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Hi all, I'm a complete noob to bikes in general. Bought one today, where to begin ?

24K views 173 replies 29 participants last post by  Fk5 
#1 · (Edited)
9/8/2016 So as the title says I just bought my first bike. I"m 17 and I love pretty much anything with an engine. I never really thought about getting a bike before because they just didn't really catch my eye, that was until I came across the cafe racers. So I went on craigslist and Bought myself a 1973 Honda cb 350f, the listing said it hadn't run in 14 months and had 24k miles on it I scooped it up for $450 ( seemed fair from what I read online, maybe not but I'm in it now lol) over all it's pretty rough. I'd love to turn it into something like this motographite: HONDA CB 350 FOUR "SMOOTH CRIMINAL" by THE TARANTULAS. I guess I'm just asking for advice from all of you, Where to source parts for cafe racers etc specifically the cb350f. I want to apologize in advance for any ignorant questions I might ask but until today, the day I'm writing this post I've only had experience working on cars. I figured I'll start with powder coating the frame and work up from there. Here's a couple pictures of the bike in all it's glory... Brace your self she needs a lot of love. I'm not sure why the pictures are so small when I upload them on here but here's a link to the craigslist ad https://atlanta.craigslist.org/atl/mcy/5753333875.html I purchased the 4th and 5th picture is mine.

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9/12/2016

Ok so here's a quick update for those of you who are interested. I spent a the better half of my Sunday figuring out how to get it started and I got it going ! for a whole 3-4 seconds. from what I read I should replace the jets and mess around with the carburetors (I realize that's ignorant, but that's what I have all of you for :) ). The semi-working conditon is good enough for my purposes I'll do what I can with it but ultimatlely I'll probably have a shop restore the engine to a decent working condition and see if I can sit in. As far as the bike goes I've got it mostly stripped down, the wiring is pretty rough so I'll be removing that as well, I'm planning on getting the rest off it this week so it's just the engine and frame I'll part out the fork,tires,suspension,handles etc. I also read you only need a bill of sale in georgia for pre 1985 bikes which is convenient. So once I have the legal side of it all taken care of, I'm going to start putting some $ into it.I do have a handwritten bill of sale that's technically legal, But I'm going to get a hold of the seller here soon and see if we can get something more official. I also had the Vin ran and it's not Stolen... which is a positive. Here's a picture as is.... beautiful, just don't look right at it.

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Thanks in advance for any feedback,
Miles
 
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#4 ·
Get stuck in!! First try and get a run out of the engine, then start stripping, refurbing and rebuilding component assemblies one at a time so you don't end up with a million bits all over. So long as the engine doesn't sound like someone left tools in it leave it be. Just service and clean it.

And post up some pictures along the way.
 
#5 ·
#6 ·
Without a title you may end up with a worthless pile when you finish. You probably want to spend some time investigating what it will take to license that before you do anything. It would really suck to spend time and money on something only to find you have to give it away because it was a stolen motorcycle.

And powder coating the frame should be one of the last things to do,not the first. What are you going to do when you realize you need to weld a bracket on to your freshly powder coated frame? Get that thing running first. And good luck with that.
 
#8 ·
I appreciate the feedback, I wouldn't just throw a bunch of money at this thing prior to covering my bases. I have everything in writing from the seller (for what that's worth) and all you have to do is call your local police station and have them send over an officer to run the vins and go from there.
 
#12 ·
To find out what u need to register the bike go to the local DMV. If you can go to one that is not busy. Be very polite with the DMV person. It is their choice whether to make it easy or hard for you. Tell them you bought the bike, show them the paperwork you have. Ask them what you need to get the bike licensed and on the road in your name. They should tell you exactly what you need.

there will be fees....maybe sales tax on purchase price of bike, exsise tax, registration fee, new title fee etc.

some states, like Maine are very easy for old bikes with no paperwork. Others, like Mass are nearly impossible. In NY if you don't have the title for a post 1973 vehicle you may as well scrap it.

not sure what you need in Georgia. If hard ask guys here about the Vermont deal!!
 
