HONDA CM400 CAFE BUILD - HOMEMADE CLIPONS

These are the clipons I machined for the project. They are pretty much just billet aluminum with holes punched in the right places and as much excess aluminum removed. Not sexy, but shop made. The aluminum is 7075. The real fun is making parts, not ordering them. Cutting metal and thinking through the process is a healthy endeavor, and much of what this blog is about.

HONDA CM400 CAFE BUILD - Frame Modifications

The bike was totally stripped and the frame modifications were the first order of business. First I cut the rear part of the frame off. These are often built up pressed metal components on UJMs. I wanted a cleaner more visible tube frame in the rear. This also gave me the opportunity to relocate the rear shock mounts to adjust the steering geometry. Raising the rear of the bike offers up less trail in the forks, and a little better handling in the turns.

I needed a set of new studs for the rear shock to frame mounting points. Two studs were turned out of 1" steel stock, and then a length of 1/2" square steel rod was tacked between the two studs to keep them in alignment.

I torch bent a tube forming the loop and cut two shorties making up the sub-frame. I fish mouthed the tubes and started to mock-up the layout.        








   

All the parts fitted and in place, Time to tack and lay beads.
















The finished frame modification. Yet to come are any mounting points , like battery box, tail piece mounts and turn signal mounts. These will come later as I start do the mock build and get all the components back on.

HONDA CM400 CAFE BUILD or Crap To Cool Crap

"Hey bro...your piece of crap is almost as cool as mine...!"

Three valve head and a honda smooth 5 speed gearbox

Who are we kidding here...these things are CRAP. Take the bike apart, and one quickly understands the term "de-contenting". The CM line was clearly an economy ride for the faint of heart. They are plentiful and cheap. So... $100 later...I got one. Then I got two more! these are as common as house flies. The strange thing is, there's a weird sort of following for these cucarachas. Please if you own one of these, and are fond of it, dont take it personally. Ill try to make some positive comments now that may make you feel a tad bit better about your ride. First off, even Hondas crap is pretty good. The Honda company is a class act and their engineering is often astounding. Second, hmm ...ok,  I'm stumped. Well any way, I was gonna shine my turd and get the few parts it needed to make it ride-able and then flip it. When I started looking at the list of parts, the restoration was beyond any sale price. Off it went to the butcher shop! This build is a combination of no holds barred and no money spent. Basically, try to do it all with rattle can and torch. so far the only money spent was on a set of those funky bullet turn signals. This will be a good build to watch in the blog because I will cover a bunch of good stuff like cable shortening and how to fuck up a perfectly good tank. Stay tuned followers, guests, and fellow cyclehackers. Oh by the way, a big HELLO  the folks in Indonesia that are looking at my blog...wtf.

CAFE VIRAGO BUILD - Aluminum Tailpiece

With a little break and shear work at my friends shop over at Marquis Restorations, I got the seat pan made up and tig welded it to the bumstop.  Filing and sanding and a few mounts are next. The tail piece is fifty percent of what makes a cafe bike look cool. This build deserves a slab of neoprene race foam on the pan, and that's on order. Now that the pan is set up, I can configure the rear sets.

A MESSAGE TO MY TWO FOLLOWERS AND...THE REST OF THE WORLD

   Dear Followers, Thank you for your generous loyalty, and your support which I consider charity, because I know how busy you are (all two of you). Thank you also to those who visit this blog, (the rest of you). I implore you to SPREAD THIS LINK like a venereal disease. Don't be shy, be shameless. Please, become a follower and tell your friends. It will make you popular and cool as well! Besides, who doesn't love to look at other people do all the work to make cool bikes, while you sit on your ass and click your mouse! I also must insist, that should I become delinquent in posting regularly, please make nasty and caustic comments to "inspire me to post more often. After all, it's not like I don't have nine billion other (better) F-n things to do! So, if I become lax, complacent, or even lazy, give me ur best Dutch, your best ball busting harassment to get me to post. Name calling will hurt, but I will understand that you're simply starved, and it is I, that am depriving you, of the next posting. Like a babe whose tit has run dry, please, cry out to me!  ok...
   Now  I would like to give you a preview of what's to come in future posts, just to wet your appetites (and entice you to become followers and spread this blog like a...well)    Coming up is;

•1967 Moto Guzzi Ambassador rat rod/bar hopper
•1981 Honda CM400 cafe ... ewwwww
•1977 BMW R75/7 cafe race bike
•1978 Kawasaki KZ400 street/tracker
•1956 BMW Rennsport replica racer
•1976 Aermacchi 350 factory race replica

 So stay tuned, stay alert, and become a follower. Its easy to do, and you can drink alcoholic beverages while doing so. Thanks again for visiting, and come back soon! Ride hard, ride often, and keep the shiny side up!

VINTAGE RACE BRAKES

 I started to re-manufacture vintage drum brakes, replicating the shop-made vented racing drums of the 1960's and 70's. I primarily have been doing Japanese drums, and of those, mostly Honda. These are great for the class racers and cafe customs. I am building a 1956 BMW Rennsport racer replica and I will be doing a Beemer drum  soon. I can vent most any drum. The process begins with cutting the brake plate bezels out of bronze sheet and indexing them with stainless steel screws. Then the openings are marked out and the plate is put on a rotary table, and the vent openings are milled out.

completed brake plate

 The drum itself is bored to receive bronze bezels with stainless steel mesh inserts. Then the spoke web is drilled and reamed for weight reduction ...and also...just because it looks so freakin' cool.

I am working on an all stainless steel linkage to replace the chrome plated stamped stock linkage. I am also casting the brake arms in aluminum, and I'm working on sets of billet brake arms too. I will be posting again with more pictures of the finished stainless linkage and the billet arms.
      I am selling these brake drums and they are priced a' la carte, choose your bezel material (stainless, bronze, aluminum), screen material (bronze, brass or stainless) brake arms, linkage, or just a base drum and plate. Front or rear drums, I do both.  If you would like information on pricing and options, please contact me at:   philippeck@earthlink.net     and just type     Q 4 RACEBRAKE       in the subject box.

CAFE VIRAGO BUILD - Some Aluminum Bits

 

The stock clutch actuator cover  is a hideous chrome job that had to go, after all, the engine is the focal point on this machine. the goal is all aluminum with black paint, so all the chromie bits MUST go. I machined an aluminum cover out of 1/2" plate with the appropriate reliefs on the reverse side and left an end mill finish on the top. The picture below shows the part installed on the engine.

 The stock Virago air box and filter are gone of course, so an air horn was the obvious way to go. The intake port enters the monocoque backbone on the left hand side, and cleverly uses ports in the frame to deliver air to each carburetor. I machined a very large velocity stack in aluminum that bolts onto the frame and will fit a filter element inside the frame port. Check out the scale with the penny next to it.  Frankly, it looks bad ass. I like it.

The stack, in place.