[JayceLane]

Gooday gents (Same thing I said in my opening post under introduce yourself section)

Thought I would join this forum, seeking to learn about motorcycles as I admittedly tackle my first motorcycle rebuild.

Yes, I do like the modern take on older bikes. "Restomod" in car language terms.

So here is a picture of the project bike on collection, on the back of my 1979 Ford F250, which had a Honda RS fairing a believe fitted to it and way ugly for me. (Not the truck, but the bike)





Known issues:
1. Loads of smoke on startup and for as long as I can run it which has not been much.
2. Spark plugs 2 and 3 appear to be fouled with Oil.
3. New brake pads required.
4. Oil looked like it had not been changed in decades.
5. Someone did a terrible paint job which is all peeling off.
6. And yes the tank is not original.
7. Bike was put down at some stage, with some fins missing off the right side (obscured by fairing) of the barrel and generator cover, has some deep scratches.
8. Afterburn on deceleration.
9. Noisy clutch basket area, which quietens down when clutch handle activated.

So where I am at now.
1. Just got my carb rebuild kit.
2. New brake pads.
3. Calipers sent away for test and clean.
4. Rest of the general maintenance to do, before I do anything else.
5. Did remove the rear seat bolt on tabs on horizontal brace over back wheel, as my intended seat and rear sections is going to flow off that.
6. Headlight removed, so that I could access the nest of wires behind it to see what was going on.
7. Opened up the valve cover, though I would set gaps only to learn........ ohhhhhh.......What the hell are shims. Why don't they do it like cars.

Last photo of how not to drop the forks, was quite funny though wanted to see if I could turn the handlebars upside down to see what a clubman kind of look would be like. In having to remove the fork tube cap, almost took myself out when the cap shot off. In taking both off, they bike naturally ummmm dropped. Was ready for the second one though, but wont do that again without the bike properly supported.



Cheers and may the comments flow.....

 

[Geeto67]

Dude whatever you are doing right now just stop. You shouldn't be lowering that bike and what ever the hell you think "clubman look" is...is just plain wrong.

someone at sometime put cb1100r bodywork on your bike which is not only rare and expensive but also an indicator that the bike was a superbike era cafe racer in its own right. Instead of butchering it to be a wannabe 50s Brit trash wagon, embrace its street racer past and refit the bodywork and focus on suspension and brake upgrades. Otherwise you are just going to ruin something that was cool to start out with.

 

[JayceLane]

Was expecting the introductory comment. The dropped look was purely by accident.... wanted to see what the handle bars would look like turned the otherway round as if using clubman handle bars or clip-ons..... note I be mixing terms here and could be wrong. Definitely trying not to do anything stupid hence me joining the forum. Also a somewhat anecdotal comment. One lives and learns.

 

[Geeto67]

By the way, put the handlebar back on in the right position. Your bike has the factory "sport kit" that Honda offered for performance riding. That means that your bar and rear set foot peg/controls position was designed by a Honda engineer for the best ergonomic position on this bike for sporting riding. The pieces work best when used in conjunction with each other. If you research cb Honda superbike racers you will see that big wide "superbike bar" handlebar is necessary to muscle these giant tanks around in a sporting way. Anything smaller or lower just means you need to hit the gym and bulk up your arms because this bike can easily ride you and make you it's bitch.

This is is why I sometimes hate newbies, the get all excited about their stupid BikeEXIF/pipeburn/deus vision that the don't always see the jewel right in from of them.

 

[KeninIowa]

Should have done a compression test or leaked it down before you tore it apart.

They run hot. I imagine hotter with a fairing and some fins knocked off in South Africa.

More than likely needs a top end.

 

[Geeto67]

Here is your build plan. I am going to save you months of research.

Do the cbr wheel swap. The rear (cbr600f2) is bolt on but the front will require you to use the front end off a cbr f1 hurricane (which is bolt on). Get the whole front end from top clamp to tire including brakes and fit the f2 wheel to it. This should all be bolt on.

Get a cb1100f alloy swingarm. It is a bolt in unit also.

Get good rear shocks. Marzocchi, Ohlins, works, or vipex if you can't find the good stuff.

Kehin cr 39 carbs. The stockers are junk.

refit cb1100r tail but lose the rear mudguard and fab up a smaller LED taillight and plate holder.

When you are done you should have a modernized version of this:


Which is is way cooler than whatever you have planned because it actually appeals to real bike people and not just hipster douchebags who want curbside appeal.

our can see most of the mods I am talking about on this Australian forgotten era race bike:

 

[Dean]

Some inspiration from AC Sanctuary

 

[JayceLane]

Dean thanks for inspirational pic.