#20 ·
Get it running and ride it ugly for a while.
The advice to get a good, running bike as well is very solid.
How can you know what feels and sounds right, if you've never ridden a motorcycle that was working well? I'm afraid that without the experience of even riding a bike before deciding to resurrect and customize a basket case like this, you are at a huge disadvantage, and the learning curve is actually going to feel more like a hairpin, and you haven't learned to use the brakes yet.
Find a cheap ninja 250 to ride to school and work while you work on your project bike. It will help you understand the whole thing, and save you a ton of money on gas in the process.
Sell your car, if you have one. (Not really) The idea here would.be to force yourself into riding in more types of situations, thus making you a better rider, and eventually you'll have opportunities to perform your own maintenance, which will help you develop skills that are essential to getting an old non-runner back to an operable and serviceable condition.
Your first step is not to completely disassemble your cb350, but rather to sign up for an MSF course and learn to ride a motorcycle rather than drooling over pictures of different "artists renditions" of what they want you to believe a café racer is. Trust me, they don't know either.
This advice is worth what you paid for it, but it can be the difference between a good motorcycle experience and a bad one.
The people here like myself who have been riding motorcycles for years are still here because our first few experiences with bikes were positive, and we actually got to ride, rather than feeling dejected as we sold our first bikes in several Rubbermaid totes on Craigslist for way less than we paid in the first place.
Good luck to you, and please at least consider that we know what we're talking about, and the advice is coming from people who ride bikes, and want more of today's generation to ride them, too.
 
#22 ·
Hang out throughout the beginner stages as well! Even without experience, you can start cleaning the cb350 up, and we can walk you through getting it running! Nobody is trying to run you off, we just want to help you do the bike thing right, for the sake of a better experience.
FWIW, the ninja 250 makes an excellent first track bike as well, if you wanted to get into road racing.
Or put knobbies on it and go see stuff off the pavement! They are very cheap and versatile, and if you mess it up, at least it wasn't something expensive.
Full disclosure, I have a few bikes, a cb350 being one of them, and I love it.
I've been riding for more than half my life, and I'd still snatch up a deal on a 250 if it came along. It would be great for my commute every day.
The first thing I'd do with your 350 would be to try and turn the kick-starter, to see if the engine turns over. Then look in the gas tank for rust. If both of these check out, report back and we can talk about cleaning the inside of the tank and carbs, and I'd bet, if it really did run just over a year ago, it will start right up.
Keep coming back!
 
#24 ·
maybe, maybe not but I wanted something that would be difficult to work on so I could learn the bike inside and out. worst case scenario I'll buy a new engine. I'm not trying to get grilled on here I'm well aware the bikes a pos I'm just trying to find places to source parts from etc
 
#25 ·
I appreciate that so far you've been able to be a noob without being a knob.
A good attitude will take you further in getting help from people here and elsewhere.
To help, we could all benefit from a few more pics and inventory of what you have, what you need, and how far you are from running.
Nobody, not even you, needs to worry about what anything looks like, or how you plan to modify it, until it is a legal, running, and safe to ride motorcycle.
 
#28 ·
Always blows me away to see that somehow people that have never done anything mechanically impressive decide to completely rebuild a motorcycle. "From scratch", lol. Went to bed one night and magically woke up a bike builder, yep that's how it happens.

"Give it a shot" is terrible advice. Leave it alone, go buy a running legal bike and see about changing the oil when it needs it.
 
