1980 CM400 bobber in progress...

[1.BillyT]

Picked this thing up for a song, decided to bob it...

before:

2100 original miles, last tagged in 1980.

During:




More to come...

[JPawn1]

what is going on with your suspension?

[synthsis]

no suspension. he's using adjustable turnbuckles as struts. he lives in Texas where the roads must be better than Jersey, cause I'd never attempt something like that on our sh1tty roads.

[Vrucizzy]

I'd be all over that Porsche first.

[1.BillyT]

You guys have never seen a rigid bike? Not like I'm reinventing the wheel here. Most guys that do this just bolt some flat bar in where the shocks used to be. Trying do some thing a tick more inspired, here, but still short of building a new frame...

As for the roads... My daily:


No bent wheels, no cracked oil pans...

[1.BillyT]

Sorry... not trying to come off as an ass or anything, if it appeared that way

[JPawn1]

yes I've seen a rigid bike. I would never say "most guys" when it comes to your statement though. Some guys use flat stock, some use other stock. I've seen s-curved stock in place as a way to dress it up, but never seen whatever it is you have going on.

[AKADriver]

Can anyone explain to me what the point of doing that is?

If it's just for looks, I guess I just don't get it, a stock '70s Japanese bike is the epitome of style to me. It can't handle properly like that, can it?

[Mtl-Marc]

I'd be all over that Porsche first.

This.

[1.BillyT]

but never seen whatever it is you have going on.

That is the reaction I was after. It might as well be a completely rigid frame at this point. I just wanted to use the radius arms to do something different.

[1.BillyT]

And I asked about the Porsche. It's a little old Asian man's life long project... It's not going anywhere

[1.BillyT]

Can anyone explain to me what the point of doing that is?

If it's just for looks, I guess I just don't get it, a stock '70s Japanese bike is the epitome of style to me. It can't handle properly like that, can it?

It makes about as much sense as building an 800 hp Mk2, but I've done that too...

[yem_icculus]

It makes about as much sense as building an 800 hp Mk2, but I've done that too...

Dyno graphs or I call BS! Haha, jk, an 800 HP MK2 sounds like a recipe for rattly disaster. Drag car?

[1.BillyT]

yup... I got pics and graphs, don't worry...







Has run as quick as a 10.1 and trapped as high as 148. My old shop still owns the car and it will be going out again in November.

But the bike, it's just something to mess around with. I'm sure it'll get built 5 different ways by the time it's all said and done.

[JPawn1]

as these bikes of ours usually do. I'm already on my second build in a year, and it's the same bike. I built my cb450 from a non-running shell into something easy (just lowered the rear and painted up the tank and threw on some different bars...) To now I've got a completely different swingarm, tank, no front fender, new rear fender, and so on. Still not done. The point is for people who build, its rare to ever be finished their own stuff.

[1.BillyT]

150/80 on stock rear wheel. Bitch to mount. Had to clearance the brake brace and the chain is gonna take just a tick off the side of the tire ( like a CH for real) but it's on and good to go.




Plate bracket done...

[Holden McNeil]

I'm feelin' the white wall tire... subscribed. What are your plans for the tank?

[Gary C]

only some of your pictures are loading for me, but from the one I see with the tire mounted (shot from the left rear showing the lack of chain clearance & plate bracket) I'd highly suggest spending the time to relace / retrue and offset the rim a 1/4" -1/2" towards the right of the bike, if you've got the clearance for it on the right side.

Real common thing actually, and done all the time on Triumphs running Harley rear wheels. I know for a fact that 530 chains develop a pretty decent amount of side / side slop in 'em in as they age. I personally like to see around 1/2" of clearance between the tire and chain, but that's just me...

[1.BillyT]

I'm feelin' the white wall tire... subscribed. What are your plans for the tank?

Not 100% sure yet... I just know it needs more rake to look the way I want it too. I've seen a couple of tanks I like, itjust isn;t on the top of the priority list just yet.

only some of your pictures are loading for me, but from the one I see with the tire mounted (shot from the left rear showing the lack of chain clearance & plate bracket) I'd highly suggest spending the time to relace / retrue and offset the rim a 1/4" -1/2" towards the right of the bike, if you've got the clearance for it on the right side.

My original plan was just to space the sprocket out a 1/4", move the wheel back over to keep the chain in line, but that will give me some issues withthe brake brace on the other side. I think what I will probably end up doing is trying to space the front sprocket out a 1/4" as well, and leaving the wheel spacers alone. That said, I get answers on both sides of this... Give it more room, then other guys that say just run it and let it clearance itself. It is barely into the tire at all, and that part of the tire looks like what I could call a rim protector on a car tire... which I see rubbed off all the time It'll be a while before the bike gets ridden anywhere, though, so I have time to get it sorted. I really just wanted to make sure the tire would actually fit in the swing arm

[1.BillyT]

new chain is on...

Bidding on a sportster tank on eBay... don't wanna spend too much, prolly lose it towards the end. But the sportser tank is what I'm after.

[1.BillyT]

Not too much going on with the bike. Just getting all the details sorted... Coming along...

[Ghetto-8v]

You can get a JPM Peanut tank on ebay for under 100 shipped and already painted.

[JPawn1]

i was curious, so I searched ebay for JPM Peanut tank and not a single listing came up.

[1.BillyT]

ha ha... There are Sportster knockoffs for 65, no paint though.

[Gary C]

JPM = Johnny Pag Motorcycles is my guess. You can get their painted complete tin sets for like $110.

