surffly said:
Screw what ever played out hipster look you have in your head.
Make meaningful functional improvements to the bike. You will enjoy actually riding it more, and then the look just magically happens.
To many people focus on the looks and downgrade how the bike works as a motorcycle. Then you have something that is little more then hipster bait as is mocked by anyone that really knows bikes.
Fenders are important, it is stupid to take them off.
That "open triangle" thing is lame. You wind up moving the batter up, and running pods.
Pods suck. You never get them to run right. They also kill power, and the power band
Low bars without the proper peg changes is lazy and shows a lack of understanding.
Seek out the "gentelmans express" write up from years ago.
Sound advise here; I'll throw in my 2 cents.
- This will not be your last bike - but if you start modifying it before you understand what you are doing, you risk this being your last bike because you could get into a tight spot and end up rubber side up.
- Try to avoid the cafe or front end swap. If you have big bucks, lots of time, and the right tools, you can make an impressive machine. But it will always be mostly for looks. After all, it is only a 550 cc engine. It is far more likely you will start to go down a path where you are poring $$'s into the machine, it may not stay in a rideable condition, and the value of the bike will plummet.
- Because this isn't your last bike, that means you will sell it one day. I promise it will sell fastest (for most money) being closest to stock condition than radically modified. In fact, I bet you will get far more complements from other people and fellow riders if it is stock and clean/shinny.
- On a limited budget, my priorities would be:
-- Good fresh tires and inner tubes
-- Properly set up suspension (new fork oil, proper springs up front, proper springs in rear and functional rear damping shocks)
-- Flushed brakes; I would upgrade to semimetalic pads. The only mod I might explore is swapping out the front brake disc to go with a bigger disc from a CB7750 from the same era. You would have to swap other components, but I think you can never have enough braking power on these old machines.
-- Tune up, use Iridium plugs
-- Get good riding gear. Its the one thing that will transfer when you move to the next bike.
-- A decent bike cover if your bike lives outdoors. Nothing sucks bigger than seeing Mother Nature age your bike despite your best efforts.
-- Well, there is one thing that sucks more than seeing your bike rust; its having it stolen. Get a good chain and lock and make sure you lock the steering head. These will only make it a little harder to steel the bike.
This might not be what you want to hear, but your be in a better position in a couple of years.
Good luck.
Jerry
