SoyBoySigh
Been Around the Block
Hey there, I'm building my old '82CB750F, doing a wire wheel swap with fat radials, changing a lot of body-work, etc. Not so much a Cafe, as a tribute to the "Sand-cast". See where I'm going?
SO, I keep seeing that a lot of you guys are chopping off your tubular steel passenger peg "triangles", and I was sitting here thinking of fabricating my own, when it occurred to me, I'm an avid recycler!
I went to a lot of trouble making a set of "lattice" rear-sets from stock forward position peg plates from my bike, using two sets of plates ... even though I really didn't need to, I just did a set where I cut them out "lattice" style, (that's the type on the CB1100F and CB1100R, for you non 'F-ers) I tilted the master cylinder toward the rear to match the new pedal pivot location, cut down the stock steel (iron?) peg pivots and mounted them counter-sunk into the plates, and I even cut down the stock pedal and telescoped a new plate off a C70 Passport pedal I had kicking around.... Suffice it to say, I REALLY pissed around with them a lot but then I wanted the pegs further back and I had already cut holes out where I wanted them to go! Ha ha. And then when I was tinkering with the second set, I thought to myself "I could save about fifteen minutes here if I chopped up the things that I spent all of those hours filing and sanding..." and I guess I sacrificed them. But it's not like I would feel comfortable if they went on somebody else's bike, (I suppose it was better than I kill myself and my step-daughter, rather than some stranger....) Anyway, they don't go with the theme I want for my bike, they throw it right off. Fact is, I think I did the whole thing 'cause I just hate the look of the things. If I DO go for it again, I will build up a set using blank rear-set "euro-type" aka Honda-line plates, and just bust into them with a set of universal pegs, and then probably lattice them out again. Ha ha. But I would like to avoid the whole question. The DOHC frame is a beautiful unit, it's just got too much covered up by crap. The DOHC supersport swing-arm is a nice peice to put into any of the SOHC frames, it's beefier and a little bit longer and it doesn't have the long weld on the outside edge, but it still has the dragon-head Celtic Torc necklace looking chain adjuster slash axle plates, whatever you wanna call them. It only needs a slight dressing down on the sides and it's good to go, plus it's got roller bearings already, so ... yeah. I'm sticking with mine, I've got a spare which I intend to stick a nice simple round bar loop brace onto some day, about mid-way between the pivot and the axle. Old School. I dunno how the 110/80zr18 and 160/60zr18 are gonna look with the whole sand-cast theme, I just might have to chuck them and go back to the skinny rims at that point. Or just shoot myself....
Don't get me wrong, lots of other bikes have cool passenger peg plates made from alloy. Even some of the Hondas. The smaller twins from the DOHC era seem like decent designs, and if they were "latticed" they'd be pretty cool. Maybe they would make the most sense on a 400cc or 500cc tribute to the CB1100F or CB1100R. But here, I am trying to get away from that whole look, going in the other direction, and I think that the other bikes of the era are pretty cool. The Cb650 for example, with wire wheels, lot's of potential there. The C72/77 Hawk/Superhawk had some really really cool adjustable ones, I have no idea why Honda threw them out when they built the next generation. Well, I THINK they were just imitating the aftermarket when they did the Super-Sport SOHC 750, and followed suit with the DOHC generation as well. What I wanna do, is just build my DOHC as though none of the ugly shit happened. THEN I wanna do a wire wheeled version of a GSXR as tribute to the "Kettle" GT750, or some such. I just want to imagine a world where Pierre Terblanche kept on designing toasters and women's dresses and shit, whatever it was he was doing before he started messing with the Ducatis, and then the Katana, all of that crap they did to bodywork in the '80s.
Not just body-work mind you! In their haste to adapt tubeless tires they took the wheel back about a hundred years. All of the ads of the day would say that wire spoked wheels were "old fashioned". Well, I am gonna have to check old magazines, and see if those ads were ever across the page from a picture of an old West cowboy scene with a big old wooden wagon-wheel staring them in the face. Or at least an advert for the chocolate covered marshmallow biscuits! Yummy!
