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Here is the 1977 Honda CB750 Cafe racer i am building with my best friend Matt. We worked out an exchange, I help him build his bike and he tutors me in college algebra. Normally i would not do a trade like this but my math skills are terrible. Have you seen the prices of one-on-one tutoring? Ridiculous. So far this trade has worked out perfectly. The bike is making great progress and i passed both of my math classes last semester!
Help is a funny word to use to describe my involvement with the bike. Matt is a computer guy, i am a car junkie. He is highly interested in computer technology, but also very interested in mechanical technology. He did not grow up in a house of car junkies and didn't have car junkie friends in high school, but he has one now. We spend a good amount of our time sitting around talking about engines, bike planning and daydreaming about ton up runs on the tollway at three in the morning. Matt was recently promoted at his job, thus allowing him the funds to tackle such a project. Something I'm not used to. Funds.
We have gathered about 70% of the parts from assorted places. Most of the large items have been bought. We're trying to keep a somewhat budget oriented mindset but at no cost to the quality and finish. At one time we entertained heavily the idea of a Rayjay turbo but gave up just because it was a bit much, and we're impatient to ride enough already! We have no idea how many miles are on the engine but we are thinking of having it rebuilt anyways. Perhaps with forged internals, that beehive seat would hold a small bottle perfectly.
Hopefully i can keep this thread alive with new pics of our weekly progress. Once it is ridable i will try to get video, so stay tuned!
Here is the bike, as is
We have no idea how many miles are on the engine but its in pretty good shape externally. Hopefully that applies for the inside as well. I chose this one out of the bunch based on its condition and the fact that it has road rash on the side. Hopefully this means the bike it came from was salvaged due to a wreck not to engine failure.
Heres Matt's two Honda's
Last time we worked on it, i built a metal brace to hold the seat. We messed around for about three hours trying to devse a hinge that would allow us the ability to lift open the seat from the side like a briefcase. We finally figured out how to mount the hinge on the inside of the frame rail but it was so hokey and complicated that we trashed it. Tomorrow we are going to hard mount the seat, as it should be on a Cafe Racer anyways.
It was such a beautiful day that we worked outside. Heres our temporary workbench. Later we couldnt get the torch lit in the wind so we moved it inside.
I cut out a template of the back of the seat, traced it to wood, and nailed a form to wrap the hot steel rod around to create the horseshoe shape.
Here i am heating the hollow steel rod we bought from Lowe's amazing metal bin.
I heated it evenly (mostly) and then bent it into shape. It worked great. Then i fabricated a clamping system and bent the loop ver to create the side supports for the seat. Here i am test fitting the piece
Once i got the shape down, i cut off the excess and welded in some bracing between the pieces.
Measure twice, cut once
Here it is almost done
Fits great! next time i will be mounting it.
For those of you who recognize me from my other threads, i will be doing some drawings of this bike. I have one already but its not up to my standards.
Here's my questions for the forum:
Is there an easy way to tell the condition of the motor? should i pull the head off and get a good look or use the money in wiser places?
If i do rebuild, what should we pay? we might do forged internals at that time. Any bike guys know about this stuff?
Nitrous?
Hopefully theres enough bike support here that i can get this thing built properly under some good advice. Thanks for reading!
-Justin Suhas
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