1973 HONDA CB175 K7 SURVIVOR PURCHASED!

1973 HONDA CB175 K7 SURVIVOR PURCHASED!

Today I found a guy that was coming into town with a 1973 Honda CB175 in the back of his truck to sell.  I have been looking for a smaller CC project for part of my collection and thought this might be a good chance to snag one for a decent price.  His asking price was already pretty attractive but it did need some work, so I made him an offer and we did "the dance" of finding something we could both agree on.  Even though it runs great I was able to work out a deal for him to drop it off at my apartment rather than having to drive out to pick it up in Anaheim and ride it home, and then go back to get my car later in the day.  All in all, it worked out perfectly.  

The good: the bike had title, was registered on Non-Op until November, ran great, was delivered to my door and is all original (including paint).  The bad: it needs a new seat cover, side covers, new rear shocks, as well as a new drive chain at minimum.  This wasn't enough to deter me from buying it because fixing it up is half the fun.

Today I put in quite a few hours cleaning up the undercarriage and scrubbing some surface rust off the exhaust pipes, wheels and front fender.  I also went online and found as many parts on EBAY as I could for what I'll be needing in the months ahead.  I haven't ordered anything yet, but little by little it will get freshened up.  

The newbie has been welcomed into my Honda Family with open arms!  Below is my starting line-up.  Gentlemen, start your engines!

UPDATES ON THE 1981 HONDA CB650 FOR 6/7

UPDATES ON THE 1981 HONDA CB650 FOR 6/7

Today I had the CB650 in the shop (apartment) for a few bits of work I needed to get done on her.  Actually, for the past two weeks it's been off the road because I discovered that gasoline was leaking through the patch work done on the bottom of the gas tank after it was lined and repaired.  As you can imagine I was not happy about this because I spent about $300 dollars on that beautiful paint job, which is not longer beautiful underneath around the petcock spout.  I'm a strong advocate of doing things right the first time around so that things like this can be avoided but I guess not everyone lives by this policy.  There wasn't much I could do once I realized what had happened but take it back to Dave at La Habra Radiator to fix.  It won't be leaking again but I now have to decide whether to pay to have the bottom re-painted or just leave it as-is.  I'll most likely have it touched up down the line unless I can find another tank in better condition. 

The front left brake caliper was also leaking, which was enough to set me off because these were rebuilt less than a month ago.  Yet somehow, fluid was dribbling out where the brake pads were so I had a new rubber O-Ring installed and it seems to be okay now.  Eventually, I will need to invest in new brake calipers but I'd really like to avoid spending more money on those until I can get some money saved up.  I should've just ran new ones from the get-go rather than salvaging the ones that came on the bike, but they seemed fine back when I first started driving it.

After long consideration, I decided that the front fender was a bit out of place so I had it chopped down and painted black to match the rest of the bike.  I took 4 inches off the back and 3 inches off the front.  I'm really happy with how it turned out and it definitely gives the bike more character.  I've seen several other builders do this and liked how it looked so I gave it a try.  I wasn't 100% happy with my paint choice, so I may pull it off and strip it back down and use a higher gloss paint.  I do like that it kind of matches the front forks though so I may leave it.  That's the beauty of doing this stuff yourself.

The next thing I accomplished today was installing the black 7" rock guard on the headlight.  I did this same thing with my CB360 Cafe Racer and really liked how it turned out so I used it again here.  It's pretty easy to install with a little patience.  You just need some thin metal wire to run through the cracks of the headlight to hold the guard in place.  The brackets that come with the rock guard do not work for this application and aren't made for CB headlights, so you kind of have to jerry rig it.  Below is a picture of the headlight bracket and the front fender with the updates from above.

Here is an overhead view to help give you a better idea.

Overall, I'm happy with the work I accomplished today.  There is still more in store for this build and the work just never seems to end with these Cafe Racers, but that's part of the fun, right?

Thanks for stopping by.

HB CONCOURS VINTAGE BIKE & CAR SHOW + HARLEY NIGHT AT COSTA MESA SPEEDWAY

HB CONCOURS VINTAGE BIKE & CAR SHOW 

It seems like forever since I've posted on here, so I apologize about that.  I've just been busy with work and trying to find some new projects and ideas that inspire me to create something new and different.  Over the weekend I attended a couple really fun events so I figured I'd post about them this morning while I had a minute free.  The first event I attended was the 2014 Huntington Beach Concours Vintage Car and Bike show.  It is a two-day event here in HB that has taken place every year for the past 29 years!!  I only just heard about it this year so I decided to enter my 1975 Honda CL360 Cafe Racer into the competition not knowing what to expect.  The event is going on today (Sun. June 1st) as well, but I had a prior commitment so I was only able to attend yesterday.

