Motorcycle Thread

[jaransonT3]

Now that the Type 3 Invasion and our week at teh cabin is over, I figured I would get the KZ Bobber project finished before getting back to the Sled.

I got the rear fender mounted and the modified for the taillights over the last couple of days.









Need to get the battery mounted, mount the license plate, and fabricate some side covers. Throw some stain black paint on the tank and rear fender for now. ( I am not going to spend a lot of time bodyworking the tank since I want to narrow it this winter.)

Then I can start riding it again.

[ThrasherBill]

Is it done yet?

[jaransonT3]

Made a bunch of progress over the last few days....

I got the rear fender fabricated and primered.


I got the tank smoothed and primered.


I modified the cross tube on the frame for more fender clearance.


I modified the battery box to mount the battery lower and turned 90 degrees.


I started leather wrapping my aluminum Unkl Ian seat.


and I got a bunch of it back together after shooting the tank and fender in stain black.






Still some work top do before it gets back o the road. Biggest job is going to be stuffing all of this spaghetti between the battery and the underside of the seat.

I also need to fabricate some side covers and a few other minor things.

Getting closer tho...

[Unkl Ian]

Looks good John.

[V8Transporter]

Nice! Interesting sort of casual flung Steam Punk flung wiring...

[dutchbeetle]

very nice bike!
bit smaller tank would suit it, but thats just an opinion.

[V8Transporter]

She screams Street Rod. Also, a small deadly pistol comes to mind. Nice thing about a larger tank... when you go places, you can also come back.

[metalmaster1766]

I like it

Ron

[volkswagnut]

My Jap oldies..

Pulled my Pop's 2 bikes from my Grandmom's basement..

1975 Honda CB750 Four
It was full dress, fairing, hard saddles, Monkey bars, King/Queen seat... Lowered with a Harley rear wheel and forks slid up a bit.. some 70's "look"..
Pop had painted it from Honda Red, to Candy Apple Maroon, to Turd quoise.. during the years and his seat time


Was going to go Cafe' racer... but went a little more refined.

I stripped most of the excess weight off....went over it mechanically.. gave it sliver spray bomb paint job and a light spit shine.. keeping some "patina"

Love the old smooth SOHC and straight cut trans gear sound.... brings me back to my childhood hangin' onto Pop.






Now... on the the next.. 1969 CA77 Twin 305 "Dream"

Pretty unique sound due to the piston firing events.. its a Thumper..

[V8Transporter]

Boy, that Dream brings back memories. I rode to Oregon and back on a borrowed black one in January of '70. The buddy I rode with had a 305 Super Hawk. We had a fantastic time. The 750 is really cool. Those four pipes usually don't survive the years.

[volkswagnut]

I think the reason the 4 pipes on the 750 survived.. was the 30 years of oil soaked crud on the bottom of them.... Now that they are clean.... probably go straight to hell.

As for riding the 4 speed 305 Dream.... its no interstate cruiser.. in my book..
Lots of fun round town and back and forth to work..

Riding either one of them I get to hear lots of stories as soon as I park..
Lots of.. " My Dad had one of these"
Love it..

Not too long ago, some young un.. asked me "What is that extra high pedal for" ... when I told him it was the starter... he looked at me like I was NUTS...

[V8Transporter]

You'd be surprised what you can do on the 305. Back then, it was a nice mid-sized bike.
It was the semester (January '70) break at the state colleges (San Jose State for me and my buddy, Terry). He wanted to visit his girlfriend, who was attending Oregon State. Terry's mother didn't want him to ride alone, so his brother, who had just left for the Navy, loaned me his Dream. Riding gear consisted of Levi's, Levi jackets, work boots and gloves, and open face helmets. We took Hwy 1 up the coast, got caught in heavy rain, learned how well newspapers stuffed inside a jacket can help keep you warm (although wet newsprint stains clothing), especially if you had the forethought to wrap yourself in plastic sheet secured with duct tape.
At several small cafes, people would watch us get off our bikes and slosh in, feel sorry for us and treat us to coffee and a meal.
We camped out, sleeping under picnic tables since we were traveling light, ie. without a tent.
At the Oregon boarder, we were treated to hot coffee, donuts and the use of the station's dryer.
Once we made Corvallis, we found his girlfriend's apartment. . And she had, "company." Not only that, but her roommate, whom Terry had hinted might like me, also had, "company."
We hung out a couple of days to check out the campus, and for Terry to make certain he'd really, actually, been 'dumped." Yup, he had.
On the way home, the weather Gods took some pity on us and once we left Oregon we actually had a day of riding in the sun. The bikes ran flawlessly the entire trip, with just one flat rear tire (We had a patch kit and tools).
Back home, with his brother's okay, I rode the Dream for a couple of weeks, cleaned and tuned her up. She was a nice reliable bike.