(((((At least, I remember them being yummy from before I went vegetarian/vega/vegetarian some twenty-odd years ago.... You know what though? Vegans have better Twinkies! We have to bake them ourselves, buy special mini-loaf cake pans to bake them in, and then learn to be oh-so careful while you pump icing into them. Good thing there too though, you get to eat your mistakes! Ha ha. Think about it, and you're gonna be looking for a vegan girl-friend (even if you're a woman, 'cause a lot of vegans are gay ha ha) just THINK about THIS: CHOCOLATE. Mmmm. Strawberry filling. See where I am going? Yeah, you can keep your damned wagon-wheels!))))
Go ahead and love your comstars and your Lesters and all the rest if that's your thing. I'm planning to fatten up a set of comstars for my next 'F build. I'm thinking now, my parts bike, I might like to just keep the engine cases and the frame, and see where it goes from there. Ha ha. Ten MORE years later....
But yeah, anyway. I don't care what you've got. I kinda like the bent loop narrow ones off the 400, whatever. If you've got the things kicking around and you're gonna chuck 'em out, I'd like to find out about it, and then I can crunch the numbers and see if shipping to here, Canada, right around Calgary Alberta, isn't tooo too prohibitively expensive. Which it usually is, everything I've bought off fleabay you can pretty much double it, the shipping is sometimes more than the part. Which really adds up, when I paid almost two hundred bucks each for the wire wheels I bought ('77 GL1000 fr, '77 KZ750B twin Rr) and now I'm gonna wind up only using the damned HUBS from the things.... Ugh. Word to the wise. Look very carefully, the tire size from two manufacturers, doesn't always mean the same rim width. Argh. But yeah, found a cheap Borrani 18x3", and looking at the 18x4.25 from buchanan's. I'd like to just use my old spokes, from the rear, but I'd wanna replace them with really really heavy spokes down the road, and then I'd have to re-drill the rim. Likely, have to ship it back. Just not worth it. SO, it looks like I'll have spare spokes that have already been polished.... Just gonna make sure. My nephews want them to play "pick-up sticks" with. Ha! The REAL disappointment, is finding that same rear wheel for twenty bucks the other day....
So YEAH. Please, I WILL compensate you for your time. Don't wanna get all excessive, what with shipping, it might still be worth welding up a custom set. Ha ha. I'll still have to weld the things on, which means either attempting to do it with my MAPP/OXY Berzomatic cheapo-torch, or buying an arc/stick second hand, or paying a professional. And I think I ought to opt for the latter, seeing as this is me AND my step-daughter gonna be riding this thing. Going with the cut-off bits could potentially save the hours it would take for a welder to whip up a good custom set, whereas I can still get a lot of adaptability here just by cutting them to length and moving them up and down. Should be "simple" or at least, simple-ER. So yeah, in light of it saving on a welder by the hour, it's worth shipping, maybe a little chunk of beer money (?) YOU let me know what YOUR left overs are worth to you, and we'll go from there.
It sounds like I am expecting a lot from the triangles, when you guys can't get them to work for YOU, but it's not gonna be stuck on there just like they were on the other bike, see. I visualize, in my little positive visualization meditation sessions over here, a set for passenger pegs and a smaller set for the rear-sets themselves. I think that would be really cool. Maybe they could be concentric and everything. Or, a longer set coming down almost vertically or just higher up the rear angle pointing down for the pillion/passenger....
That's where the stretch is gonna be, getting them back far enough for passenger feet. So I think it better to go higher up, straight from the frame rail perpendicular and all, shortest distance, etc. Seeing as my stock peg plates start low, go back at an upward angle, and then go way up higher. Measureing the rear peg from the frame rail gives me ... where's my tape-measure ... ugh my nephews broke it and pulled it all out ... Seven inches, from the center of the peg, to the edge of the frame tube. Center to center wouldn't make sense, as I figure I'll be needing a "lug", as in bicycle construction.
Yeah, so I'd be looking at something bigger for the passenger pegs like maybe a set of stock triangles off a SOHC CB750 or 500 etc, (Doesn't have to be Honda, I am sure they all used the same steel, being that they often used the same electrical parts after all!) and then the smaller little things like the ones off the 350 or 400, cut to the right length and just tucked in where I need them for rider's pegs. Dunno. It's a cool idea though, hey? Like I say, I'm an avid recycler. Ha ha.
And just think of how rewarding it will be when you're looking at the parts off of your old bike, when you have a giant poster of my bike up on your wall, or on the cover of all of the magazines, re-runs on the SPEED channel, etc etc.
