Howdy!
I'm new to motorcycles within about a year and a half, but I've already rehabbed one bike and I'm starting my second. This time I think I'm going for a cafe racer setup. I've already gotten a lot of ideas from you all so I figured it was time to register and stop lurking.
A little background:
I've always been into tinkering and shiny things that go fast, but I'm chronically underemployed (grad student/teacher) so the funds are low. I used to be into mountain bikes and built a couple of fun rides out of parts that I found in people's garages or on e-bay but never anything with a motor. For a couple of years I talked about getting a motorcycle and the deal my wife made me was that she wouldn't complain about it *if* I could find a bike for under $200 and rebuild it so I knew it inside and out and could tell if something was going wrong. I think she thought that would keep me from ever actually doing it, little did she know...
So a couple of years ago a friend of mine called me up and offered me a free bike. It was her parts bike, but hers was finally where she wanted it and she knew about my deal so I jumped on it. It's a 1980 Honda CM400t. Not a particularly muscular bike, but for my first one it's perfect.
Anyway, about 6 months after I got that bike and started working on it, my friend broke off a spark plug in her head, stripped the hole extracting it, and discovered that her tank was full of rust that had screwed up her carbs and cylinders. So she gave me that bike too as a parts bike. Sweeeeet!
Within a couple of months, I had the first bike clean and humming. I'll try to post a pic. I got my cycle endorsement and have been loving it for a little over a year now. It's perfect for tooling around town, riding with the wife, and generally having fun, but it's nothing to look at.
Now I've been tinkering with the other bike, formerly known as the Parts Dolphin due to it's long teardrop shape and blue color. New head and valve cover and cleaned jugs and pistons hopefully fixed the motor. I've been rebuilding the carbs this week, if I can get the needles to set fully and stop leaking gas I should be able to fire it up this week. Fingers crossed.
Now I realize that this is a suboptimal bike for a cafe conversion, but the price is right and I want to use it to get my skills up to date before investing any time or energy in a nicer bike. It's going to need a new tank and a few other bits anyway so I figure it's a perfect candidate for a cafe project. If I can do if for minimal cost, I'm sure I won't hear any complaints from my wife, but therein lies the challenge. If you don't mind, I'll be asking for a little help along the way. If all goes well, I'll have a slick ride in time to put it away for winter storage (starts pretty early up here in the Great White North).
I'm new to motorcycles within about a year and a half, but I've already rehabbed one bike and I'm starting my second. This time I think I'm going for a cafe racer setup. I've already gotten a lot of ideas from you all so I figured it was time to register and stop lurking.
A little background:
I've always been into tinkering and shiny things that go fast, but I'm chronically underemployed (grad student/teacher) so the funds are low. I used to be into mountain bikes and built a couple of fun rides out of parts that I found in people's garages or on e-bay but never anything with a motor. For a couple of years I talked about getting a motorcycle and the deal my wife made me was that she wouldn't complain about it *if* I could find a bike for under $200 and rebuild it so I knew it inside and out and could tell if something was going wrong. I think she thought that would keep me from ever actually doing it, little did she know...
So a couple of years ago a friend of mine called me up and offered me a free bike. It was her parts bike, but hers was finally where she wanted it and she knew about my deal so I jumped on it. It's a 1980 Honda CM400t. Not a particularly muscular bike, but for my first one it's perfect.
Anyway, about 6 months after I got that bike and started working on it, my friend broke off a spark plug in her head, stripped the hole extracting it, and discovered that her tank was full of rust that had screwed up her carbs and cylinders. So she gave me that bike too as a parts bike. Sweeeeet!
Within a couple of months, I had the first bike clean and humming. I'll try to post a pic. I got my cycle endorsement and have been loving it for a little over a year now. It's perfect for tooling around town, riding with the wife, and generally having fun, but it's nothing to look at.
Now I've been tinkering with the other bike, formerly known as the Parts Dolphin due to it's long teardrop shape and blue color. New head and valve cover and cleaned jugs and pistons hopefully fixed the motor. I've been rebuilding the carbs this week, if I can get the needles to set fully and stop leaking gas I should be able to fire it up this week. Fingers crossed.
Now I realize that this is a suboptimal bike for a cafe conversion, but the price is right and I want to use it to get my skills up to date before investing any time or energy in a nicer bike. It's going to need a new tank and a few other bits anyway so I figure it's a perfect candidate for a cafe project. If I can do if for minimal cost, I'm sure I won't hear any complaints from my wife, but therein lies the challenge. If you don't mind, I'll be asking for a little help along the way. If all goes well, I'll have a slick ride in time to put it away for winter storage (starts pretty early up here in the Great White North).
