My new project: 1982 Honda CB900C

[ContractKiller]

Bike building season is pretty much over for me until next winter but that's not stopping me from getting a head start. I picked up a fairly clean, albeit ugly CB900 Custom in need of some sexification:







That's what things looked the night I rode her home. I plan to do a simple build with this one, nothing too major, at least for the time being.

I haven't done too much yet. I yanked that ugly ass luggage rack and back rest and launched them across the parking lot and into the dumpster, cleaned her up, and put some miles on to make sure everything is in working order.

Yesterday I ordered all new lighting for the front, that fairing has GOT to go. I also ordered new lighting for the rear to match the front. I know most guys ditch the signals and such when they build a bobber but I wanna keep em and just make things more streamlined. My wife was nice enough to reupholster the stock seat for me until I decide on a seat that I like.

I do need to figure out how to go about lowering the bike. Sliding the forks up is the easy part, but the rear is a different story. I wouldn't mind keeping the air shocks but I haven't seen any lowering blocks to fit the shaft drive. I might have to go with a set of 11" lowering shocks, we'll see.

[Guest]

Please!!!

Ride it as-is this summer with Foreigner BLASTING on the radio!!! LOL

[Guest]

[ContractKiller]

Ride it as-is this summer with Foreigner BLASTING on the radio!!! LOL

Honestly, I don't know if it'll even put out any sound. You should see the speakers. They're in pretty bad shape. Besides, I don't usually condone such behavior; I despise the idea of having a radio on a motorcycle

BUT if I'm going to ride around with the radio blaring from horrible sounding speakers, I've got some old Def Leppard on a CD somewhere.

[Guest]

Honestly, I don't know if it'll even put out any sound. You should see the speakers. They're in pretty bad shape. Besides, I don't usually condone such behavior; I despise the idea of having a radio on a motorcycle

BUT if I'm going to ride around with the radio blaring from horrible sounding speakers, I've got some old Def Leppard on a CD somewhere.

Hahaha, just make sure it's Pyromania or earlier, hahaha

[ContractKiller]

Gave the bike a bath, went for a ride, and snapped a couple shots. Looks a lot better with the new seat cover and sans luggage rack. Can't wait to get rid of the fairing. Reminds me of Darth Vader's helmet





I need ideas for paint. I don't really want to do the obligatory flat black, but I don't want anything super fancy either.

[03ACE]

Nothing wrong with a nice solid color, maybe a metallic or something, and maybe a stripe or inconspicuous graphic. Even a plain two-tone would set it off without being real over the top or expensive.

[OldSchoolBully]

There are colours other than flat black?

[ContractKiller]

Yep, there sure are

I like the light blue that's on the tank, after I cleaned her up I noticed there's actually quite a bit of metal flake in it. I might try to find a color close to that. I also saw a Sporty out at the local Harley dealer with a red I really liked. Had a really heavy metal flake for that super retro look but just the shade of red really caught my eye.

Speaking of Sportsters, I bought a seat off of one this morning. The shape of it is just about perfect for the bike except the front doesn't really mate up to the tank too well. I'm thinking about taking the foam off the Sportster seat and the pan from the CB seat and reshaping them to fit together

[ragnarok]

Fucking A yes!

if i ever pick up a bike with a stereo i am going to rock that bitch for a good month with some tunes before it tear it down.

[pinpush]

One of my friends CB900 this thing is terrifying....

[ContractKiller]

That's hot but I'll be keeping the rear suspension on mine. My back can't handle a rigid anymore I really like that exhaust though.

[swinewerx]

where the heck are you? within this country? I would like to know, if you would like to get rid of that thing for lets say, I duunno, what would it take to get that thing to be mine, as long as you are close enough for me to get it without shipping it! I would love to have that as my next chopper, hardtailed and extrreme in every way!!! I really would love to have a bigger bike motor, as long as it has all the guts and exteroior things to make it run, I would make that sucker be my favorite of all chops!! My longest chop would be second or third after i would get something like that!!!!! I am serious, if you are near lodi calif. please let me know what it would take to get that from you!!!!! I really want something that big!!!!! or even bigger!! I really want something that will tear the pavement apart!!! anyone out there have such a thing within my reach???????

[swinewerx]

Dude, I am actually jealous of you!!! not in a bad way, but really!! I want one just like that or bigger to make into the most wicked chopper ever!!!! I really want one so bad!!! I have all the tools to make it possible, if I had what you have there, I would actually unbolt things nicely, just to actually save what I would not be using, which would be about 90% of the whole set up there, I would only be using the motor, the electrodes to make it run, and the engine cradle of the frame, possibly the wheels, I do not know how those wheels compare to what I am so used to with my cb750s and xs650s, You would get a great laugh at how I chop a bike, I get a new angle grinder, and way too many cut off wheels for the angle grinder, and many uh new blades for the sawzall, and aggressively hack everything down to just about nothing, using only the neck of the frame and the engine cradle part of the frame, the rest I fab up as I go!!! and go!!! I do!!!!!! It is amazing at how fast an angle grinder dies, I go through them very fast, and I have tried every brand there is, I still am not impressed with any of them yet!!! for, they cannot out last me!!! even the expensive ones, that they keep behind locked glass doors are no match for what I put them through!!!

[ContractKiller]

Still waiting on the new lights to arrive so I haven't removed the fairing yet, but since it was raining I decided to work on the seat situation. I just can't get used to the stock seat. On one hand I like how it just sort of locks you in, but on the other hand I felt like the foam was a bit soft. Perhaps it was because of age, I dunno. I also find the overall shape to be very dated; seems like every Japanese bike from the 70's and 80's has the same sofa pretending to be a motorcycle seat. So...

Armed with tools and beer, I set out to combine the factory seat pan with the foam from that Sportster seat I bought.




Now, I would have loved to fit the entire Sportster seat to the CB's frame. Unfortunately the front of the pan doesn't really flow with the tank or the frame. Here's what the bare pans look like. Not even close to being the same shape:







Since foam is easier to work with than molded plastic I opted to do some surgery. With a bit of work I think this can come out decent:



After a bit of time on the operating table, the foam and pan were almost ready:




My little one was there for moral support, and to guard my helmet:




After the foam and seat were fitted I started the upholstery work. Disclaimer: I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT I'M DOING! That said, I think I did okay:




Here's the finished seat. Took me quite a bit of time to work the material as it's not the 4-way stretch stuff that a lot of people recommend. Unfortunately that meant no matter what there were going to be some creases; the material just has to have somewhere to go. I put the creases at the very back and my wife will be able to sew them to tidy them up and make them look presentable. Looks a lot better than the original seat, even looks better than the upholstery job my wife did (don't tell her I said that!) and really, I'm pretty happy with it:



If it stops raining any time soon I'll get some pics of the seat on the bike. I'm pretty excited, can't wait to see how it feels!