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Ride of the Month (January 2015)

18K views 48 replies 28 participants last post by  Farmer_John 
#1 ·
Post 'em up gang! Here's a brief rundown of the rules:

1. Multiple photos are fine, but confine them to one post please.
2. Tell us the story. Everyone likes a good story. Leave out anything about your passions or a "connection to the bike" if you don't want to be made fun of. Or don't. :)
3. You can enter if you've won a previous month, but not with the same bike.
4. It doesn't have to be a finished bike, but close is good and more likely to win.
5. Bikes are judged on their looks of course, but also workmanship, innovation, originality, regard for safety, and general badassery.
6. The prize is a $25 Amazon gift card, which you are encouraged to buy bike stuff with, and post up what you got when you get it. If you live in some third-word nation (the UK, etc) where Amazon won't ship to, we'll work something else out.
7. The judges are riders, so it helps if the bike is rideable.
 
#4 ·
So is it against the rules to enter the same post each and every month until people get so sick of seeing it they vote for you???

The before pic. I went to check out a 250 Monza and the guy also had this. I made him an offer on both and he took it.


A mock up shot. I had planned on building a 125 Sport replica but couldn't find a tank, so it became a phantom bike build. I was going to put something together that looked like the factory may have built it but didn't. (Turns out the joke was on me. It looks a like a 160 TS. I swear I had no idea when I was putting it together)


Full disclosure: This is nothing more than a fun bike to take to a 'giro event. I fully realize this bike is a game of dress up and had no intention of building a performance bike. Why? It's a fookin 160 that shares space with other, more serious bikes. It's like a chihuahua with a spiked collar. My lawn mower has the same size engine fer cripesakes. Which leads to , I was heading upstairs one night and turned to see this, had to take a shot of it. It makes me giggle when I see these two next to each other.


Ok, cut to the chase. Here it is before it's stuffed into a trailer and taken to Barber vintage festival for it's initial outing.


The thread in my sig line gives more details if you must know.
 
#5 ·
Love that panhead.

I also love that Ducati. I have reread your thread multiple times. Such a neat little bike.
 
#7 ·
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This is a CBX Spondon I built and still own. Spondon was an English motorcycle racing frame builder. They built 12 aluminum racing frames for the Honda CBX1000 motor. I bought the frame about ten years ago. I build the bike from scratch and is my pride and joy. Notice since the frame is English and the motor Japanese one side of the bike is painted with the British Union Jack and the other side features the Japnese flag.. The bike is fast and with a 6 cylinder engine it sounds like a Formula 1 motor when it revs up..
 
#8 ·
Super Seca!

My 1981 Seca XJ550 with FZ600 motor and swing arm. FZR front end with Blue Spot calipers and Pro Lite rotors. Suzy Kat rear wheel and caliper.
FJ600 carbs jetted for the old school Yosh header with comp baffle. Hoysong GT250 oil cooler. Lots more bits on there as well.

Hope you enjoy it, I had fun with the build. Land vehicle Motorcycle Vehicle Car Automotive design
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#20 ·
My 1981 Seca XJ550 with FZ600 motor and swing arm. FZR front end with Blue Spot calipers and Pro Lite rotors. Suzy Kat rear wheel and caliper.
FJ600 carbs jetted for the old school Yosh header with comp baffle. Hoysong GT250 oil cooler. Lots more bits on there as well.
A bike that's been modded for increased performance instead of style, how refreshing. It even has a stock paint job! The component choices make good sense. I love it.
 
#9 ·
My Custom Ducati SS

The bike pictured is a 99' Ducati with 96' frame, 96' fuel tank, Airtech race fairing, Airtech race seat, two-into-one exhaust, race tires, tricolore paint, and lots of other goodies. I built this bike a couple of years ago in tribute to my friend, Ronnie Miller, who was killed while riding this bike. His wife gave me the wreck so I rebuilt it in his honor.........
 

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#11 ·
Been a while since I've been on here. Beautiful bikes up there guys.

This one's pretty straight forward. 1971 CB350. I made a custom seat and custom 2-1 exhaust and muffler, got rear sets from Old School Speed, Mikuni's, made a new wiring harness, capacitor instead of battery (kick start only), and just typical maintenance/rebuild stuff.
This photo is the first day I rode it to work.


This is my first bike. Didn't run when I got it. Had it in a project state for quite a few years, working on it on and off. Bought an XT500 because I just wanted a bike that I could ride right away (it was a running bike). That got me REAL hooked, so I got the CB350 back out. Basically started the build over because it had been so long. Took me about a year to get it to this point working on it after work here and there. It's a pretty fun little thing.
 
