Found a $300 CB550

I did what is called a 100 point restoration on a 71 Honda CB750 for a fellow in Australia. All the bolts had to be "as installed in the factory". Naturally a lot of hardware was either missing or incorrect on the project bike. I bought $150 of bolts at the local Honda shop and the entire purchase fit in the palm of my hand. On my personal bikes I use Tractor Supply and Ace Hardware as a source of supply. Another source of good metric fasteners at a decent price is Advance Auto.
 
Once I got my Rox risers, I borrowed a couple of sets of handlebars to see what felt and looked good. I ended up buying a set of low rise Renthal street bars. The combination feels excellent and looks great. The risers allow a ton of adjustment and give me clear access to the fork preload adjusters. I'm bringing the bike over to my welder / fabricator on Saturday and we're going to address a bunch of small issues that need to be solved. The handlebar stop on one side allows the bar to hit the tank. I need a little bracket for the brake light switch. I had removed the right side foot peg bracket mounts in anticipation of using the Cognito rear sets which I discovered won't fit on a 77 so we need to remount the bracket. Lastly I need to modify a section of the under seat tray since it turns out that the AntiGravity battery is too thick to fit under the seat. With this stuff done, I can finish the mock up and take it all apart and send the frame to the powder coater. It's weird that after 2 years of parts and working on stuff that a 2nd motorcycle is now in my garage. It's incomplete but it's looking like a motorcycle.
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I forgot to mention, currently the gas tank, front fender, rear fender / seat are over at a painter that specializes in show quality paint jobs. His attention to detail is almost OCD. I've lucked out finding such excellent partners on this project. I'm pretty fanatical about doing good professional looking work. It's mostly a willingness to do the grunt work and not just paint over stuff or accept substandard work and also listening to people that know how to do this stuff. I found that my welder / fabricator is the same way. I'm happy to say that I'm the weakest link.
 
I had a very productive day yesterday. I got up and replaced the fork springs and did the fork oil as I've lost almost 40 LBs since I started this build. I already changed the Hagon shocks springs a few nights ago. Then I put the bike on my truck and went over to my welder. We worked on it from noon until 7:30. I discovered a few things that had to be modified in this mock up process. I had cut off the right side peg mounts to install the Cognito rear sets and then discovered that they won't work on a 77. So....we had to restore the original peg mounts. I installed a YZ 250 foot pegs in the stock peg mounts and we tweaked them so that they just about perfect. It was a happy accident as I think the motocross pegs look seriously cool on a tracker style bike. We have to make a battery box and bracket for the tail light and turn signals. The guy helping me with welding and fabrication is fanatical about getting things perfect. My painter is the same way. I should be getting painted parts this week and the frame should be going to the powder coater in a few weeks. The rebuilt motor has been sitting wrapped up in plastic for about a year and a half. Then comes the Motogadget rewire. There is not a single original electrical coponant going back into this motorcycle. Motogadget M Unit Blue, Motoscope pro, Motogadget buttons, all LED lighting, electronic ignition, Rick's rectifier, new higher output Dynatek coils electronic, speedometer sensor and keyless ignition. It's cool to see it coming together. When you start out on a build from a basket case, sometimes it seems like it'll never get done. To see the rolling chassis starting to get parts installed is very satifying. It's a lot of stuff to do but the finish line is almost in sight.
 
We got too a lot of details that were obstacles to finishing up the frame for powder coating. We have to build one more bracket in the rear and It's time to take apart and get powder coated. I got pictures form the painter today. He just has to do a few more clear coats and buff it out. I've begun working on Motogadet wiring diagram.
Here are some of the pictures:
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I'm sort of stalled for 2 weeks. My painter told me to not touch the tank and fenders for 2 weeks so the paint can harden. I need to do a final fit up for the seat and tank so there's not much I can do. I got a lot of stuff done in the last month and I want to get the frame to the powder coater. I have a few things to clean up on the frame and starting to figure out the Motogadget wiring.
 
chesterburnet said:
I'm sort of stalled for 2 weeks. My painter told me to not touch the tank and fenders for 2 weeks so the paint can harden. I need to do a final fit up for the seat and tank so there's not much I can do. I got a lot of stuff done in the last month and I want to get the frame to the powder coater. I have a few things to clean up on the frame and starting to figure out the Motogadget wiring.
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Sucks but don't want to mess the pretty paint up for sure
 
Making some great progress! I haven't been on DTT as much for quite a while so I just read through abut two years of work on this thing. I think it's going to be a killer little ride pretty soon!
 
Ends up, there's plenty of things to do while waiting for paint to harden. I spent almost 3 hours sanding and polishing out the clutch lever and repainting a perch. I had fabricated a panel to fill the frame area in front of the rear wheel where the lower fender was so that it will keep the pods and motor clean and dry. I had to modify it to fit around the battery box we built. I had to cut down the mounting plate for the Motogadget display too. A lot of stuff seems easy on paper but ends up taking a lot of hours to accomplish.

There are occasional bumps in the road that I didn't anticipate. I bought a nice Renthal aluminum handlebar only to find out that the gorgeous set of $300 bar end mirrors from Great Britain won't work with them. I almost forgot to add a tab to mount the exhaust before powder coating. Originally I thought I could do this without doing a mock up. That would have been a very bad idea.

My latest bit of good news is that my brother is so impressed with the Motogadget electronics that he's decided he is going to come up from NJ and wire up the bike. He's a wizard with that stuff.

I'm almost past the grunt work stage......and the crazy spending also. If I had just spray painted everything black like 90% of these "builds" go, then I would have been riding it for the last year.
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I bet that radial mount master cylinder is going to do a lot for the brakes.


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I received the steel handlebars today and swapped them out with the aluminum Renthal set. I also installed the bar end mirrors just to see how they looked. I think they look pretty cool.
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Since I cut down the trees in my yard and there has been almost no rain in the last month, I was able to dedicate a weekend to this project. It is unbelievable how much time goes into fabricating and fitting up stuff. All afternoon in my garage beefing up and re-fabricating the seat fasteners on Saturday. On Sunday I threw it on my truck and spent 9 hours at my welders shop. We redid the entire rear seat / fender mounting and built a frame so that if someone grabs it by the back fender, it won't crack the plastic. We also move the cross piece that the seat sits on so there's no gap between the seat and tank. Then we had to come up up with a bracket for the back of the tank and the front of the seat to fasten to frame. We even modified the frame backbone to get a better sight line. When I say we, most of this stuff gets done by my new friend / master fabricator Derek and I assist. When most people look at this motorcycle, they will never realize how different it is from stock but in my opinion, that's what makes it look cool. The other cool thing is that in spite of all of the changes, there is no part that isn't readily available if something has to repaired or replaced. So I'm at the point of having to take everything apart now and have him do final welding as most of this weekend's work is just tacked. Then it's off to powder coat. I've been very fortunate to find an obsessive welder and painter. They've treated my project like it was their own. Check out the top rear section in the first picture. It's pretty cool.
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