Setup for the event was supposed to take place at 8am yesterday, however I ended up running late and didn't arrive until 9:10 am.  The event had started at 9:00.  Oops.  Fortunately, they still let me in and just wanted to make sure I had paid the entrance fees and what not before they put me in the judging. After talking to a couple of the judges, they got me and another bike builder in, who was also running late for the event that morning.  The bike you see in the picture above is the one I'm referring to.  The guys who built it were from their own company called O.C.D Coachworks.  Mark Maul and Robert Telfer were really nice guys and they did some incredible work on their CB750 Cafe.  I was happy to share the afternoon picking their brain along with a lot of people who came to the show.  I will definitely look to them for assistance with any future projects I have that requires work outside of my wheelhouse.  It's also nice that they are right down the street from me!  Not sure how I've never seen them before, but I definitely want to do my part in spreading the word about them:  

O.C.D Coachworks

15541 Producer Lane, Unit G.

Huntington Beach, CA 92649

www.ocdcoachworks.com

Mark Maul: 714-661-9424

Robert Telfer: 818-209-2913

I stayed at the event until they announced the winners at 2:00pm.  There weren't a lot of motorcycles in the competition so I knew I had a pretty good chance of taking something home.  During the event I even got asked to help out next year with recruiting more cafe racer owners who might be interested in putting theirs into the competition.  I will look forward to that next year!

They actually kicked off the announcement with the cafe bikes and I was the first name they called for the day with a 2nd in Class award for my Honda!  It felt pretty good to be honored for the hard work I'd put into the build but even more so to be respected by other builders and collectors that have been doing this for far more years than myself.

HARLEY NIGHT AT COSTA MESA SPEEDWAY

Later in the evening I met up at the Harley-Davidson Dealership in Huntington Beach to ride over to the Costa Mesa Speedway with about 60-70 other bikers.  It was awesome!  I've never been to the speedway before but it's basically a dirt track (see below) that flat trackers and side cars race on.  The bikes they use are one gear and just rip around the track.  I can't wait to go again.

The crashes make it even more exciting and luckily no one got hurt too bad, but as you can see in the picture below, there is one rider that ate it hard.  You can see as he is losing control and is headed straight for the wall on the right hand side.  He walked away from it.  They definitely make it look easy but I am sure that is not the case whatsoever.

 I sat with my buddy Chad Williams and his son Owen, and several other of his buddies.  They are a really nice bunch of people and it feels good to finally have some familiar faces in Orange county with similar interests.  Back in Los Angeles, I didn't have a lot of close friends that were into motorcycles.  The Costa Mesa Speedway is definitely one place I will be visiting again!

Thanks for reading and be sure to check back soon for more adventures!

RSD Bell Star Treatment FXLR

Stories of Bike EP4: Peak Hour

SHE'S ARRIVED!!

SHE'S ARRIVED!!

Yesterday morning I headed out to Temecula to pick up the new bike and I must say, I was pretty stoked.  I still miss having my little Sportster around but after four years of riding that I think I've graduated into a bigger ride.  I've been joking around about how I feel like "one of the big boys" now because, well...it's the truth.  I'm so used to being on a smaller bike that I haven't really felt like I've gotten the true Harley experience.  Cruising back from Temecula on the Deluxe was one of my longest solo rides!  I'd ridden out to Santa Monica, Malibu and the Pacific Palisades on the Sportster but I always avoided long rides due to the tank size.  I never wanted to be the one holding everyone up. With this new 5gallon tank, stops at gas stations will not be so regular.  Also, I purchased a ROK FORM motorcycle handlebar mount for my Samsung Galaxy S4 to clip onto.  This will be great whether I need to use GPS or if I wanna listen to some tunes.  I purposefully didn't buy a bike like a Road Glide or a Road King because I didn't want the big front dashboard taking up my view of the road.  I like to see as much as I can.  It is nice though having all the music and navigation covered with those types of bikes, so I am bringing some of those elements into my bike with accessories while keeping the motorcycle what it is...a motorcycle.  