#12 ·
My 1981 Honda CM200t Café'd, of course.

I always wanted a café racer but due to financial situations I could never afford to buy one. Watching all the bike shows on TV made me think, "I can do that". So I set out to try it. I ended up making a trade for a 1980 Honda CM200t that didn't come with a title. When I picked up the bike, the person I got it from had a 1981 CM200t that he rode. The bike I got was used as a parts bike for his bike. After thinking about the build I was ready to embark on, it hit me that it wasn't worth building a bike with my money and time that I couldn't do anything with since it didn't have a title. I emailed him one day and asked if he would be interested in selling his 1981 CM200t, and he said "sure". We settled on a price and I was on my way to pick up my new bike. I had only $1,000 to buy and build this bike.
I never built a motorcycle before but I am willing and able to learn anything I set my mind to. I didn't plan on doing any motor work because I didn't want to try and fix something that wasn't broke. The bike ran great and I wanted it to stay that way...LOL.
I started out by tearing the bike down and hitting the forums for help along the way. Thanks to all that gave me a hand. I wanted to make as many things that I could for this bike. I tried to put knee dents in the tank but that didn't turn out so well. I ended up finding a 70's CB200 tank full of rust but, no holes. I startrd by cutting the rear of the frame to accept a café loop. I had the loop formed at a local shop and welded it in place. I made the seat pan out of fiberglass, removed the air box, rerouted all the electronics under the seat pan, moved the rear shock mounts down an inch because the ass of the bike looked like it was drooping too low, added some clubman bars (I tried clip-ons but they were just too low and hit the tank when fully turning the frontend), sandblasted and painted the frame, swing arm, seat pan and tank. I cut the front fender, eliminated the rear fender. I resourced some mufflers and used the header pipes I had, welded the mufflers to the header pipes then wrapped them with heat wrap. After I got it all put back together it was running rough. I thought since I eleminated the air box and added a pod filter I would have to put bigger jets in it. I tried everything from putting bigger jets in the carb to drilling out the jets but nothing worked. Again, I turned to the forums and someone suggested taking off the pod filter and see how it runs. That was it, the carb wasn't getting enough air. Now I had to get creative. I ended up making a stack for the carb out of some aluminum and stainless steel screen. I replaced the oversized jets with stock size jets and now she purrs like a kitten. I put a little over 100 miles on the bike just to make sure all my work was going to stay put and withstand being used, as it should be. My time frame was cut short so I didn't get the rearsets I made put on. I would have had to redo the exhaust and fabricate brackets and maybe more cutting and welding of the frame. I built this bike with $1,000 and thats including buying the bike. I made what I could and visited a few swap meets to find parts. The bike will be for sale as soon as I get time to get to the DMV and have the title changed over.
 

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#34 ·
I startrd by cutting the rear of the frame to accept a café loop.
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I thought since I eleminated the air box and added a pod filter I would have to put bigger jets in it. I tried everything from putting bigger jets in the carb to drilling out the jets but nothing worked. Again, I turned to the forums and someone suggested taking off the pod filter and see how it runs. That was it, the carb wasn't getting enough air. Now I had to get creative. I ended up making a stack for the carb out of some aluminum and stainless steel screen.
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I built this bike with $1,000 and thats including buying the bike. I made what I could and visited a few swap meets to find parts. The bike will be for sale as soon as I get time to get to the DMV and have the title changed over.
You have been hitting the wrong forums :)
I am glad for you that the bike is together and in a sell-able state (besides the paperwork of course). Now read here - hell you have been a member for a while! - an learn some.
 
#13 ·
Ducati SS/CR

This is my 97' Ducati SS/CR. I bought this bike from a young guy in Morgantown WV. It was listed on Craigslist for $1200 and was running. When I arrived at the trailer of the owner who had two small children I was met by his dog.......errrr....... I mean wolf. And I mean a real friggin' wolf. Six months old, it had a head about twice the size of a dog, huge teeth, and weighed in at a slim 100 pounds (it was only 6 months old and still a pup) He had this wild animal living with him, his wife, and two small children in a two bedroom trailer !!!!! It was very playful, but also very young and had the eyes of a wild beast. My Siberian Husky, who was with me, was dwarfed by this pup !!!! I often wonder about those two little ones and their fate as the wolf matured........ Anyway, the bike was in sad shape, so I took it home, replaced head gaskets, cylinder studs, cleaned carbs, had the cracked frame welded, body work done (it had fallen over more than once), chrome yellow paint sprayed, new tires, new fork springs, new rear shock spring (suspension mods to tailor bike to my weight), cleaned corrosion from all the exposed metal (it had set outside for over a year leaning against the trailer), replaced filters, changed all fluids, then reassembled the whole mess. This is the result of my little project........
 

