicle to mock up a seat pod

 

[IED]

 

[IED]

Got in tonight and decided to drop the motor out. Great thing about the CX is there only seems to be two sizes of nut and bolt. Big and small, so I used big spanners to undo the big nuts and small spanners to undo all the small nuts.

I really wish I paid attention how it came out :roll:

 

[IED]

I'm gonna take off the calipers and a few other bits and bobs then keep a rolling chasis to do the mock up and make a couple of frame alterationd before I finish tearing it down to go off to powdercoat.

 

[IED]

Thermostat housing was showing signs it had been leaking for a while. stripped it apart and all the O rings had perrished, so they are all gonna need to be replaced. Full gasket set for one of these on ebay is only about 30 quid.

 

[IED]

while I have it off I gave it a face lift.

 

[Sonreir]

Pretty sure you're gonna need this:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/180629210396

 

[IED]

Nitroed the tank too

 

[IED]

I used the green gloopy stuff and it did nothing for about 20 minutes then went nuts so I decided to cover it in polythene and leave it over night.
This morning it was stripped down to the metal. I would recomend you apply it then walk away and let it do its job.
Anyway, tank stripped, rubbed down, now its time to start filling and getting rid of 30 years worth of dinks and those horrible tank badges.

 

[IED]

Ok, after a couple of fils and knocking it back I went over it and looked for anymore tiny dinks

I like to circle them as I find them so I dont miss any.

I aint a fan of the machine weld they use on tanks so I like to wipe round the tank with a little filler then knock it back to smooth tha edge right off.

This is what I mean. I filled the edge's of the tank on my blade to get a nice smooth finish. Perhaps no one else notices it, but I know its there.

Anyway, sanded of and wiped with meths to get rid of dust and greasey finger marks

Now a blast of primer. In a couple of days I will knock it back with 1200 wet and dry and look for any more minute dinks.

 

[IED]

Pretty sure you're gonna need this:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/180629210396

I missed this.

Looks interesting 8)

 

[IED]

I'v been thinking about making my own seat from fiberglass but wondering how I could get a profile of all the frame mounting points. The I rembered the seat it came with and thought I could get a cast from it.
After removing the cover and foam I discovered the seat pan was made of fiberglass. Well then, half the job has been done for me, now all I need to do is trim off some of the fat and make a pod.

Should be quite easy to adapt

And Fiberglass sticks to fiberglass really good.

 

[dean owens]

looking at your other bike, i'm really looking forward to seeing how this turns out.

 

[mindactivated]

You're going at about 6,000 times faster than my bike (1980 honda cx500D), although I'm in no hurry and it's my only ride. Looking forward to this build as well!

 

[IED]

Thanks guys, I'm really excited about this project and when I get the bit between my teeth I find it difficult to think about anything else.

This build also means something to me as when I was a boy my Dad got me a job in a local motorcycle shop cleaning the used part exchange bikes before they went on sale in the shop. The mechanic was a guy called Jacky Wells and he, over the next few years taught me to do servicing and repairs.

Saturday afternoon was a real treat, as if the weather was good Jack would wheel out his Triumph Triton and take me out for a blast.

I used the money from the job to buy a helmet, and Jack gave me my first leather jacket. The guy we worked for was a bit of an arse hole, but in my eyes Jacky Wells was a God.

Yep, Cafe recers have a special place in my hart, and the ride outs on Jacks Triton were something I'll never forget. I dont get to own a Triton, but I'm gonna have a killa cafe racer. 8)

 

[IED]

Right then, on to it.
I cut the high point off the fiberglass seat pan and trimed both edges with my jigsaw

Then made up a form for the pod I will cast then graft onto the pan. The MDF form will be filled with expanding foam then sanded into shape and fine filled. From this I will take a cast and produce a mould to reproduce the finished pod.

Shape looks right

As does the height.

During the week I'll get it preped ready for fiberglass.

Lots of other things to be getting on with for now so I'll do a bit more tomorrow.

 

[Erskine]

I love these CX builds, they are like the poor mans 'guzzi but reliable and with electrics that can cope with the UK weather. I'll be following this one too.

 

[IED]

I like them because they are a twin, something a bit different, and they can go from crapper to kool without to much fuss ;D