CB360 Brat Progress

Well the CB360 is almost done. It's been a while since I posted on it so I'll try to catch you up in one shot. I seemed to work out all the small stuff that goes along with building a bike. Got the light mounted and the brakes all sorted out. I needed to tackle a seat so I got out the sheet and started pounding away. got it all pounded out and took it and some ostrich skin I had at the house to a local upholstery shop. They did a killer job and the color really compliments the bike.

Once that was done, I had a horrible time trying to get it running right. After a lot of research I discovered that these bike and carbs really hate to have pod filters and short exhaust. With that in mind, I sent my carbs off to CrazyPJ in Florida to modify the air jets. The problem isn't so much with the volume of air that they are sucking in, but rather the lack of calm air. I still have the cheap pods on but will be upgrading to some better filters soon.

My buddy Dallas stopped by one day and I told him that I really needed a set of mufflers to get the exhaust extended past the rear axle and quiet the beast down. He just happened to have a set of Harley take offs in the back of his truck. A little cutting and welding later and I had them mounted up.

Now that the bike is all together and my pipes and carbs are done, I've been running it a bit and have some new issues. 1. It will surge initially and stay elevated. That may be an advancer issue so I need to check that. 2. It's also hissing some oil out the seal at the kicker. That worries me in that it may not be getting enough oil flow so I'm gonna make sure it's getting oil in the top end, check the breather and replace that seal.

To be continued...

1975 CB360 Brat - Part 3 - Brake Rotor

Started drilling my brake rotor. 93 holes times 2 drill sizes, 186 pulls of the lever.

1975 CB360 Brat - Part 2 - Inspiration

Started going through the process of obtaining a title for this bike. Went to DMV and paid $7 to get the name and address of the last titled owner. Paid another $3 for a certified letter to that address that will hopefully be returned to me. Next step is to take that unopened letter to the Motor Vehicle Investigator and have him run the VIN and give me a title.

Other than that, ordered 2 Dunlop K70's 4.00x18, bought a front caliper, kickstand, master cylinder, gasket set, wheel bearings, tapered neck bearings, gaitors, and some other odds and ends to kick this thing off. Also found my inspiration bike. Not going too custom on this build, pretty run of the mill.

1974 Honda CB360 Street Tracker Brat Build -1

Picked up this pile for $200 the other day. Been wanting to building a street tracker/brat hybrid for a while now and this is the perfect platform for it. First order of business was to strip the whole bike and detab the frame. Ground it all smooth and it's now ready for reassembly.

Set of Rabbit Ears for a Chop Cult Buddy

A guy from Chicago saw my build on Chopcult and wanted a set of 1" bars in the same style. 

XR600 Street Tracker Update

Since I sold the street tracker, the new owner's been busy. He stripped the bike down, got stuff powdercoated black, added the fork gators, added a euro baja light. Fortunately he kept the tank and my seat work original. Hoping he will send me some more pics, but here's a preview.

Street Tracker Part 13 - Almost Done

I've spend quite a bit of time lately just getting all the small things done. The pictures pretty much speak for themselves, but I finished the exhaust, made a brake light and license plate bracket, finished the wiring with the exception of the brake light switch and finished the seat cover. It's a bit louder that I would have liked and it sounds like a helicopter but it was good to hear it run. Just need to throw a chain on it, add a fuel filter and fork oil and she'll be ready to roll.

Street Tracker Part 12 - Seat Pan and Fender

Worked on the seat pan for the past 2 days. I don't have any sheet metal forming tools like an english wheel or even a shot bag, so trying to shape metal is pretty difficult. Turned out ok though. Now I need to figure out how to mount it to the frame. I hate making little brackets but it's 1 step closer to getting done.

Street Tracker Part 11 - Seat Frame and Tank Mounts

Well I finally got the tank all mounted. Ordered some bungs from my favorite bung dealer. Couple bungs, little flat bar and some bolts and there you go. The sub frame is just tacked in there. Is it perfect? Not at all. Do I care? Not a bit. I just want to ride. I could spend a few day just on getting the frame perfect but I just don't have the motivation. Anyway, it doesn't look too bad.

Street Tracker Part 10 - Another Frame and More Tires

Well I ran into some problems. After looking and looking for an 18" rear wheel that actually fit, I went back to Cycle Salvage and looked around. Ended up walking out the door with a 1987 XR600R roller in really good condition for $75. So got it home and chopped up. I ended up buying a 17x5.10 tire for the rear so I could use the stock wheel. I also picked up a 18x4.60 for the front because I was still getting rub even after I shaved the forks.

Also spent several hours today cutting the gas tank apart and making a new bottom and tunnel. It's a ton of work and I'm not great at it. Stitching the sheet metal together with a MIG is another huge challenge. Now I need to make my mounts and seal the tank. It's progress.

Here's a pic of my growing bone yard. Maybe I should sell some of the parts?