The windshield really does make a huge difference and I'm glad I opted to go with one that has that capability.  It's a game changer.  The ride back from THE CHOPPER GALLERY in Temecula was a windy one to say the least.  Without that shield I would've been getting blasted.  It was definitely a much smoother ride on the freeway and comfortable despite the intense heat from our 104 degree weather.  I'm looking forward to some long rides this summer.  Just have to decide on which ones I want to attend.

Stay tuned.  On Saturday, I'm heading out to North Hollywood to get back to work on my friends 78' Honda CB750 Supersport.  With any luck we will be able to fire her up!  

A NEW MEMBER IN THE FAMILY!!

A NEW MEMBER IN THE FAMILY!!

After quite a lot of hunting around for a bike to upgrade into, I finally found one that I liked.  I originally had two other bike types that I liked, the Softail Slim and the Switchback but I ended up landing on this 2009 H-D VTWIN Softail Deluxe.  I love the vintage look it has and this isn't a color you see out on the road a lot, but it reminded me of classic cars from the 50's & 60's and I love that.  Since my last Harley was straight black and chrome I wanted to go a completely different direction this time around with some color.  Looks like I achieved that!

(56 Ford Fairlane)

(1960 Corvette)

I stopped by three different Harley dealerships to check to see if they had any Pre-Owned Softail Deluxe in stock but wasn't finding anything in my price range.  I decided to go the pre-owned route because it doesn't make sense to buy a brand new bike when there are SO many used bikes in California that are in immaculate condition and have barely been driven.  This was the first thing I regretted when I bought my last H-D.  For example, a brand new 2013 Softail Deluxe would cost around $18, 129 for a two-tone paint job like this.  I found tons of bikes online in the 12-15K price range, with all fairly low miles.  That's at least a $3000 dollar difference right there.  The bike I financed above only has 4,048 miles on it!!  This is about 600 miles less than I had on my 2010 Sportster before I sold it.  The other benefit here is that I won't have to pay for the five-thousand mile service because the place where I bought it has already done it for me.  That's more savings of at least $3-$500 dollars depending on where you take it to be serviced.

I had to pass on the private owners selling their bikes on Craigslist and Ebay because I wanted to finance the bike rather than pay that large sum up front.  Especially because I have good credit and know I can get a pretty low interest rate.  This was the next thing that separated one company from another.  Some places I called said their rates ranged from 14-24%, others said it would be a minimum of 13%, but finally I found something reasonable when I found the Chopper Gallery in Temecula.  My credit score is about a 692, which put me at a fixed rate of 7.29% through the company they use to finance (LBS Financial Credit Union).  This was considerably lower than every other place I'd checked.  I could have gotten it down even lower if I'd financed for 48 months rather than 60 but it wasn't going to be a big enough difference to merit a higher monthly payment amount.

It was a true gem finding this bike as the miles were low for the year and the condition was flawless.  If you are willing to look, there are some great finds out there.  The whole point of upgrading into a bigger bike was so that I am able to go on long rides and not have to pull over every 60-70 miles to fill up my gas tank.  The peanut tank on the Sportster was really great for around town but I have other bikes for that now.  I can even cruise down to LA without worrying about getting tossed around by the wind or running out of gasoline.  The front of the bike has a windshield so that will be a nice change from having bugs, rocks, and cigarette ash flying in face.

The feature I'm most excited about would definitely be the keyless start.  There is a small round puck that I just have to keep within 5ft of the bike in order to start it.  My keys and keychains won't be rattling against my paint job or frame, scratching it up any longer.  This is really convenient!  I will most likely be buying some sort of holster that clips onto the handlebars so I can put my phone up there for navigation purposes as well.  All in time.

The foot boards are so much more comfortable than pegs, it's unbelievable.  I'll be curious to see how my second passenger (girlfriend) likes riding on the back of this over the Sportster.  I may invest in a removable sissy bar down the line, but right now I don't want to add to much clutter to it.

What do you think?  Do ya dig it?

H-D BYOB EVENT - I SOLD MY HARLEY!!!

H-D BYOB EVENT - I SOLD MY HARLEY!!!

