sl8rxlr8r
Buy the ticket, take the ride.
I bought this bike in late january of 2007... been working on it off and on since. 18,000 miles.
I bought it from a sexy little tattooed asian girl... Perhaps I was too busy looking at her ummm... tattoos.. when i should have been paying attention to the finer points of the motorcycle... but oh well. I only paid $500 bucks for it... Also learned a valuable lesson... *When buying an older bike, do lots of research first if possible as to what kinds of parts are available, resources for information, and look over every inch of it. Also, multiply the number of little issues you think you're going to have by about 5.*
What i've done....
New fancy pants bridgestone tires, fornt and rear.
Rebuilt front brake caliper.
Master cylinder robbed off an old ninja. Need to find a master cylinder with a little more ooomph though...
Rear wheel had hub turned, and shoes relined and matched. Rear brake works awesome!
New wiring harness. What a royal p.i.t.a...
New battery.
New air filter / oil filter / fuel filter. Cleaned the air box.
New turn signals fornt and rear.
Vintage clubman bars scored from an old racer at a swap meet for 20 bucks.
New grips.
Rebuilt fuel petcock. New fuel lines.
New chrome bolts for the handlebar clamps.
New black allen head screws for the engine side cases.
New side cover.
Rebuilt starter clutch... new gasket and such. Starter clutch problem was a mother. Seriously.
New Clutch cable. Shortened.
New throttle cable. Shortened.
New spark plugs, points, condensor, spark plug caps and wires.
Carbs rebuilt with kits.
New rear brake light lens.
Forks rebuilt, lowers lightly polished, new seals.
Engine side covers polished.
New chain.
Tuned, timed... found out the timing advancer had rusted together... fixed that...
Still to come probably this weekend:
New carb float on brake side...
New battery cables...
More cleaning and polishing...
Black bar end mirrors. (tomorrow)
Shorter, silver metal braided front brake line, and a new master cylinder...
Thinking of having the seat re-profiled and upholstered, although this one is damn comfortable, and doesn't look as big in person as it does in the pics.
I haven't ridden in two years, until today.... I rode the bike from the shop to the place to get it inspected (it PASSED!!!) and rode it through downtown on the way home... Gets alot of looks, and is a blast to ride... Starts up and purrs... And for an old bike handles beautifully, has alot of torque, and is very responsive on the throttle. The pipes sound great... I'll post a video soon.
PLus... insurance for me is only like 14 bucks a month, for lots of coverage, AND after 8 years and thousands of miles... I FINALLY went and got my motorcycle learners permit, and just have to go and take the riders test now...
AND... now that this is mostly done, i can start on the cb350 cafe build (my basement is overflowing with cool parts), AND i just bought myself an early 30th birthday present... A late 60's Benelli 350... Which has very unique cafe bodywork on it...
I'm sure most of you know the rush of A) riding again after a period of being away from it and B) riding a vintage cafe that you've breathed life into again, and really knowing your machine... After all the hours and hours, the work, sweat, bloody knuckles, research, money, TIME, aggrivation etc.... it just feels great. Can't wait to get it tagged tomorrow, and the big yearly vintage motorcycle is this sunday!