[JiI]

Kim, if it makes you feel any better, in 1970, I wasn't even in the womb yet!
Jeff
P.S. The econo-box of Depends and a new chrome plated walker with tennis ball feet are on it's way out to you.

[V8Transporter]

The "Econo Box," would that be enough to last me on a road trip to your place for a short two or three month visit? I don't eat much and the neighbors have only called the police twice about my snoring...um, last week.

[volkswagnut]

Originally Posted by V8Transporter

You'd be surprised what you can do on the 305. :

Oh no doubt..... It CAN be riden like any other. I just have no need to..

The Dream gets blown around a lot on the freeways.. Its more of a town and 2 lane cruiser for me....

In another time.. before there were so many asses fondling the phone or their distractions.. I'd been right there with ya.
Love just riding.. jump on and head to the hills or the coast.. Its what makes NC so nice...

People just simply dont see ya.. Always ride like a big red target is painted on ya..

[alykat]

Back when those first came out they were the next best thing to having a "cool" car if you had just gotten your drivers licence. Two of my friends had them, one white & one red. I was riding a Zundap (which looked similar) but wasn't quite as cool. Didn't really matter to me though, as I also had a model A and a 55 chevy (with the front bumper removed) 2 door with chrome reversed wheels. So i was tripple cool !

[V8Transporter]

A Zundap, a Model 'A', and a '55 Chevy?

[alykat]

That's what I had insured and licenced and on the street. At that time I had about a dozen 55/56/57 Chevys ( remember, you could buy 'em for $25 to $250 evry day back then) a 47 Ford with an Olds V8 in the back seat area, a couple of old Mercedes, a 140 drop head Jag, and I'm not sure what all else at that time . Probably about 25 to 30 cars. I didn't (and still don't) smoke or drink, I worked hard and spent all my spare money on cars, and you could buy a lot for a little. I miss those days.

[V8Transporter]

Oh yeah. I still have my Single Cab and a few bikes. Tinkering on these sort of keeps me young, I'd like to think. I save $ when members of this site ship me free Depends and chrome walkers (You'd be surprised what you can get for that stuff on e-bay. Um, don't tell Jeff.)

[volkswagnut]

A co-worker of mine had a Zundapp and rode the shit out of it.. then sold it It was a two stroke with 2 cylinders where one cylinder was a supercharger pump for the main.
He always wanted my Dream though...

.

[jaransonT3]

My KZ400 Bobber is ready for its maiden ride this weekend. Just need to fill the tank with gasoline and she should be good to go. I got the wiring all re-routed and everything still works. I did end up stripping out the turn-signals to simplify things a little more.

I still need to fabricate the side covers, pinstripe the tank and rear fender, and tool the leather seat. I bought a basic set of leather tools yesterday. I haven't done any leather tooling since junior high school, but it should be fun.

Here are some pictures....

[V8Transporter]

NICE! Are those 'Sporty' mufflers?

[jaransonT3]

Originally Posted by V8Transporter

NICE! Are those 'Sporty' mufflers?

Yup. They are sportster mufflers. They were already on the bike when I bought it. They sound good.

[jaransonT3]

I took her for a ride tonight. It felt great to be back on a small, lighter bike. She still runs great and is surprisingly comfortable given the seating position and the leather wrapped, non-padded, cast aluminum seat. I wouldn't want to ride her cross-country, but bombing around town is great.

Pinstripes for the tank and fender this weekend. And maybe a start on the side covers. The tooling on the leather seat will have to wait until I can get a couple of pieces of practice leather to play with first.

[jaransonT3]

Got the first two colors laid down tonight...





Even ran a maroon stripe around each side of both wheels...



A couple of more colors and maybe some graphics left to add.