Street Tracker Part 9 - Tires and Wheels Done!

Picture speaks for itself.

Street Tracker Part 8 - Choppin the Tank - Lacing the Wheel

Got the tank to sit how I want it to today. Only problem is that I had to cut out the tunnel to get it that way. Just need to go buy some sheet so I can bend up a new one and get that baby welded in there.

Also got my spokes today. Laced up the wheel in a couple hours. Would have been a lot faster but because the rim is for a rear hub, the nipple holes are at a different angle so on one side you get a little bowing which in turn makes it tough to get the spokes threaded on to the nipples. Once I got the wheel all laced up, I just wasn't comfortable with 9 of the spokes not seating nicely because of the angle of the front hub. Tomorrow I'm just going to loosen all the spokes again, take out those 9 and drill the holes so the angle is less extreme. Never too early to get your son started building wheels.

Street Tracker Part 7 - Lowered the Forks

Pulled the forks apart today. PO had a fork kit in it with new springs and 4" preload spacers. I added in 4" lowering spacers and assembled the forks without the putting the preload spacers back in. It's a little squishy so I might put them back in. I can't tell if it's the height I was going for. Don't want it to look stupid low. Afterall it still has dirt bike suspension. After mulling over the height for a while, I went back out and added another 1.5" spacer to each fork. The height looks much better now plus a rode the tubes up in the triple tree a bit as well. I'll post an updated picture of it tomorrow.

Street Tracker Part 6 - Lowrider

Spent today grinding off the leftovers from the frame. Removed the swingarm first to give me easier access.  Also picked up another rear shock because my XR250 rear shock ended up being the same length. Couple shots of the progress. The new shock lowered the rear nicely and I threw a ratchet strap on the front to see how much I'll need to lower it. Looks to be about 3.5".

Street Tracker Part 5 - Progress

I started tearing into the bike today. Interesting thing happened though. Once I took off the headlight, I checked the neck and guess what it said?... Not 1986 XR600R but 1983 XR500R! Yeah that kind of pisses me off. The guy who sold it to me said that it has the XR600R motor. I don't think he was being dishonest when he sold me the bike. I think that he's just had it for so long that he thought it was the 86 cause that's the motor it has. Would I still have bought it knowing that it's a 1983 frankenbike? Probably. Would I have paid $950 for it still? Probably not. So easy to get duped on craigslist.

There were two big changes between 1983 and 1986 other than just 3 years. First, the 500cc motor was replaced with the 600cc. The other big change was they added an aluminum swingarm. I would much rather have the aluminum swingarm just for the weight. Should have been able to get this bike for at least  $100 less.

Oh well. My bad for not double checking the title before I left. On with the destruction

Street Tracker Part 4 - Got the Foundation for my Tracker

So I just bought the 1985 XR600R. Got if from a real nice guy on craigslist. This is one fast bike. I understand now why it's the king of Baja. Let the deconstruction begin!

Street Tracker Part 3 - Collecting Parts

So I ordered my tires today. Picked up tubes, a spoke wrench, the rear wheel for my front. Also of course have my tank and light. Man, I'm just tearing through the list.

Street Tracker Part 2 - Cost Breakdown

Sat down today and started working the overall cost to build my street tracker. The list below pretty much gets most of it. Things it doesn't cover: registration, insurance, tubes, small parts, tune up items. But it serves to show how cheap this can actually be.

Some more details about the front wheel. I wanted to go with an 18" front and rear wheel and mount 5.10x18 tires. It's really freakin hard to find an 18" front wheel. So from Vintage Cycles I bought a rear wheel from an XR and I ordered spokes from Buchanan Spokes. Once they get here, I'll lace my front hub up to the rear rim. Should be pretty sweet. I'll make sure to document the whole process. I can lace up a bicycle wheel so I don't imagine a motorcycle should be any harder...guess I should add a spoke wrench to the list.

Street Tracker Part 1 - The XR600 Street Tracker Project

Ever since I sold the bike, I've been thinking about riding this summer. I must ride! But what could I do that's cheap. I set up some criteria:

1. Must be cheap
2. Minimal amount of fabrication
3. Reliable
4. Readily available cheap parts

Then after stopping in at Pro Power Performance to catch up with Todd and Adam, Todd said that he thought it would be cool to have a Street Tracker style bike. My first thought was, "what the hell's a Street Tracker". So I googled it and sure enough, it's pretty bad ass. In addition, the whole concept meets my criteria. One of the first bikes I ran across online was a 1985 XL600R. The picture above is the Roc Street Tracker found at http://street-tracker.blogspot.com/. It started life as a 1985 XL600R.

Pretty cool huh? Well just so happens a 1985 XR600 is for sale here and I'm gonna buy it! He wants $1100 but $900 is in my budget. Hoping he comes down. That's a pretty cheap start. I even picked up a tank to use. It's from a early 70's Harley Aeramacchi.