Yesterday, Saturday, May 3rd 2014 I decided to attend the event at Huntington Beach Harley-Davidson titled B.Y.O.B or Bring Your Own Bike, which was basically a SWAP MEET.  I registered to bring my Sportster to see if anyone would be interested in picking it up.  I really didn't think I'd sell it, but it'd be fun to attend anyway.  To my surprise, I was offered near asking price by the Dealership themselves.  I couldn't believe they were interested in taking it off my hands, but it makes sense that they have the ability to offer a lot of cash up front, and still make a couple bucks on it by financing it for the next guy who can't pay it all up front.  I really didn't foresee anyone else making me the kind of offer that they did, so I took them up on it!  It worked out nicely because I was going to have to pay for another year of registration, which was due in June and it was near time to have my 5000 mi service done on the bike as well.  Since there were only 4,600 miles in it when it sold I won't have to incur that cost either (it's not cheap).  Overall, I think we both got a good deal out of it.  

I wanted to move it because I really don't have a need for an "around town" bike anymore.  With my Four Honda's, those are going to be my daily riders and I am going to do some homework to find a bigger bike that would be better for long trips, whether it be Palm Springs, Vegas, or just Los Angeles from my home base, Orange County.  I have my eye on the H-D Switchback, which lists for around 16.2K.  It seems like the best deal for the style and look I find attractive in a bike.  However, I also like the Softail Slim, which are around the 15.6 price range but don't come with side bags.  I could also try and find a nice used bike but really love the idea of being the first owner on a bike, such as my Sportster.  We shall see I guess...I have some time to think about it.  I also need a new car, so I have to take that into account as well.

It was hard saying goodbye to my first Harley-Davidson Motorcycle, as it is for every guy who's ever owned one but you have to start somewhere in finding what you truly want in a bike.  I know she will end up in good hands.

1981 Honda CB650 Cafe Racer - Murphy's Motorbikes

COMPLETED - 1981 HONDA CB650C Cafe Racer!!!

COMPLETED - 1981 HONDA CB650C Cafe Racer!!!

I thought I would share a few pictures of the final build day for the 650 Cafe Project.  It came together nicely and overall I'm happy with the look and feel of the bike.  She's definitely loud and FAST!  This weekend I am planning on driving it down to the Long Beach Swap Meet to see if I get any bites.  I am trying my hardest not to get attached to it because I really need to move this one so I can get started on a CB750 build.  I've been keeping a pretty close eye on craigslist for one but it's got to be the right bike and of course the right price.  In the meantime, enjoy this beauty!

I'll try and find some time this weekend to shoot a video "walk-around" of the bike.  Stay tuned.

1981 CB650C CAFE RACER UPDATES FOR 4/22

1981 CB650C CAFE RACER UPDATES FOR 4/22

If everything goes according to plan, this week should be the end of this build.  As you can see the bike is pretty much done and looking good.  There are a few things I may adjust such as the handlebars and the front headlight but otherwise I'm happy with how it's turning out.  I stopped by the painters yesterday and was disappointed to find that my tank, seat pan and side covers were still not done.  They actually had not been touched since the last time I stopped by a week ago.  If there's one thing I've learned with this build it's to never pay in full for a paint job up front.  At most, pay half up front and the rest when it's done.  That way there will remain a sense of urgency behind the one doing the work.  This can be applied to any kind of service being performed on the bike build as well.  I'm told that it will be completed by Wednesday night (tonight).  Meaning, I will be able to go pick up these last few parts to put on Thursday morning!  Fingers crossed.

The last little things that were done were involving the electrical.  This is still something I don't have the capability of doing myself.  I am hoping to learn though because it can be expensive to have done.  The taillight in the above picture, along with the license plat bracket were connected and are now ready to go.  The new turn signals in the front and back were also wired up and work well.  They are a light brighter than the ones I put on my CB360.  I know the taillight isn't much but I can always add another one under the seat down the line if need be.  I do like that the taillight matches the size of the turn signals so everything is in unison.  

At the moment, the front brake calipers are being rebuilt because we've found that they are freezing up.  Big safety issue.  You definitely always want to make sure you keep your brakes in check.  If those things lock up when your driving 40-50 mph you're up shit's creek.  I'm praying that I don't have to buy new calipers because those are not cheap and I'm already slightly over budget on this build.  Not by much though.

The goal is to take this out to the Long Beach Swap Meet this Sunday, April 27th to see if I get any bites.  I'll be listing it for a VERY fair price so I'm hoping someone will show interest.  The Swap Meet brings a wide range of bikers and you never know who is going to roll through.

