-
Well, its been a really long time since I wrote anything here and my web guy is pissed. So one of my efforts for the new year (I don’t make resolutions) is to be more diligent about the blog.
First off as many of you already know I did finish the tracker project which Mike Aberle promptly named “Bad Penny”. The bike turned out great and I was able to ride it up to the Owl’s Head meet last fall.
Two goes on ebay failed to produce a sale but I think that is largely due to the time of year. The bike is in the shop and for sale at $4200 if interested give me a shout.
The other big thing is that we moved the shop last summer to our current location at 82 Parris St. in Portland’s Bayside area. We are still by appointment only but are looking to have regular hours and a retail store open in the spring. again, stay tuned for more info.
We are currently working on a couple of customer builds over the winter and the next post will focus on one of those, a 1977 CB550F that we are doing a mild cafe conversion on for a great customer!
Enjoy the new year everyone!! Peace, Love and Spanners!!
Scott
-
Well, It’s been a while since I updated this build. Steady progress is being made. The frame is stripped and detabbed, just about ready for paint. Yup, Paint. Not powder. I’ve been going back and forth on the paint vs. powder issue. and what it boils down to for me is that I just don’t like the look of powder. Even when well done it looks kind of, well, not like paint. So, we’ll be hitting the frame and all the bits with a good epoxy primer and then a single stage urethane paint sytem.
We beefed up the front end with a CB500t front rig. This will allow the wide front tire we want to run on this as well as give it some heft.
Headlight bracket is fabbed up and the light mounted for mock up.
I had my friend Mark Dobson come down from Wiscasset last weekend to help us fab up a stainless exhaust for the bike. We cut and tacked it up and Mark took it home to finish the welding with his tig set up. I’m really loving the look of this and the stainless will be left raw to help punch the lower half of the bike. Thanks Mark, looks great!!
I should be able to start painting very soon! Stay tuned!
-
Well, I got an email about a week ago from the nice folks at Hell for Leather magazine. Asking to feature the CB200 “City Cafe” on their website. I sent a bit of info and a bunch of pics and voila! http://hellforleathermagazine.com/2011/01/custom-metric-motorbike-cb200/
Actually, as new as we are most of you are probably coming here for the first time from there! Welcome! browse and enjoy. the site is still being set up, particularly the store, so check back often. if you want to be made aware of new products and blog posts please shoot us an email and we will add you to the list.
Thanks!
-
Lately I’ve been admiring the small displacement tracker “hybrids” that have become really popular in Japan and I want one. They’re not really any one distinct style but draw from a lot of places and are really attractive. What I like about the style is, well, first off they are f@#%ing cool as hell looking! Going beyond that I like that they seem somewhat practical. it looks like you could ride the hell out of one of these for a few hours without ruining your back for the next week. Further they don’t require a lot of expensive parts mods like rear sets and clip ons. They look like something you could create in the garage with basic tools. I like that. They also look like rolling sculpture and I really like that! I think Heiwa motorcycles in Japan has nailed them and this is where I’m drawing inspiration from.
Over the summer I picked up a basket case 1975 Honda CB360. Tom already had one in the shop in similar condition and we decided that when the time was right we would take these two $50 wrecks and make one nice machine. The time has come. Pics here show one of the two sad machines as we got them, and after an hour or so and a couple of high lifes.
A couple hours of cutting, grinding and welding later we have a nice naked frame.
I’m taking the original rear hoop and refitting it to act as a support for the bobbed rear fender. The frame rails behind the shock mount are cut off. I’m thinking I’ll try fitting some LED turn signals inside the tubing instead of capping the tubing.
The angle of the hoop in this mock up is too steep, needs to be knocked back a few degrees.
not quite right yet!
Lower half of the bike will be basically blacked out letting the tank and fender paint really pop. I’m thinking a dark copper color for this but not entirely decided just yet.
Stay tuned more coming as we go! Comments welcome!!
-
I picked this little bike up from a guy up near Bangor, Maine towards the end of the summer 2009. It was sitting in his cluttered yard in a line of other pretty forlorn looking two wheeled vehicles. He was asking $200. A dollar a cc I suppose. I have always loved the 200′s tank and I wanted to build a sleek little race inspired around town bike that would turn some heads and give a thrill on the back roads too. The CB200 seemed the perfect suspect, small and nimble but with just enough size and oomph that even a full grown man could ride it without either looking or feeling completely ridiculous.
The bike was in sad shape. Rusty, dirty and with out carbs or gauges, brake levers and other odds and ends all gone missing. She had been picked over good thats for sure. But the motor turned and that great tank was there and un-dented. So, after some hemming and hawing on both parties parts I was able to load the thing in the truck for $50.
The plan was to keep this simple and really clean and, well, sort of cheap. I also wanted it to appeal to as many potential buyers as possible so, no rear sets or clip ons here, no crazy frame or suspension mods. I just wanted to make sure the motor was sound and that all the chasis parts were cleaned and renewed as needed and then put some effort into the styling. I really tried to think about how this bike was going to be ridden and who was probably going to ride it. What I came to was that this will most likely be a first time rider perhaps a women or maybe someone stepping up from a scooter, something along those lines. So the bike needed to be reliable and safe first and foremost. Also, If someone wanted the full cafe treatment those were reasonably easy mods for the next person.
As far as safety and reliability go the motor was built from the bottom up and since the carbs were missing I used that as an excuse to replace them with new mikuni vm20′s which add both mikuni zip and mikuni reliability. Those carbs combined with fresh points, new coils and spot on timing get this little beast going on the first kick almost every time. The brakes both front and rear were completely rebuilt with ferodo replacement pads and shoes and new Duro “vintage” tires grip the road and look the part too. The biggest frame mod was a simple re-location of the battery under the seat hump and the elimination of the battery, air and tool boxes in the frame triangle.
I think the finished product here meets the goals. The bike is fresh but nostalgic and I think the seat design really compliments the lines of the tank, motor and frame. I like it so much that I am producing the fiberglass seat pan for sale. You can find that in the parts and accessories area. All in all I think we have a great little scoot here and I can’t wait to see it go to a great new home! Hopefully someone local so I can admire it around town.