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#16 ·
At least some are coming out of the woodwork aren't complete shit.
I still say a drag net along the bottoms to boost membership is a dumb idea.
that 200 has to be a joke!

I want ant to know where this is being posted to attract people too.
that guy with the "street tracker" couldn't have looked at a single post here. I don't get it. How could someone want to make a first post in this thread but not want to be a part of the form in a meaningful way?
there has been a vested effort in improving the content and making this place better, but this stream of one post drag queens is the polar opposite of what this place should be.
 
#17 ·
The Spondon CBX is insane! I have no problem that it is the owners first post. Even the street tracker, which doesn't "work" to my eye, has some interesting design ideas & execution. Seeing diverse bikes is fun even when they fall short in some ways. I always enjoy checking out the bike photos that appear when the site opens up. With my own bike it's "my way or the highway", same as everyone else, I imagine. I'm willing to cut some slack and encourage people to participate in the forum.

Jim B
 
#19 ·
I get that different strokes for different folks argument. just so many are the same drag queens over and over.
The 550 above this post is horrific. It should be tossed in a lake!

The spondon CBX is killer.

Really at the end of the day almost none of the people posting in these BOTM threads are actually participating. Wish more would.
Also wish BOTM would die, I do not feel it fits in what this place has always been about. But management wants numbers, so they drag the PBR though the streets
 
#18 · (Edited)
This is my 1974 Honda CB550 K0. I bought the bike on Kijiji north of Guelph, Ontario brought it home and stripped it down. Most of the components are still Honda CB550 stock parts that have been cleaned up, repainted, and in some cases re-purposed. I rebuilt the front end using All Balls tapered roller bearings in the steering stem, a 2007 GSXR steering damper, cross drilled the stock front rotor for improved brake cooling and to eliminate those stock sticky brakes, new nissan controls with integrated brake switch, and vortex clip ons. I fabricated my own sprocket cover, chain guard, iPhone mount and clutch relocation mount. I run my iPhone as my HUD with built in digital speedometer, GPS, and with audio/video capabilities. The top triple and rear sets are anodized billet aluminium from Bullit Custom Cycles, the stainless steel exhaust is a Yoshimura replica built by MotoGP Werks. The custom points cover came from a gent on SOHC4.net/forum, and the gold chain is from TC bros.

Although she may look like a show bike in pictures this bike is the test mule for my transportation design firm and shop Smyth Innovations. Feel free to check out my past projects on the website or my Facebook and Instagram pages for updates on current projects and designs.
 

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#24 · (Edited)
View attachment 11693 KZ 750 I built last winter
That's one of the few attractive KZ750 Twins I've seen. It's a strangely proportioned motor that's tough to make look right. And I like the seat — slightly dished with a bit of a bustle, but still looks reasonably comfortable.

EDIT: Looking closer, the leaking fluid from the rear master cylinder is a shame, as are the rusty bits here and there...shoddy details that knock my enthusiasm down a notch. The crud on the starter, however, implies that this bike actually gets ridden some, so I can give it a pass.
 
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My R5.
Back in '71, when this bike was made, I had a Ducati 250 Diana that was no match for these hot two strokes. This bike is as I would have built it for weekend club racing except for the light & pretty Vintage Smoke rearsets and modern tires.
Before people cry photoshop foul I admit to laying a white sheet on the ground to pick up highlights, and then cloning out the sheet (poorly!).

Jim B
 
#27 ·
resized and reposted

before


after.























The idea was to mix cafe racer and steampunk codes, and more roots than beauty contest genes.

Keeping a passenger seat was another objective, even if it didn't help doing the design.
Haven't even seen the pictures, but know this will be bad.
 
#28 ·
Jag, don't make me initiate a "if you don't have anything nice to say" rule in this thread. You're bordering on being a dick just for the sake of being a dick.
 
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#30 · (Edited)
Your house, your rules.
I still maintain it is stupid to be actively working to attract this type of junk here when it could be so much more.
But no need to be a broken record and a dick about it any more, I'll cut the shit and be done with it. Clearly my voice has been heard and things just are what they are.

now back to your regularly programming.
 
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