One year...

[sclay115]

..I've been really...really quiet about this over the course of me putting this one together. I love build threads, but I have not the patience, or forethought to put one together for myself. I also didn't want to quite reveal the paint until it was done. It's something that is quite a departure from what I see most of the time, but I like it, it's striking in person.

It's not really quite 'done' yet, few finishing touches here and there, but it's a point where I could ride it, and make sure everything works before I put the icing on the cake. Didn't want to paint/finish something and then have to fix it.

Unfortunately I spilled some gas on the tank(figures right?), and will have to figure out what to do with that, looks like it's only in the clearcoat but we will see. This tank was a temporary thing anyways, I have other...plans... :twisted: But, without further ado, here are two pictures I was able to take before my camera ate it's batteries. I will be pasting this also on the Hondatwins forum, so don't be surprised if you see it word for word elsewhere. Oh, and I appreciate all the encouragement from you guys, even though you may not know it, pictures, technical topics, it all kept me motivated through the whole thing. So, here ya have it!

Not quite road legal, no mirrors or a headlight, but wow, it feels good to finally ride it. For comparison, here is how she looked when I pulled her out of the shed almost exactly one year ago:

Comments are welcome, and if you have any questions, ask away. I will try to answer them to the best of my ability.

Steve

 

[locOleoN]

HOly Shit!!...(Can I say SHIT on this board??...). WHat a difference!!..
DO you have any pics of the build in t progress??...

Great work man!! ;D

 

[Druro]

HOly Shit!!...(Can I say SHIT on this board??...). WHat a difference!!..
DO you have any pics of the build in t progress??...

Great work man!! ;D

Yes you can... and it's your board (well, you Tintin, etc etc.)

very nice work, especilly seeing how it was. Well done!

 

[sl8rxlr8r]

Looks sweet! I'm working on a cb350 also. What tires did you go with? I like the look of them...

How'd you go about fastening the seat? Did you eliminate the battery or move it?

 

[Tim]

Those look like Avon Roadriders to me. Check this thread out:

http://dotheton.com/index.php?topic=2410.0

 

[HerrDeacon]

Nice work sclay115, that's quite a transformation. Love the seat, build it yourself?

 

[ProTeal55]

Love white bikes !
Great job....

 

[sclay115]

Thanks for all the comments guys. I'm super stoked about it being on the road. I'll see if I can answer the few questions that are up here. Yes the tires are the Avons. They are the 100/90?/19 in the front, and then the 110/80?18 in the rear. If I remember right...seem to be really good so far. I didn't build the seat myself, and I'm not entirely happy with it, so that may change, for now, it works perfect. It's attached with bolts, some rubber isolators, onto some cross bars in the frame. When I get some more time, I'll snap a few more pictures. And as far as build pictures? No I don't, I had a few, but they were hardly worth posting, I'm not real good at organization, so I wasn't going to attempt to create a build thread. But again, thanks for all the comments, now comes the teething process, most everything works perfect, just need to work on the carbs a bit. Then I should be good to go!

Steve

 

[rawfish]

the bike looks good! 8) It looks like the same bike I'm building.

 

[Drewski]

That is a really sweet ride!! An amazing transformation!!

You've inspired ME now because I'm just picking up a bike in similar condition to yours! I've been wondering if i'm out of my mind or not (probably!), but here we go!

Enjoy sorting it out! I think that's a big part of the fun!!

These project are rarely ever 'finished', just waiting for the next inspiration!

Good work!

 

[sclay115]

That is a really sweet ride!! An amazing transformation!!

You've inspired ME now because I'm just picking up a bike in similar condition to yours! I've been wondering if i'm out of my mind or not (probably!), but here we go!

Enjoy sorting it out! I think that's a big part of the fun!!

These project are rarely ever 'finished', just waiting for the next inspiration!

Good work!

Yea, in reality this shouldn't have taken me nearly as long as it did, but I had a huge amount of setbacks, life related, not motorcycle related, that prevented me from working on it at times, and almost had me sell the project at one point. Boy am I glad I didn't! Speaking of which, yesterday when I got home from work, I wanted to do some carb tuning, and I was doing that, I realized it was still light out. Mind you have no headlight, or mirrors, so not quite legal. But I HAD to take it out, so I took a quick ride around our sub-division. Wow, let me tell you the looks I got from people! People did the 'stop everything they are doing and stare' move. Not sure if it's because of the bike or because of the exhaust! Either way, it was nice to have it out on the open road as apposed to just in front of my house.

Steve

 

[rawfish]

I'm sure the bike looks good going down the road, but the exhaust is the first thing you hear before you see it.....I started mine for the first time last nite and man that sucker is load.

 

[TenTwelve]

Nice work. I'm planning on white too but, that'll be where the similarities end. I look forward to more pics.