Or you can just buy a taiwan ted tank for cheap.

I buy new "sporty" tanks from the likes of Taiwan Ted that I then proceed to cut apart, all day long, every day for $60. Just gotta look. Granted, they are not geeeenuine Harley steel, but to cut 'em apart and slice & dice every which way from Tuesday, they're more than adequate. Just make sure to pressure test em first (any of 'em actually) before doing your paint job..hate to find a small pinhole leak after the fact. And based on the fact it's Taiwan Ted junk... pinholes should be expected.

[JPawn1]

nothing a coat of por15 can't cure. I got one of those taiwan knock offs as well. I'd post a pic of my process but this isn't my thread.

[Aetsh]

Loving what you're doing to this..

[1.BillyT]

I'd highly suggest spending the time to relace / retrue and offset the rim a 1/4" -1/2" towards the right of the bike, if you've got the clearance for it on the right side.

This... I didn't read this carefully enough. Awesome suggestion that I just never really considered until now. Thank you sir.


My 16" rim should be here today, so the process of building the 16" front and putting the 130/90 up there is the next project.

For now, this is how she sits.



Not much different than the last pic, just a better angle.

I will look at those TT and JPM tanks too. Thanks for the tips fellas.

[JPawn1]

although I'm not a fan of whitewalls...I am a huge fan of wheels being the same diameter front and rear. If I wasn't so cheap I would have done a 19" front and 19" rear on my bike. Stoked to see the process. Keep posting pics!

[Gary C]

This... I didn't read this carefully enough. Awesome suggestion that I just never really considered until now. Thank you sir.
.

You betcha. Best of luck with it. I've done that a few times prior when building Triumph chops and running Harley rear wheels / hubs. They too wind up needing a slight bit of offset built into them, and doing that is just the ticket. They track just fine too. Never had a problem.

I should give you a heads up before you search Taiwan Ted and come up empty handed... Taiwan Ted is slang for V-Twin, as in the VTwin catalog. Purveyors of cheap Taiwanese knockoff crap. Their inner primary setups don't fit for crap without a bunch of machining / tweaking, outers leak like a sieve, etc...but. It's a *fraction* of the price of real stuff, and if you have the knowledge / tools can definitely be bodged together to work. Just don't do anything with their trans internals unless you look forward to perpetual nightmares and wondering if the thing will lock up on ya 1,500 miles from home.

Seriously though, the $60 knock off sporty tanks are a great donor tank. I've got one sitting on one of my frames right now going through mock up. Cut the tunnel out, built a new set of mounts and frisco'd the thing. I'm into it for maybe $80 including shipping, my steel stock, the argon, tungsten, filler rod, etc. vs buying a used sporty tank for about the same that I would then have to rework anyway... where I got to start with virgin steel. They really are hard to beat.

[1.BillyT]

although I'm not a fan of whitewalls...I am a huge fan of wheels being the same diameter front and rear. If I wasn't so cheap I would have done a 19" front and 19" rear on my bike. Stoked to see the process. Keep posting pics!

16" hoop showed up today, so that process will start this weekend. I have a local shop that is going to cut and turn new threads onto the existing front wheel spokes, then lace it up with that 16" hoop. Can't wait to get it done.

I should give you a heads up before you search Taiwan Ted and come up empty handed...

I did just that, and came up with just that.

Purveyors of cheap Taiwanese knockoff crap. Their inner primary setups don't fit for crap without a bunch of machining / tweaking, outers leak like a sieve, etc...but. It's a *fraction* of the price of real stuff, and if you have the knowledge / tools can definitely be bodged together to work. Just don't do anything with their trans internals unless you look forward to perpetual nightmares and wondering if the thing will lock up on ya 1,500 miles from home.

Seriously though, the $60 knock off sporty tanks are a great donor tank. I've got one sitting on one of my frames right now going through mock up. Cut the tunnel out, built a new set of mounts and frisco'd the thing. I'm into it for maybe $80 including shipping, my steel stock, the argon, tungsten, filler rod, etc. vs buying a used sporty tank for about the same that I would then have to rework anyway... where I got to start with virgin steel. They really are hard to beat.

I just had this conversation with my friend that bought my shop, about how we won't use parts from ebay that customers bring, and we won't advise anyone to buy "ebay brand" type stuff, but we will still use it on our own projects. It's really the difference between knowing exactly what you are getting, and truly believing you are getting something amazing for nothing. I was reading feedback on a seller and found an irrate negative feedback on a radio that was a piece of junk and not to waste your money on it, and the thing was seriously a dollar. One dollar. I mean, come one. You pay a dollar for a radio, you get a radio that is worth a dollar. ha ha... anyway... thanks again for the insight. Project is moving along nicely. Just about 3 weeks in at this point. New frame with title is supposed to show up tomorrow, then I am really in business.

[1.BillyT]

No more gauges... small headlight in the works.

[JPawn1]

can't wait to see it with the 16" up front. You changing front forks then? Whitewall as well I'm assuming? It's looking clean without all the gauges up front.

[1.BillyT]

same forks. 130 should just barely clear, and yeah, it's a white wall.

Put some new bars on today, off of a CD175. Ran the wires thru the bars too, really cleaned things up. Gonna put all the switches in the bars with toggles and get some new levers on there. Things should look way cleaner then.



These bars actually have an internal throttle... Just need to get a new CD175 cable.

[Ghetto-8v]

I can't find the tank anywhere either. Hmmmm. They used to have them. I offered like 80 shipped and he accepted. Painted gloss black, nice job too.