New-ish member, now in Ottawa, starting on CB750 cafe project

[Buster]

Hi everyone. I am navy EOD Diving Officer up here in Ottawa, Canada. I was on DTT a while back when I had my XS650 cafe in Toronto, but never posted much. I just picked up a '78 CB750K which I am in the process of doing a semi-cafe conversion on. Here it is as I bought it (i have carefully cropped out the horrible rack and backrest, which hurt my eyes to look at, and have already been removed):

I have ordered a billet top triple tree, LED instrument panel, and clip-ons from Bullit Custom Cycles in Toronto:

http://bullitcustomcycles.com/

I also have mini-gauges, small aluminum turn signals, a headlight bracket, grips, and a bar-end mirror coming from Dime City Cycles down in the U.S. The first stage will be to sort out the riding position, and get rid of the horrible pull-back bars that are on there right now (as well as the Halloween-pumpkin sized stock turn signals).

Phase two will be deciding on the seating arrangment, and whether I want to go with rearsets. I much prefer the look and ride of a single-seat and rearsets, but I would really like to keep the option of having a passenger on this bike. Here is my other bike, a single-seat, rigid-frame, suicide-shift 1953 Harley panhead, which is not practical in any way:

Just for interest, here is my previous XS650 cafe (now owned by a buddy of mine):

And here is a Harley Sporster 1200 cafe racer I did a few years ago, now owned by another buddy of mine who was in Afghanistan with me:

At any rate, I will post progress on my bike, and hope to meet up with some of the local SOHC members!

 

[CarbsAndCylinders]

You have built some very nice bikes. Your Honda looks to be in pretty good condition, if it were mine I would not cut anything off of it. Original paint on these tanks can look great on a Café. I have a 78 750 police bike that I hope to eventually get around to. Tons of parts for these bikes. I will be in T.O. soon, where is the shop that you got that bitchin triple clamp from?

Lookin forward to watching your progress.

Brian

 

[Buster]

You have built some very nice bikes. Your Honda looks to be in pretty good condition, if it were mine I would not cut anything off of it. Original paint on these tanks can look great on a Café. I have a 78 750 police bike that I hope to eventually get around to. Tons of parts for these bikes. I will be in T.O. soon, where is the shop that you got that bitchin triple clamp from?

Lookin forward to watching your progress.

Brian

Thanks Brian. The Honda is in great shape, but not completely stock, and I don't think the '77-78's are terribly collectible. Besides, nothing I am doing in the first stage can't be undone if I change my mind. I will decide in the second stage whether I want to go with a solo seat / rearsets, which is where I could potentially be doing some cutting and irreversible mods to the bike. We'll see.

The triple trees are coming from Bullit Custom Cycles, who are in Toronto:
http://bullitcustomcycles.com/

 

[Buster]

I will be in T.O. soon, where is the shop that you got that bitchin triple clamp from?

Brian, I just checked. Apparently Bullit is located out in Georgetown, according to their Facebook page. I am not sure if he has a storefront operation or just does stuff to order and over the net.

 

[CarbsAndCylinders]

Thanks, Buster!