Finally, souperman's CB500T Project

[souperman]

I finally got far enough along in my build to have something to show for all my work. I picked the bike up for super cheap, it was running but had a tranny issue. Right now the plan is to do a standard cafe except for the seat. I want to get some riding in this summer so the seat will have to wait till next winter.

I have a bunch of pics so I'll probably break this up into a few separate posts. Anyway here it begins:

One of the first things I did was fit an electronic ignition to the bike. After the motor was humming along I tore it back a part to fix the tranny:

While I was waiting for parts I painted some side covers:

This is how she looked right after I had the engine back together, with the painted engine covers. The bike was now running well and shifting properly.

It was time to start tearing things apart again:

Here is my front rotor before and after transferring the rotor patter I made in AutoCAD, and punching the holes:

 

[BigBSBusa]

Lookin' good!

 

[supercafe]

looking good. like what you are doing so far.
what colors are you going with it???
should be a fun little bike.
later
cheers

 

[goodfornothing]

Pretty sick! You look like you know what you're doing, so hopefully I can get some advice from you when I start my build!

 

[souperman]

Thanks for the good words guys, here's some more progress pics.

Some before and after pics of some parts getting cleaned up, I loves me the bead blaster:

Battery box was a mess...

Here is what it looks like after a bunch of front end parts came in.

Fitting the new set of clubmans, fork gators, and gauges.

Cockpit view:

Frontal:

I painted the switch pods with black epoxy paint and detailed the lettering with white to match the gauges:

Some close up pics of the wheel in black epoxy and chrome:

Some details of the frame and battery box area:

This is pretty much how she sits today:

 

[matt365]

Looking good Souperman. I'd cut down the clubmans to put your levers and switches much closer. Looks like you could stand to lose 4" at least off those bars. Are you going to lose the airbox and run pods? How's the tank look and what are your plans for it?

Keep us posted with your progress

 

[souperman]

Thanks! Well I plan on keeping the stock air box for now, when I decide for sure what I want to do with the seat next winter I may move stuff into a bump stop seat. The Stock CB500T tank I think has a nice shape I want to keep, I'm leaning towards a gloss black on the tank and side covers with some white pin striping. It came to me in really good shape too, all I will have to do is fill in a few shallow dents and it will be ready for paint.

After the pain I went through to stuff the wires completely in the bars like stock I don't think I will be trimming them down anytime soon. I'm pretty happy with how they feel.

Looking good Souperman. I'd cut down the clubmans to put your levers and switches much closer. Looks like you could stand to lose 4" at least off those bars. Are you going to lose the airbox and run pods? How's the tank look and what are your plans for it?

Keep us posted with your progress

 

[supercafe]

whats up souperman.
love the way this build is going. the new gauges are looking sweet.
i like the way you have done the hubs and spokes, i was going to do that aswell,
but now i have seen it done, i am for sure doing it, looks awesome!!!!
question! your old bars, the throttle, does it have a slot for the cable or not. if so how
did you do the new throttle. and do you have any pics. i am building a cd 175 and mine do have the slot for the
throttle cable, and i am putting on clubmans aswell.
any way love the bike and can't wait to see how it turns out.
later.

 

[jason teamshralp]

looking so good. Keep it up.

 

[BigBSBusa]

That rocks!

 

[dentedvw]

Wow, good job. I kind of dig the air tubes, is there a small filter element in the end of them?

I agree about the clubmans, they look really long!

Keep up the good work.

 

[colpumpkinnuts]

You're doing some great work, man. I like how attention you're putting into the details, like the white paint on controls. Very slick. You might be interested in getting some clipons. They would bring the controls in a bit colser and they'd clean up the triple tree. Just a thought. I changed to clipons from clubmans and I'm very happy.

 

[ericngsta]

wow fantastic start already, keep it up, looking forward to seeing where it goes.

 

[cretin75xs]

Looks great, I wish I had the balls to tear mine apart. Maybe next winter. You've given me some ideas to complete my build. Keep the pics coming....
Ride Safe

 

[souperman]

Here are some updated pictures. Since I last posted I have installed the motor, finished up the brakes, and a few other details.







This is the growing box of leftover crap I will be selling/giving away when the project is done:



My next update I hope to have all of the lighting installed. I am replacing the taillight and signals with LED models. I still have some work to do detail the motor, I'm not totally happy with how it looks yet. Some more polished stainless and I'll be happy.