Geeto thank you for your straight forward speak as well. I can see that I am going to learn a lot here. Just in terms of the reference to sport kit and to ascertain that what is on the bike is the sport kit, consider what I know about this bike from what I have seen. The footpeg brackets appears to cater for a passenger, i.e. double footpegs. The handle bars are clip-ons with an upward rake, I don't have a clamp on bar that runs across. The top caps of the forks, have air valves for pumping in air as I understand that this was pre-cursor to more modern forks. Rear shocks are adjustable with three settings. If all this means sport kit then cool...

Keninlowa, thanks for the input. It is still the intention to do exactly that, all that is really removed from the bike, is the fairing, battery, headlight, carbs, calipers, generator cover and 4 into 1 exhaust which I had to remove, so that I could drain the oil. It looks like it has once before had a head job done to it, which now makes me wonder if due to the CB1100R fairing kit, if the PO did not bore out the engine or something to get to a CB1100R level output. A complete engine rebuild has always been on the cards for when I bought it.

 

[Geeto67]

Geeto thank you for your straight forward speak as well. I can see that I am going to learn a lot here. Just in terms of the reference to sport kit and to ascertain that what is on the bike is the sport kit, consider what I know about this bike from what I have seen. The footpeg brackets appears to cater for a passenger, i.e. double footpegs. The handle bars are clip-ons with an upward rake, I don't have a clamp on bar that runs across. The top caps of the forks, have air valves for pumping in air as I understand that this was pre-cursor to more modern forks. Rear shocks are adjustable with three settings. If all this means sport kit then cool...

This is the stock foot plates/pegs/controls:


Actually those are Lattice Footplates off a stock cb1100F that I installed on my brother's CB750F but they are not sport kit parts. If you notice the stock foot peg mount isn't on the plate but on the lower engine bolt. They are about 2 inches forward and an inch down from what you have. Also notice how long the brake lever is.

The sport kit was not a "racing kit". Honda made it for performance street riding and production racing and they believed people with streetbikes always wanted the ability to carry a passenger. If you look on the australian market cb1100R pic I posted in my last post you see that even that bike has passenger peg mounts even though there is no seat for a passenger and that bike was a race homologation special (ie it was intended to be used as a race bike even though it was street legal).

To help you sort this out here is the stock footplate fiche (its for a 750 but they are exactly the same for a 900F):
Honda Cb750f 750 Super Sport 1980 Usa Step - schematic partsfiche

and here is the honda fiche and parts list for the sport kit:
Honda Cb750f 750 Super Sport 1980 Usa Sport Control Kit - schematic partsfiche

What you have is the 900F sport kit which leads me to believe it was installed when the bike was semi new or someone hunted one down as they have been NLA since the late 80's. It also looks like the left side foot peg plate had it's passenger peg section cut off which leads me to believe whomever converted this to a street racer didn't want to carry a passenger. The reason the right side still has it's passenger peg mount is because it doubles as the exhaust hanger for a performance exhaust, although that 4-1 looks so hacked it is probably not the exhaust the bike used back in the day but more likely was hacked together after the bike was laid down.

The holy grail of sport kits are the ones for cb1100F/CB1100R bikes since they are "lattice" style and are lighter. They are a direct bolt on to all 900F and 750Fs.

if the handlebars are clipons with about a 1" rise then someone replaced the tubular sport kit bar with something off another bike. Still they look like they mimic the original bar shape which should be between 1" and 2" rise and about an 1" pullback.

Your shocks are not stock cb900F shocks either, so I would look at the bodies to see if there is any identifying marks as to the brand. Stock would be Showa, but Koni, mulholland, redwing, etc would all be good back in the day performance shocks.

As with any back in the day street racer the bike has lived a hard life. Looking at this one A really hard life. But still the bones for a good hotrod are there and if you cleaned it up you can have a real crackerjack on your hands. Your engine sounds proper fucked in the sense that if I were going to do it right I would start to look at wiseco big bore (985cc) kits and fixing the clutch basket (sounds like the rivets have pulled out from the flywheel). Maybe you have a good bottom end, but that is about it.

Looking at your bodywork the tank looks to be the original cb1100R aluminum alloy tank, these are rare and highly sought after to take really good care of it because you can't replace it if you lose it. The tail looks to me like an equally rare cb1100R dual/solo seat tail section in ABS plastic. If it is not abs plastic and is fiberglass instead then it is a reproduction and not as rare and not nearly as valuable. The fairing looks like a fiberglass reproduction of the cb1100R fairing which means it isn't necessarily valuable but it is hard to find as I am not aware of anybody making a repop. If I were you I would def use the tail and tank as the sight of those make honda bike fanboys moist and weak in the knees. In fact I would polish the crap out of that alloy tank it it were mine because I have never seen a custom cb1100R with a polished tank and I think that would blow people away.

you should sign up to cb1100F.net, it is a forum that deals specifically with the 1979-1982 cb750F/900F/1100F/1100R bikes.