Thanks for stopping by!  Check back soon to see the final product and reveal of the paint job!!

1973 HONDA CB500K UPDATES FOR 4/17/2014

1973 HONDA CB500K UPDATES FOR 4/17/2014

I haven't had much time to post so I thought I'd put up a few updates this morning before I head out to work.  As far as the Candy Green CB500 Four goes, I've made some good progress.  The bike is now registered, titled and insured in my name after a few trips to the DMV & CHP, a once paperless, unridden bike has been reborn!  I've been taking it out on the road quite a bit and enjoying the ride.  She takes a bit to warm up but once she does, it's all good.  The picture below was actually taken at the April gathering of the Vintage Bike OC club that meets once a month.  It was another good turnout for the crew.  

A week or so before the event I had found an original, mint 1973 CB500K seat on EBAY for sale.  I had been searching online for one for some time and the last time I saw one, it was gone before I could even place a bid.  There were actually two listed and both were reasonably priced.  I decided to go ahead and purchase the one that was in better condition, and yes it was a little pricier but still more affordable than having the seat re-made.  It would also lose it's original quality if I had someone do a re-pro on it.  I wanted the seat to be as original as everything else on the bike.  Unfortunately, the seat didn't arrive until after the event, oh well.  I was hoping to have it in my grasp and installed before the showing.  I was still happy to have found it and actually purchase the thing.  (NOTE what the seat looks like in the above picture.)

As you can see in the pictures below, the new seat restores the look and feel of what this bike would have looked like the day it was bought.  I'm extremely happy with it!  My original plan was to sell this bike after getting it all fixed up and titled but now I am attached to it of course.  I may just keep her :)  

There's a few more things that I would like to do but I'm in the process of finishing up the CB650 cafe build so until that is done and sold this little honey will just have to wait for more funding.  As is, she makes a great daily rider and an overall great investment.

Thanks for stopping by!!

1978 HONDA CB750 SUPERSPORT UPDATE 4/5

1978 HONDA CB750 SUPERSPORT UPDATE 4/5

 Yesterday afternoon I went back to work on my friend's 78' Supersport!  Overall, it was a really productive day and I got done everything that I wanted to.  The main mission for the day was just getting the carbs taken off so I can have them rebuilt, cleaned and re-jetted for velocity stacks rather than the standard air box.  Performance wise, it will help increase the amount of air the carburetors are able to take in and it will be a lot easier to service the carbs in the future without that clunky air box pinching them in there.  As we knew before removing the carbs, there is definitely something mechanically wrong with them because the throttle arm was not moving at all.  After I got them off and took a look I'm still not quite sure how they got like this, but there is a piece that is bent and blocking movement.  I'm hoping it's something that can be fixed rather than replaced.  We shall see!

    

Now that the hard part is done we can figure out what style of velocity stacks or pod air filters to get.  They will be ordered sometime in the near future.  Several parts are still in the mail, like the battery.  That will be arriving next Tuesday I believe so I will need to get it filled and charged up so by the time these carbs are all pretty and in working order we can actually do a test run on the bike.  The tires have already arrived but we are going to wait to have those put on last since it is not something I have the ability to do.  They are Dunlop's if I'm not mistaken and are going to look rad!

The parts that we did get in we put on after the carbs were removed.  New push/pull throttle cables were hooked up, but still waiting on the new throttle tube.  That will arrive with the battery on Tuesday.  We put the master cylinder back on as well since last week I removed it to be cleaned out.  A new rubber gas tank grommet was thrown on too.  You can kind of see it in the picture above. Since I can only work on this bike one day a week, this project probably won't be done till the end of the month but we aren't in a hurry as I want to make sure everything is done right and in the most cost effective way.  

Tomorrow I am finally taking the 72' Honda CB500K down to the CHP to get the VIN verification, which is the final step in getting it registered and able to be driven out on the road.  I've already done all the paperwork at the DMV and got insurance on it, so once they verify the VIN I can go get my plates and take it out for a nice long cruise.  Next weekend is also the April gathering for Vintage Bike OC, so I'll most likely be taking the 500 to that.  Saturday, I'm planning on going to a Grand Opening event over here in HB at the Harley Davidson dealership.  Lot's going on!!