#29 · (Edited)
Quit being a dick. He never said he's a bike builder, just that he wanted to fix up an old bike. Where the
hell did you even come from?
Try to have a positive outlook- I've had a couple dozen running bikes, and all but three of them didn't start out that way. My first 5 bikes were barn finds that I had to fix before I could ride them, and it turned out just fine.
No, I didn't flip them for a profit, or have many people tell me how awesome they were, or how badass I am, but I had a bike to ride. Surely I'm not the only person who can make that work.
So yeah, give it a shot, new guy. It won't be cost effective, but it's cheap education, and you'll have fun if you listen to people with experience.
 
#31 ·
I give this young man credit for even wanting to put down his game controller and go out to the shed and get greasy. If he wants to take his motorbike apart and try to put it back together good for him. From the looks of the pic he really can't hurt it much.

yes, it would be better to start with a newer bike, but as a learning experience and to build skills and self confidence this will be a good project. Who knows, Maybe he is the next Todd Henning.
 
#37 ·
A mature and intelligent reply!! good for you!

Terrible advice is not encouraging a young 17 year old to get interested in a bike build.. some of my best years were tinkering with bikes and cars at 17 and what I learnt carried me into a number of projects, builds and competitive racing and you have to start somewhere.

My two pennies worth, the bike ran for a few seconds, you have spark so I'd check fuel. I wouldn't start messing with carb settings just yet unless the idle is too low. Get it running and don't strip it apart until its mechanically sound and you've ridden it as it will end up in a number of boxes and you will lose interest!

It is good advice to have a second running bike that only needs the oil changing though to improve your riding skills alongside a project bike. Good luck!
 
#39 ·
I would start by cleaning up your fuel system. Fuel tank likely has old crud and carbs will need cleaning. When that is done, with the stock air box installed, get the thing running properly. Then go through the electrical and get lights, signals, ignition etc. working. When it runs and electrical works, polish it up and sell it at the beginning of the riding season (high use season) when it will bring the most money. A running bike will sell for substantially more then non running. Buy something ride ready, use and enjoy it and then look for your next project at the end of the prime season. Several small projects and actual riding experience will teach you a lot about what you want and what is required. I agree with Hillsy that to think too big on the first effort is likely to leave you discouraged. You can't build a really good 3D printer by starting with what it will look like and the same is true with bikes or BMW's, packaging is the last step in production of almost anything.

I don't know if seasonal riding is applicable to Atlanta, you might need to expand your search northward where more people are likely to put bikes away in the winter to find better deals. I buy several bikes between September and February and sell them starting in May. Always take a battery with you when you are looking at a fixer upper.
 
#40 ·
Why does every hipster bang on about "learning it inside and out"? That is always said after admitting they don't know anything! Any old bike will give you plenty of chances to learn. Work for the sake of work is stupid. You will learn more buy riding and keeping it running then you will with a pile of shit. You should have just bought a broken lawnmower......
 
#46 ·
Firstly by definition a Hipster is "a person who follows the latest trends and fashions, especially those regarded as being outside the cultural mainstream." With that in mind I can't think of any of my friends who are doing what I'm doing, or a shitload of high schoolers building old bikes, so it's not a fad. As far as the trend and fashions part of it go cafe bikes have been around since the 1960's from what I've read so my project doesn't fall under that category either. Cultural mainstreams, I guess that depends on you're opinion of a mainstream bike I'll leave that one up to you. I'm not sure why so many of you are edgy about what I'm attempting, I'm yet to meet a person who was born with a complete knowledge on everything. Even if this project goes to hell, I'm ok with that I'm just trying to learn a thing or two. Thanks for suggesting a lawnmower, maybe that'll be one of my next projects :)
 
#41 ·
buy one that runs. play with it, make it run nice, etc.

i get people bring in much later bikes to me with seemingly simple issues and i have to run through the whole "it depends if it has something wrong with it, or it needs to be tuned" mental scenario to get them to understand that i can't just point a screwdriver at it for 10 seconds and have it be fixed. sometimes it ends a couple of grand later with them wondering what happened to their cheap ducati.

there's a reason it was cheap. always is. it's because it's fucked.
 
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