 

[CBHandle]

Great looking bike, it's an inspiration for the CL350 I'm currently rebuilding (gotta love those high pipes).

Couple questions: did you paint or powdercoat your clubmans, or did you find them already in black somewhere? Also, where did you get the plate/taillight bracket?

 

[sclay115]

Great looking bike, it's an inspiration for the CL350 I'm currently rebuilding (gotta love those high pipes).

Couple questions: did you paint or powdercoat your clubmans, or did you find them already in black somewhere? Also, where did you get the plate/taillight bracket?

Found them black, which was a huge selling point for me, I'm not a huge fan of chrome at all. And the taillight bracket is from Baas Metal Craft. Money well spent, it's is built absurdly strong, and was built specifically to fit that taillight I'm using. I could not have asked for anything better. If I remember right it was a little on the high side price wise, I think 60$ish. But being without a torch, or a plasma cutter, I wasn't about to attempt making one on my own. And it fit the axle perfectly, which is a huge plus. And yes, the high pipes are swweeeettt, albeit they are a little warm on the leg.

Steve

 

[sclay115]

Just had my first chance to really ride the thing, got my mirrors and headlight, so took her for a good ride around town. Few things I thought about as I looked back on the build:

Buy good gaskets. Don't be like me, basically every paper(or whatever) gasket I am using on this thing is leaking. Not pouring out, but it is seeping. Which is a huge bummer. The side covers shouldn't be too much of a big deal to fix, but we are talking from the rocker cover on down. I will attempt to re-torque the head after I run a few tanks through it, I would love if that fixed it, but I am not getting my hopes up. But I will ride the hell out of it, and just top off the oil often. I'll build another 'hot' engine later on, but for now, I'm too happy to take it apart.

How do I go about balancing these carbs? I think I had read somewhere that you use a feeler gauge on the stop screws or something crazy, but that doesn't make any sense to me. Anybody have any ideas? I'm getting an occasional miss while cruising, and I'm hoping that it is something related to that. Or the pilot circuit, which is at the factory 1 turn out, might go about adding a bit more fuel and see what happens.

Getting it dirty. Wow, I would not consider myself obsessive about keeping things clean. But obviously, this bike is basically brand new, and is spotless. But let me tell you how relieved I was to see that unavoidable puddle in front of me. I got wet, the bike got wet, and I was so happy about it, now I can actually ride it!

Relax, this took me a while, once I got it to idle correctly, I slowly started to not worry the bike. I double, triple, quadruple checked EVERYTHING over the past few weeks, now, it was just time to calm down, and enjoy the ride. And I did, stopping periodically to check on things, but once I realized nothing was falling off, or going to fall off, hell, oh so that's what redline feels like on a parallel twin!

It's going to take a few more short trips to really build up my confidence in it, but I'm pretty excited about it. Starts first kick, idles...well...like a Honda, and gets looks wherever it goes. I am so glad for it to be finished, and now...for my next project...I plan on building the polar opposite of the CB350, and build a CB750 Bobber. Hardtail, springer, etc. etc....

Steve

 

[sclay115]

Some detail pictures, rear sets mostly, and others. Enjoy!

These are '04 Yamaha R1 rear sets. With little or no modification necessary t be used. They are shortened, but the mechanics are the same as they were on the R1. I could not have asked the shift side to come out any better than it did. Yes that is the factory R1 shift shaft, and arm. These work..beautifully, I cannot say this enough, it is as if this is the way the system was designed from the get go. Ask me any other questions, but the pictures are pretty self explanatory. And they also explain that I'm not quite finished with that part of the bike yet, it's just so much fun to ride I didn't want to tear it down quite yet.

Also, as someone asked for, these is where my kickstarter is as it passes by the rear sets. No fitment issues at all. Like I said, could not have asked for anything better.

And here are a few more pictures just for kicks. Enjoy!

Steve

 

[DrJ]

OMG That's brilliant. You sir have broken new ground. Now there is absolute evidence that R1 rearsets will work extremely well with CB350s. Looks like you had to shave off the original bolt mounts and drill new holes but the angles match the frame plate perfectly. Off to the wreckers!

 

[fugue]

That looks great, Steve! Was wondering where you got the allen head bolts for the motor case covers? Is it just a kit off ebay?

 

[sclay115]

Yea they really do fit quite well, the brake side left a little to be desired, but honestly, it works so well I can't bring myself to mess around with it. The 'arms' are shortened a fair amount, and new holes are drilled. I wish I took pictures of the step by step process, but if you look at a picture of a factory rearset, and then mine, you can see the obvious differences between the two.

And as far as the bolts, yea i got those off ebay a looooong time ago, not sure if they still make them or if they are still around though...

Steve