The Norda

Sounds like a plan as long as the clamps cannot rotate. I love the look of a Featherbed and always wanted a Triton, right up to the day I bought a frame and could not believe how heavy they are. Then I wanted to move the swingarm pivot forwards and fit a longer swingarm and at that point I finally realized that I was back to the frame I designed in 1970 and never built to go with the 4 cylinder 500. DOHC motor that I designed around the same time. Neither were built but I have managed to modify a few frames since then. Keep up the great work.
 
gben said:
Is there any record of a Honda-4 in a featherbed doing anything well? I know that the first superbike champion Reg Pridmore tried putting a Kawasaki triple into his featherbed racer and It did not work, he had no cornering clearance, so he put a Norton engine back into it and was very happy with it. I know that the Honda 750-four was a great bike as built, and with a race-kit version, CR750 it won the Daytona 200 in what 1969? But the Cafe Racer movement today is based on what is trendy and fashionable, so it does not matter how the bike works I suppose, if it handles like a three legged camel that does not mean you can not putt to the local watering hole and pose on it, that is all a cafe bike has to do, make it to wherever it can be posed upon. I like the downgrade on the front brake too, going from a bulletproof and competent Honda disk to a nice trendy fashionable drum brake, another classic move made every day by those participating in the fashion trend cafe racer scene. Someday if anyone actually wants a bike that works they can always take Reg Pridmore's cue, a champion's cue, and take out the Honda Four and put a better choice in it. Good luck.
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I think it'll be fine. I don't race, I mainly commute on my bikes. Cornering clearance is mainly a worry for those who push bikes to their limit. Not something you should really be doing on the street.

Now I have found pictures of atleast 1 cb750 powered featherbed. Triumph engines were the most popular swap, followed by BSA, harley, vincent etc. There probably weren't many japanese engines swapped into a featherbed as the big japanese bikes mostly handled better than the old triumphs from the factory, and the last featherbed rolled off the line in 1970. Their premier line by then was the isolastic commando that came out in 67.

Now having said that the GT750 4ls brake is still used by many vintage racers today. Properly adjusted and with good shoes it'll stop rather well. They can get heat soaked easier than modern discs, but riding back roads that's less of a concern. I'm not even planning on lightening this hub, there's minimal weight that can be safely removed, so an aluminum rim with a tubeless setup will drop a fair bit of weight where it counts most.

FYI this is my daily rider, it's got a full suspension swap, rides on 17" wheels, is rephased, big bore, electronic ignition, flatslide carbs, and I did everything except bore the cylinders and powdercoat the frame. Would it handle well on flat track? Probably not, but it'll drag pegs if you get spirited on it.
20240721_084746.jpg
 
ridesolo said:
Wow. I'll admit that when I first joined up here there were lots of "posers" around; take some parts off, spray it all flat black, and get a leather jacket. But most of that bunch have been gone for a long time and those active on here are predominantly folk who are experienced, know what they are doing, willing to learn from each other, and aren't posers. Though it's still DTT and acknowledges the heritage this place seems to me populated with builders rather than posers.
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ex119x said:
Do you have any credentials which give any legitimacy to your speculation? Or are you just a google/keyboard warrior?

Talking about posers?
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I wouldn't worry much about what gben says. Judging from his bike list he's a bitter boomer who views modifying bikes as sacrilege. He's probably just mad that he has to pay someone to do the basic maintenance on his bikes, while people on here are doing serious fabrication and making bikes handle better than they did new. Not hard to do better than damper rod forks.
 
Rider52 said:
As a non bitter boomer I say carry on with your plans!
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Thanks, I would if anyone approved or not. When I was building my yamaha everyone said not to do a colored frame, but the orange frame looks good. That's one reason I'll never build bikes for other people. I build what I want, because I build them for myself.
 
Tim said:
This happens every February. We're all tired of the winter.

I miss my rephased XS650 (kind of). Kid I sold it to had it for sale a bit ago - I really should go offer him 1/2 of what he paid me for it.

Let's see that rear wheel come together.
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It'll be a little while until I order any big parts. I'm trying to save cash for a few different things, some take priority over a hobby. But I can still clean and polish the hub, work on the front motor mounts, make a head steady etc. before buying parts stops me.
 
Good to see the thread back on track. Back in the sixties,none of us had access to machine tools or expensive parts. In fact, it was kinda like...
 
teazer said:
Good to see the thread back on track. Back in the sixties,none of us had access to machine tools or expensive parts. In fact, it was kinda like...
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I'm lucky, I have a mill, lathe, tig, 20t press, vapor blast and normal hand tools in my garage. It lets me do things I could only dream up when I was younger.

I wonder how many tritons built back in the day were mostly stock norton with unity or dresda plates mounting the triumph motor.
 
Unity FTW. We bought engine plates and fiberglass tanks and clip ons and rear sets and so on and most cafe racers were not very good or very inventive, but did I tell you how poor we were ....
 
teazer said:
Unity FTW. We bought engine plates and fiberglass tanks and clip ons and rear sets and so on and most cafe racers were not very good or very inventive, but did I tell you how poor we were ....
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Not much different from what flooded the internet and coffee shops everywhere 10-15yrs ago then. Atleast they made it on to the road.

Honestly without shops like dresda, unity, cognito moto, and a few others semi-custom parts would simply be a pipedream for many people. A lot of people here are not the norm, having tools and knowledge to do custom fab even at some pretty basic levels. When I was younger even getting something welded up was an exercise in finding a shop willing to do it at a price I could afford. So the "hipster cafe" builds of painting a bike, throwing an ebay seat and some clubman bars on deserve the commendation of atleast getting onto the road. Plenty never leave the garage outside of boxes again.
 
Making a pattern for the front left motor mount. I'll make it a bit more rounded and smoother, but this is the basic pattern.
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I saw a pretty decent custom Triumph 650 today. Alas the rear conical hub could have used some ventilation and polish to match the rest of the bike.
 
Rider52 said:
I saw a pretty decent custom Triumph 650 today. Alas the rear conical hub could have used some ventilation and polish to match the rest of the bike.
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I rarely see pre 90s bikes on the road. The only time I really see any is when a swap meet is happening, people ride them to the swap meet. But it's still a minority of the bikes even there.

I'm willing to bet the back wheel has never been apart on the triumph you saw. Makes it hard to vent or drill. But is a testament to how well wheels hold up.
 
gben said:
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And a majority of people in the US rode mostly stock bikes too. The choppers were a very small subset of people who rode. Clipons/clubman bars, rearsets of solo seats weren't exactly great on your only transportation.

The resurgence in the 80s-2ks were really the people who wanted the full tilt street legal race bike in the 50s-60s but were either too young or too poor. They were building/buying what they always wanted, but couldn't have.

I build what I want, because I enjoy it. Wanting to build bikes is what pushed me towards being a machinist. I'm not a chopper or even harley fan, and japanese bikes can still be found cheap and rough enough to not worry about cutting them up.
 
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