 

[caferocket686]

The first thing I would do is worry about the vital organs. If the bike is smoking badly and the clutch sounds like a coffee can full of nuts and bolts, you probably have a lot to inspect before worrying about turning it into a great bike.

 

[jaguar]

cool base to a project.

Dont fuck it up.

 

[Witworth]

Listen to Geeto. I'd just be repeating 90% of his advice, so I'm not going to go over the same stuff.

The tank and seat are copies of 1100R stuff, not genuine. They are still very desirable parts though. The old fairing a bit less so.

You should be doing a modern interpretation of the naked CB1100RB. They are about the best looking Honda four road-based race bike to ever hit the street. The polished tank idea is good, and way cheaper than paint.

The cast bars you already have are the best for this bike, forget lower ones. If Honda thought that fitting bars like hipsters do now, would win races, they would have done it that way. Forget lowering the bike's suspension, to get images in cartoon café sites like Tripebuns and Ike'sEXIT.

Danger, is my business.

 

[Geeto67]

Listen to Geeto. I'd just be repeating 90% of his advice, so I'm not going to go over the same stuff.

The tank and seat are copies of 1100R stuff, not genuine. They are still very desirable parts though. The old fairing a bit less so.

You should be doing a modern interpretation of the naked CB1100RB. They are about the best looking Honda four road-based race bike to ever hit the street. The polished tank idea is good, and way cheaper than paint.

The cast bars you already have are the best for this bike, forget lower ones. If Honda thought that fitting bars like hipsters do now, would win races, they would have done it that way. Forget lowering the bike's suspension, to get images in cartoon café sites like Tripebuns and Ike'sEXIT.

Danger, is my business.

If the tank is alloy then it is the real deal. There were no alloy copies of the CB1100R tank and very few part tanks in the honda inventory. There are fiberglass copies but that tank looks like sandblasted alloy so it is the real deal. I can't tell you what it is worth in Africa but guys here in the states have paid $1000 for one in the past.

I always thought that the tail was ABS plastic but I heard from a friend of mine that some might be fiberglass. Either way the mounting tabs tell if they are honda or not. Also the repops are unlikely to be dual seat as they were mostly made for racebikes and conversions.

In looking at the pics, the clipons might be CB1100R parts as well (they may have too much rise, I am not there to measure them).

 

[Witworth]

GT: "If the tank is alloy then it is the real deal. There were no alloy copies of the CB1100R tank and very few part tanks in the honda inventory"

No, wrong on both counts. There were non-Honda aftermarket kits with CB1100R copy alloy tanks made in the UK, I remember the pics and ads for them.

Tail is a copy, and the seat cowl is nothing like the later than RB models. The RB was solo seat only as far as I can remember. The RD models had dual seats and a cowl, and they are different in design and mountings to the one in the pics.



That's a CB1100RB solo-only seat unit.

The CB1100RB model wasn't a really production bike built by the Honda production lines. It was built at RSC, who were later called HRC. the Honda race shop. The CB1100RCs and RDs were production line bikes.

Danger, is my business.

 

[Geeto67]

I am not that aware of what occured in the UK. can one of our UK members confirm?

 

[steveo]

I haven't seen any ads for aftermarket CB1100R kits, if I had I might have bought one.
By the way Getto, cheers for posting the pics of the 1100. I've already got 3 projects on the go, so how I am I going to have time to do a CB1100R replica?

 

[Witworth]

I haven't seen any ads for aftermarket CB1100R kits, if I had I might have bought one.
By the way Getto, cheers for posting the pics of the 1100. I've already got 3 projects on the go, so how I am I going to have time to do a CB1100R replica?

The UK CB1100R kits for CB900Fs were in the dark mists of time, like way back.

I'm not 100% on this guys tank being a copy, but I think it's likely.

If you do a google search, this mob bobs up : "M W R 6/11 Dellamarta Road Wangara WA 6065" under CB1100R tanks+replicas. It's in Australia, but that's closer to South Africa than anywhere else.

Danger, is my business.

 

[kenessex]

I seem to recall that the US sport kit was the stock euro parts put together and sold as a kit by Hondaline. But, that was a long time ago and while I was working in a Yamaha shop before I got into Honda dealerships.

 

[Cyorg]

If that is an alloy tank and it's been blasted, it's a shame. Who knows how much has metal has been removed. Always makes me nervous when that's done. Go overboard on the shot peening effect and introduce lord knows what other metals from the blasting media and things can get brittle. Hopefully it was done with something gentle, by someone who knows what they are doing.

 

[TCed]

I seem to recall that the US sport kit was the stock euro parts put together and sold as a kit by Hondaline. But, that was a long time ago and while I was working in a Yamaha shop before I got into Honda dealerships.

I ordered the eurosport kit for my 83 900F right after i bought the bike new from Anderson Honda in Michigan. It contained the rearsets, mountbrackets and lower/narrower handlebars.
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