And I'll try and get some pictures up soon, okay? Thanks for taking the time.
-Sigh.
SO, I keep seeing that a lot of you guys are chopping off your tubular steel passenger peg "triangles", and I was sitting here thinking of fabricating my own, when it occurred to me, I'm an avid recycler!
I went to a lot of trouble making a set of "lattice" rear-sets from stock forward position peg plates from my bike, using two sets of plates ... even though I really didn't need to, I just did a set where I cut them out "lattice" style, (that's the type on the CB1100F and CB1100R, for you non 'F-ers) I tilted the master cylinder toward the rear to match the new pedal pivot location, cut down the stock steel (iron?) peg pivots and mounted them counter-sunk into the plates, and I even cut down the stock pedal and telescoped a new plate off a C70 Passport pedal I had kicking around.... Suffice it to say, I REALLY pissed around with them a lot but then I wanted the pegs further back and I had already cut holes out where I wanted them to go! Ha ha. And then when I was tinkering with the second set, I thought to myself "I could save about fifteen minutes here if I chopped up the things that I spent all of those hours filing and sanding..." and I guess I sacrificed them. But it's not like I would feel comfortable if they went on somebody else's bike, (I suppose it was better than I kill myself and my step-daughter, rather than some stranger....) Anyway, they don't go with the theme I want for my bike, they throw it right off. Fact is, I think I did the whole thing 'cause I just hate the look of the things. If I DO go for it again, I will build up a set using blank rear-set "euro-type" aka Honda-line plates, and just bust into them with a set of universal pegs, and then probably lattice them out again. Ha ha. But I would like to avoid the whole question. The DOHC frame is a beautiful unit, it's just got too much covered up by crap. The DOHC supersport swing-arm is a nice peice to put into any of the SOHC frames, it's beefier and a little bit longer and it doesn't have the long weld on the outside edge, but it still has the dragon-head Celtic Torc necklace looking chain adjuster slash axle plates, whatever you wanna call them. It only needs a slight dressing down on the sides and it's good to go, plus it's got roller bearings already, so ... yeah. I'm sticking with mine, I've got a spare which I intend to stick a nice simple round bar loop brace onto some day, about mid-way between the pivot and the axle. Old School. I dunno how the 110/80zr18 and 160/60zr18 are gonna look with the whole sand-cast theme, I just might have to chuck them and go back to the skinny rims at that point. Or just shoot myself....
Don't get me wrong, lots of other bikes have cool passenger peg plates made from alloy. Even some of the Hondas. The smaller twins from the DOHC era seem like decent designs, and if they were "latticed" they'd be pretty cool. Maybe they would make the most sense on a 400cc or 500cc tribute to the CB1100F or CB1100R. But here, I am trying to get away from that whole look, going in the other direction, and I think that the other bikes of the era are pretty cool. The Cb650 for example, with wire wheels, lot's of potential there. The C72/77 Hawk/Superhawk had some really really cool adjustable ones, I have no idea why Honda threw them out when they built the next generation. Well, I THINK they were just imitating the aftermarket when they did the Super-Sport SOHC 750, and followed suit with the DOHC generation as well. What I wanna do, is just build my DOHC as though none of the ugly shit happened. THEN I wanna do a wire wheeled version of a GSXR as tribute to the "Kettle" GT750, or some such. I just want to imagine a world where Pierre Terblanche kept on designing toasters and women's dresses and shit, whatever it was he was doing before he started messing with the Ducatis, and then the Katana, all of that crap they did to bodywork in the '80s.
Not just body-work mind you! In their haste to adapt tubeless tires they took the wheel back about a hundred years. All of the ads of the day would say that wire spoked wheels were "old fashioned". Well, I am gonna have to check old magazines, and see if those ads were ever across the page from a picture of an old West cowboy scene with a big old wooden wagon-wheel staring them in the face. Or at least an advert for the chocolate covered marshmallow biscuits! Yummy!
(((((At least, I remember them being yummy from before I went vegetarian/vega/vegetarian some twenty-odd years ago.... You know what though? Vegans have better Twinkies! We have to bake them ourselves, buy special mini-loaf cake pans to bake them in, and then learn to be oh-so careful while you pump icing into them. Good thing there too though, you get to eat your mistakes! Ha ha. Think about it, and you're gonna be looking for a vegan girl-friend (even if you're a woman, 'cause a lot of vegans are gay ha ha) just THINK about THIS: CHOCOLATE. Mmmm. Strawberry filling. See where I am going? Yeah, you can keep your damned wagon-wheels!))))
