Selloutlabel
1978 Kawasaki Kz200 Project
So I'm sure many of you have brought home a bike that perhaps just wasn't that good looking or really showed no merit at all a time or two. I've done this many times. I've brought home non runners, no titles, and just all around pieces of garbage. I really got into it this time. A local guy on our Cafe Racer Group (Cincinnati, OH) was selling a basket case of a beast, as you shall see in just one moment. I pissed off my girlfriend when i just showed it to her, followed quickly by her cries to not buy the beast but as we all know the story, I bought it. It was delivered after i looked at it the night before. we couldn't start it since the battery had died but the Owner had reassured me that it would in fact idle. So no start but i wanted it anyways since it was an interesting bike that i hadn't ever messed with and generally i don't give 80s bike a chance or second glance for the most part.
So I purchased what was a 1980 Honda CB400T ii Hawk as it was called. the bike had been cut up, lowered, hard-tailed and stretched. For some, that is there cup of tea but i'm not much of a tea drinker so i decided that it needed to go back to a semi stock suspension geometry. and definitely add suspension in the rear and get the bike up off the ground to get some clearance.
So what i basically did is take my spare 1974 CB360 frame i didn't have a title for and eyeballed if i could use the rear suspension and frame section. well as it turns out...you most certainly can with a few well aimed cuts and sloppy welds. yes the tubing is plugged where i cut and reconnected it. seems very solid. i will grind the welds and hit them up again once i can get to a better welder. The bike is now a conglomerate of a few different parts. 1980 cb400 engine and front frame section, 1974 cb360t rear frame section and suspension, swapped the cb400 triple for the cb360 triple so i had ability to lower the front end a bit. the clip ons are from a Honda nsr125 replica that happened to have 33mm forks (all steel construction), a 1981 cm400 rear swingarm which i was told may be 1 in longer than original cb400t swingarm but i have no reference, and a 1979 kawasaki kz400 rear fender, skateboard seat (BLACK LABEL), and lastly i added a 1978 cb400t tank because imo it was the best looking of all the hawk tanks available from 1978 to 1981. more to come i moved all this stuff over from the hondatwins forums.
So here are the pictures, Let me know what you guys think. Any questions or comments are welcome. Thanks for your time, hopefully more updates soon.
a few updates to keep it going found a 1978 tank which i much prefered to the original and the other one that didnt fit right
Another quick little up date. i pulled the bike out to do the typical stare at your bike in awe and bewilderment at how much you have left to do move.
put the pipes on quickly and threw the covers on again and set some cb360 seat material down to emulate the shape of the seat i want to do. here is the outcome. throwing pipes on really makes it start to take shape in my head. close to deciding on a color scheme but not yet. need to do some more sketches
another quick up date working on a seat decided to do the old skateboard seat trick because for me its pretty much the perfect shape
had to notch it for old tank mounts left on the cb360 rear frame but this gives me an access hole to run my wiring down to where battery is.
So I purchased what was a 1980 Honda CB400T ii Hawk as it was called. the bike had been cut up, lowered, hard-tailed and stretched. For some, that is there cup of tea but i'm not much of a tea drinker so i decided that it needed to go back to a semi stock suspension geometry. and definitely add suspension in the rear and get the bike up off the ground to get some clearance.
So what i basically did is take my spare 1974 CB360 frame i didn't have a title for and eyeballed if i could use the rear suspension and frame section. well as it turns out...you most certainly can with a few well aimed cuts and sloppy welds. yes the tubing is plugged where i cut and reconnected it. seems very solid. i will grind the welds and hit them up again once i can get to a better welder. The bike is now a conglomerate of a few different parts. 1980 cb400 engine and front frame section, 1974 cb360t rear frame section and suspension, swapped the cb400 triple for the cb360 triple so i had ability to lower the front end a bit. the clip ons are from a Honda nsr125 replica that happened to have 33mm forks (all steel construction), a 1981 cm400 rear swingarm which i was told may be 1 in longer than original cb400t swingarm but i have no reference, and a 1979 kawasaki kz400 rear fender, skateboard seat (BLACK LABEL), and lastly i added a 1978 cb400t tank because imo it was the best looking of all the hawk tanks available from 1978 to 1981. more to come i moved all this stuff over from the hondatwins forums.
So here are the pictures, Let me know what you guys think. Any questions or comments are welcome. Thanks for your time, hopefully more updates soon.
a few updates to keep it going found a 1978 tank which i much prefered to the original and the other one that didnt fit right
Another quick little up date. i pulled the bike out to do the typical stare at your bike in awe and bewilderment at how much you have left to do move.
put the pipes on quickly and threw the covers on again and set some cb360 seat material down to emulate the shape of the seat i want to do. here is the outcome. throwing pipes on really makes it start to take shape in my head. close to deciding on a color scheme but not yet. need to do some more sketches
another quick up date working on a seat decided to do the old skateboard seat trick because for me its pretty much the perfect shape
had to notch it for old tank mounts left on the cb360 rear frame but this gives me an access hole to run my wiring down to where battery is.
Look forward to your updates on this one 
