Bike is a 1978 Supersport Cb750.
Mods done by previous owner:
dunstall tank
Fiberglass seat
drag bars
ditch stock signals and taillights
The bike currently has comstars, which means I am running tubless tires already. Not really looking to go back to spokes unless there is a noticable weightloss (must be 1 lbs or more).
When I was at the e-town swapmeet I found scores of those old harley mags from the 90's in billet aluminum. They felt pretty light as compared with a stock cast aluminum harley fatboy rims sitting next to them. Didn't have any stock wheels with me or nearby to compare them to. Since most of them are out of style now on choppers you can pick them up pretty cheap.
I have a friend that does a lot of business with Performance Machine. He tells me he can get rim blanks from them and then I have to machine it to fit my bike. I might just look into that, depending on the cost it might be worth it, some of those PM wheels are hella strong and super light.
What size rim would I need for a stock cb750? wm3? WM4.5?
You can't run a cb750 without a battery, period. I mean it is possible but you have to GP start it at every light because the engine will need to turn 2000rpm to start sans battery. Joking aside, a cb750 is one of those bikes you can;t run without at least a small battery.
Other mods I am planning to do to take weight off this pig:
- Headlight: probably going to go with a car fog light since they seem to be pretty light - two PIAA lamps weigh less than my stock cb750 bucket, rim, and glass. I was kicking around the idea of using two small streetfighter style lamps and mounting minigauges into the backs of them for the tach and speedo, thus deleting the heavy gauge cluster too
- headlight ears: heavy pressed steel, getting replaced with cheapie JC whitney brackets because they are cheap
- Front fender: still running the stock one right now. This is hard because I can't just bolt on a fiberglass one and go. The cb750 front end is required to have some kind of fork brace. I think what I am going to do is drill out the brace/mount from a stock fender and then mount a fiberglass blade fender. There is too much crap on a NYC street for me to run fenderless with just a brace.
- Taillight: Previous owner used two early cb750 turn signals as the taillights. Not very heavy but an LED is way brighter, has a cleaner mount, and is lighter.
- Clipons: I have a really nice set of cast aluminum clipons that are light as hell. They have a little bit of a rise so riding position won't change that much.
- Drill the shit out of everything: Breaking out the hole saw to the chainguard and anything else I find that doesn't need a smooth surface to do its job.
- Rearsets: stock levers and footpegs are heavy, this should take some weight off.
Any other suggestions?
Mods done by previous owner:
dunstall tank
Fiberglass seat
drag bars
ditch stock signals and taillights
The bike currently has comstars, which means I am running tubless tires already. Not really looking to go back to spokes unless there is a noticable weightloss (must be 1 lbs or more).
When I was at the e-town swapmeet I found scores of those old harley mags from the 90's in billet aluminum. They felt pretty light as compared with a stock cast aluminum harley fatboy rims sitting next to them. Didn't have any stock wheels with me or nearby to compare them to. Since most of them are out of style now on choppers you can pick them up pretty cheap.
I have a friend that does a lot of business with Performance Machine. He tells me he can get rim blanks from them and then I have to machine it to fit my bike. I might just look into that, depending on the cost it might be worth it, some of those PM wheels are hella strong and super light.
What size rim would I need for a stock cb750? wm3? WM4.5?
You can't run a cb750 without a battery, period. I mean it is possible but you have to GP start it at every light because the engine will need to turn 2000rpm to start sans battery. Joking aside, a cb750 is one of those bikes you can;t run without at least a small battery.
Other mods I am planning to do to take weight off this pig:
- Headlight: probably going to go with a car fog light since they seem to be pretty light - two PIAA lamps weigh less than my stock cb750 bucket, rim, and glass. I was kicking around the idea of using two small streetfighter style lamps and mounting minigauges into the backs of them for the tach and speedo, thus deleting the heavy gauge cluster too
- headlight ears: heavy pressed steel, getting replaced with cheapie JC whitney brackets because they are cheap
- Front fender: still running the stock one right now. This is hard because I can't just bolt on a fiberglass one and go. The cb750 front end is required to have some kind of fork brace. I think what I am going to do is drill out the brace/mount from a stock fender and then mount a fiberglass blade fender. There is too much crap on a NYC street for me to run fenderless with just a brace.
- Taillight: Previous owner used two early cb750 turn signals as the taillights. Not very heavy but an LED is way brighter, has a cleaner mount, and is lighter.
- Clipons: I have a really nice set of cast aluminum clipons that are light as hell. They have a little bit of a rise so riding position won't change that much.
- Drill the shit out of everything: Breaking out the hole saw to the chainguard and anything else I find that doesn't need a smooth surface to do its job.
- Rearsets: stock levers and footpegs are heavy, this should take some weight off.
Any other suggestions?