Go ahead and love your comstars and your Lesters and all the rest if that's your thing. I'm planning to fatten up a set of comstars for my next 'F build. I'm thinking now, my parts bike, I might like to just keep the engine cases and the frame, and see where it goes from there. Ha ha. Ten MORE years later....
But yeah, anyway. I don't care what you've got. I kinda like the bent loop narrow ones off the 400, whatever. If you've got the things kicking around and you're gonna chuck 'em out, I'd like to find out about it, and then I can crunch the numbers and see if shipping to here, Canada, right around Calgary Alberta, isn't tooo too prohibitively expensive. Which it usually is, everything I've bought off fleabay you can pretty much double it, the shipping is sometimes more than the part. Which really adds up, when I paid almost two hundred bucks each for the wire wheels I bought ('77 GL1000 fr, '77 KZ750B twin Rr) and now I'm gonna wind up only using the damned HUBS from the things.... Ugh. Word to the wise. Look very carefully, the tire size from two manufacturers, doesn't always mean the same rim width. Argh. But yeah, found a cheap Borrani 18x3", and looking at the 18x4.25 from buchanan's. I'd like to just use my old spokes, from the rear, but I'd wanna replace them with really really heavy spokes down the road, and then I'd have to re-drill the rim. Likely, have to ship it back. Just not worth it. SO, it looks like I'll have spare spokes that have already been polished.... Just gonna make sure. My nephews want them to play "pick-up sticks" with. Ha! The REAL disappointment, is finding that same rear wheel for twenty bucks the other day....
So YEAH. Please, I WILL compensate you for your time. Don't wanna get all excessive, what with shipping, it might still be worth welding up a custom set. Ha ha. I'll still have to weld the things on, which means either attempting to do it with my MAPP/OXY Berzomatic cheapo-torch, or buying an arc/stick second hand, or paying a professional. And I think I ought to opt for the latter, seeing as this is me AND my step-daughter gonna be riding this thing. Going with the cut-off bits could potentially save the hours it would take for a welder to whip up a good custom set, whereas I can still get a lot of adaptability here just by cutting them to length and moving them up and down. Should be "simple" or at least, simple-ER. So yeah, in light of it saving on a welder by the hour, it's worth shipping, maybe a little chunk of beer money (?) YOU let me know what YOUR left overs are worth to you, and we'll go from there.
It sounds like I am expecting a lot from the triangles, when you guys can't get them to work for YOU, but it's not gonna be stuck on there just like they were on the other bike, see. I visualize, in my little positive visualization meditation sessions over here, a set for passenger pegs and a smaller set for the rear-sets themselves. I think that would be really cool. Maybe they could be concentric and everything. Or, a longer set coming down almost vertically or just higher up the rear angle pointing down for the pillion/passenger....
That's where the stretch is gonna be, getting them back far enough for passenger feet. So I think it better to go higher up, straight from the frame rail perpendicular and all, shortest distance, etc. Seeing as my stock peg plates start low, go back at an upward angle, and then go way up higher. Measureing the rear peg from the frame rail gives me ... where's my tape-measure ... ugh my nephews broke it and pulled it all out ... Seven inches, from the center of the peg, to the edge of the frame tube. Center to center wouldn't make sense, as I figure I'll be needing a "lug", as in bicycle construction.
Yeah, so I'd be looking at something bigger for the passenger pegs like maybe a set of stock triangles off a SOHC CB750 or 500 etc, (Doesn't have to be Honda, I am sure they all used the same steel, being that they often used the same electrical parts after all!) and then the smaller little things like the ones off the 350 or 400, cut to the right length and just tucked in where I need them for rider's pegs. Dunno. It's a cool idea though, hey? Like I say, I'm an avid recycler. Ha ha.
And just think of how rewarding it will be when you're looking at the parts off of your old bike, when you have a giant poster of my bike up on your wall, or on the cover of all of the magazines, re-runs on the SPEED channel, etc etc.
And I'll try and get some pictures up soon, okay? Thanks for taking the time.
-Sigh.
