Figured I'd post this on here as well. Most of this is copy/paste from another forum, but it gets the idea across. I look forward to being a part of this forum!
I thought I'd throw this up here and keep everyone updated with my progress on my newest addition to my growing collection of bikes. I sold my 88 shadow today, and immediately went and bought a 1972 CB750K. I've been wanting to build a cafe bike for a long time now, and came across a great platform to start with.
Here's how I bought the bike:
As you can tell... it was hideous. There's some sweet mural of a bald eagle all over the tank, and eagles flying on the side covers as well.
I found a guy on craigslist selling a bunch of cb750 parts for 75 bucks, including a complete extra set of carbs, heads, rotors, extra fuel tank, sprockets, shocks, and the list goes on. I picked up the two rubber maid containers full of parts, came home, invited a buddy over, and loaded up on man fuel:
Got the beer... all set. Now to start tearing **** apart.
First thing to go was the seat. Pulled that off and ordered this gem which should get here hopefully this week and if not, then early next week:
That seat comes unpainted, so when I repaint the bike it the bubble on the back will be the color of the bike, which I plan to make Ford's rio red color that I loved oh so much on a 94 Cobra I once owned.
After the seat, I pulled off the handle bars and had to fight with all the wiring that was run through the bars to come loose so I could get the controls off. Got the bars off, then pulled off the chrome shackles that are on the forks which held the headlight in place. I'll fab up another bracket to hold the headlight a bit lower than stock to give a nice low profile look.
While I was working on the front end, I yanked the front fender which I originally planned to cut down to a smaller size, but now I kinda like the look of no fender at all, so I may go that route. Still undecided on what to do with the fender at the moment. I also pulled the forks up into the triple trees 2 inches to lower the front and give it a semi-raked stance. On the rear of the bike, I pulled the rust pitted chrome shocks off and replaced them with a set of black springs, and pulled the rear fender off as well.
One thing I love on this bike that it already had was the exhaust. I'll wrap heat tape around most of and leave about a foot long section at the end of the pipe to have the chrome look still.
That's it for today... tomorrow it gets a degreaser bath :banger:
Here's how it sits as of about 30 minutes ago:
I did a little cleaning on it today... not too much though. Mainly just rag cleaning to see what parts are going to need more work than just a standard degreasing. The wheels are mostly good with the exception of a couple of spots of rust on a few spokes, so I'll probably just end up painting all the spokes black and keep the polished lip. That'll look good with the colors I'm using anyway.
I ordered some heat wrap tape, so once that get's here the exhaust will get all wrapped up and will start look much cleaner. Both fork seals are going to need to be replaced, so I'll probably do that, and paint the fork tubes black when I have them pulled all apart. I'll have a bright red/black/polished color scheme going when it's all said and done. Just like my old cobra
here it is after a very mild cleaning. I haven't even touched the chain yet... it doesn't bind anywhere so as long as it cleans up nice I'll probably just keep it the way it is. If it does need replaced, I'll put a red chain on it to go with the color scheme:
I need that damn seat and cowl to get here so I can figure out what kind of tail light I want to buy. I'm debating between side mounting the tail light, but need to see how the cowl sits on the bike to make my decision.
got my clip-ons in. mocked them up... now confirmed that ill need new brake lines (ill probably just get a whole new master cylinder from a new bike), as well as a clutch cable.
I think I'm going to try to keep the controls as clean as possible, and have as little wiring coming from the clip-ons as possible. I'll have no turn signals, and I'll put the headlight control/engine kill switch/electric ignition buttons on a switch panel that I'll mount to the original risers. I've got an engineer buddy who's going to draw the stuff up in solidworks, and we'll cut it on his CNC. Might even do a 2 tone etching style job to label things, but it should look neat.
Seat and rear cowl should be here by the end of the week, so I can mock that up too.
No pictures of the clip-ons mocked up... but here they are after I opened them:
Theyre woodcraft 3 piece clips. Even better in person than in the pictures.
A couple updates:
Got the clip-on's on. Now I need to find a master brake cylinder that I like as well as a different clutch perch. I decided I'm going pretty modern with the look of the controls. Ill have no engine start, horn, turns, or hi/low beam switch on the bars, but rather on a switch panel just below the guages. I'll completely get rid of the turn signals, as I dont need those.
The seat also came in. Here's a crappy cell phone picture to give an idea how it sits.
That seat quality is amazing. It took about 2 weeks from the time I ordered it, to the time I got it... but it was a made to order thing. I order the seat, they lay the glass, upholster it, and send it out. The seat is just amazing... can't wait to paint the hump.
Next up is the controls and new cables/brake lines. I gotta run out to a local sport bike salvage yard to grab a throttle control, and clutch perch/lever... and I'll probably order a Nissin master cylinder here this weekend.
Im also wanting to grind off the original seat hinges on the frame, and attach the seat with a couple butterfly nuts on the bottom side. The hinges have bent over the years, and I don't have the original seat lock, so the seat just line up perfectly when using those mounting points.
Ill keep posting updates as I go!
New master cylinder ordered. It's a Nissin replacement... it'll be black with a black lever though.
Sorry for that cluster of different posts all in 1. I didnt want to have to re-type all of that.
I thought I'd throw this up here and keep everyone updated with my progress on my newest addition to my growing collection of bikes. I sold my 88 shadow today, and immediately went and bought a 1972 CB750K. I've been wanting to build a cafe bike for a long time now, and came across a great platform to start with.
Here's how I bought the bike:
As you can tell... it was hideous. There's some sweet mural of a bald eagle all over the tank, and eagles flying on the side covers as well.
I found a guy on craigslist selling a bunch of cb750 parts for 75 bucks, including a complete extra set of carbs, heads, rotors, extra fuel tank, sprockets, shocks, and the list goes on. I picked up the two rubber maid containers full of parts, came home, invited a buddy over, and loaded up on man fuel:
Got the beer... all set. Now to start tearing **** apart.
First thing to go was the seat. Pulled that off and ordered this gem which should get here hopefully this week and if not, then early next week:
That seat comes unpainted, so when I repaint the bike it the bubble on the back will be the color of the bike, which I plan to make Ford's rio red color that I loved oh so much on a 94 Cobra I once owned.
After the seat, I pulled off the handle bars and had to fight with all the wiring that was run through the bars to come loose so I could get the controls off. Got the bars off, then pulled off the chrome shackles that are on the forks which held the headlight in place. I'll fab up another bracket to hold the headlight a bit lower than stock to give a nice low profile look.
While I was working on the front end, I yanked the front fender which I originally planned to cut down to a smaller size, but now I kinda like the look of no fender at all, so I may go that route. Still undecided on what to do with the fender at the moment. I also pulled the forks up into the triple trees 2 inches to lower the front and give it a semi-raked stance. On the rear of the bike, I pulled the rust pitted chrome shocks off and replaced them with a set of black springs, and pulled the rear fender off as well.
One thing I love on this bike that it already had was the exhaust. I'll wrap heat tape around most of and leave about a foot long section at the end of the pipe to have the chrome look still.
That's it for today... tomorrow it gets a degreaser bath :banger:
Here's how it sits as of about 30 minutes ago:
I did a little cleaning on it today... not too much though. Mainly just rag cleaning to see what parts are going to need more work than just a standard degreasing. The wheels are mostly good with the exception of a couple of spots of rust on a few spokes, so I'll probably just end up painting all the spokes black and keep the polished lip. That'll look good with the colors I'm using anyway.
I ordered some heat wrap tape, so once that get's here the exhaust will get all wrapped up and will start look much cleaner. Both fork seals are going to need to be replaced, so I'll probably do that, and paint the fork tubes black when I have them pulled all apart. I'll have a bright red/black/polished color scheme going when it's all said and done. Just like my old cobra
here it is after a very mild cleaning. I haven't even touched the chain yet... it doesn't bind anywhere so as long as it cleans up nice I'll probably just keep it the way it is. If it does need replaced, I'll put a red chain on it to go with the color scheme:
I need that damn seat and cowl to get here so I can figure out what kind of tail light I want to buy. I'm debating between side mounting the tail light, but need to see how the cowl sits on the bike to make my decision.
got my clip-ons in. mocked them up... now confirmed that ill need new brake lines (ill probably just get a whole new master cylinder from a new bike), as well as a clutch cable.
I think I'm going to try to keep the controls as clean as possible, and have as little wiring coming from the clip-ons as possible. I'll have no turn signals, and I'll put the headlight control/engine kill switch/electric ignition buttons on a switch panel that I'll mount to the original risers. I've got an engineer buddy who's going to draw the stuff up in solidworks, and we'll cut it on his CNC. Might even do a 2 tone etching style job to label things, but it should look neat.
Seat and rear cowl should be here by the end of the week, so I can mock that up too.
No pictures of the clip-ons mocked up... but here they are after I opened them:
Theyre woodcraft 3 piece clips. Even better in person than in the pictures.
A couple updates:
Got the clip-on's on. Now I need to find a master brake cylinder that I like as well as a different clutch perch. I decided I'm going pretty modern with the look of the controls. Ill have no engine start, horn, turns, or hi/low beam switch on the bars, but rather on a switch panel just below the guages. I'll completely get rid of the turn signals, as I dont need those.
The seat also came in. Here's a crappy cell phone picture to give an idea how it sits.
That seat quality is amazing. It took about 2 weeks from the time I ordered it, to the time I got it... but it was a made to order thing. I order the seat, they lay the glass, upholster it, and send it out. The seat is just amazing... can't wait to paint the hump.
Next up is the controls and new cables/brake lines. I gotta run out to a local sport bike salvage yard to grab a throttle control, and clutch perch/lever... and I'll probably order a Nissin master cylinder here this weekend.
Im also wanting to grind off the original seat hinges on the frame, and attach the seat with a couple butterfly nuts on the bottom side. The hinges have bent over the years, and I don't have the original seat lock, so the seat just line up perfectly when using those mounting points.
Ill keep posting updates as I go!
New master cylinder ordered. It's a Nissin replacement... it'll be black with a black lever though.
Sorry for that cluster of different posts all in 1. I didnt want to have to re-type all of that.
