my name's corey, i'm a bartender. i'm also a freak for old racecars and cool bikes. being a bartender, i spend alot of time meeting folks that share the same interests, and love talking about what they have, what they want to do, etc. so, i've heard it all, i've seen it all, i like it all.

one beautiful sunday afternoon, my current fetish for cafe racers became a reality when one of my regulars let it slip (after one of my famous bloody marys) that he had too many bikes in his garage. another drink and my best pathetic bike-less sigh, and the gentleman donated an old cb360 to my cause. i'm now the proud owner of a soon to be killer cafe racer.




i wish i'd taken pictures right when i brought it home. it was basket case, rusty, leaky, smelly, and in three pieces and two boxes. one week in to it, i've stripped it down completely, and i'm going through the build slowly and precisely. i want this project to rock.

my first step was to pull all the parts off, separate and and label all parts to keep, and begin work on the fork tree.

here's the original, rusty, heavy, and in need of some sex appeal:

a little cutting of the fat, some drilling for weight reduction, and proper priming:



then i polished and painted all the nuts, bolts, and washers, coated the tree bodies with spray-on rubber, coated the bar clamps with a matte clear finish ('cause i love the color of primer against black rubber and brushed steel) and labeled my bar clamps with directional kanji (in case i get confused in tokyo) and put it all back together:





that was fun. my tree is almost a pound lighter, and should stand up to high speeds and seattle weather quite well. i've got my frame stripped, cut off all of the pieces not 110% essential to performance (seat anchors, helmet lock, steering lock, rear extension, kick stand) managed to shed a pound and a half from the frame



and i'm in the process of priming and sanding now. my upcoming posts will be alot more in detail and contain more pics, as i'll be making some pretty radical changes to this machine. my goal is to make it AT LEAST 40% lighter, and sort of work in a blade runner theme.

thanks for reading!

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beat it to fit, paint it to match

ok so the weather here in seattle can be chilly and wet, and being a bartender, my hours of operation don't really jive with my neighbors. so one rainy cold night in an attempt no to use my right angle grinder after midnight, i decided to take a look at the jumbled confusing mess known as "the wiring loom". for anyone who's ever messed with wiring from the 70's you probably well know that simplicity was not a priority.

having spent half of my life turning old volkswagons into demon killing robot warriors, i hate extra wires, foofy accessories, and confusion. who wants to figure out which fuse goes to what relay and what switch that relay controls halfway to the finish line???

seriously, here's a diagram of my bike:




my brain works like this: if it doesn't make you safer, faster, or sexier, cut it off and feed it to a robot. or sell it on ebay.

here's what the cold wet night produced:



leave faith to love and religion. i like proven results and surgical precision.

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beat it to fit, paint it to match

Welcome to the site...


Looks like you've got a bit of a job ahead of you, You should repost this in the blog section and keep us all up to date with your work, so far, it looks great...

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"Four wheels move the body. Two wheels move the soul!"

good idea! i've just realized this blog may go on for a while, so i'll repost this elsewhere. thanks!

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beat it to fit, paint it to match

Corey,
Congrats on your new project! I admire your ambition.
My knowledge of motorcycle electrical is limited. However, I spent over 20 years as an automotive electronics professional.
Upon examination of your wiring diagrams (I definitely like yours better, keep it simple works well) I have a question regarding coil supply voltage. Does a motorcycle coil use full charging system voltage, or is there some way (regulator or ballast resistor) to limit voltage to the ignition coil? Just curious.
Keep the pictures and commentary coming. What you have so far looks great.
Regards,
Perry

Motorcycles don't use ballast resistors on their coils. At least none of the point ignition ones I worked on did.

I think your wiring plan is great, make it as simple as possible I say. I would consider running the lights, flashers,
and horn with relays to keep the current through the key switch lower.

Welcome to TMW.
Thanks for sharing your project. It's great to see talented people sharing their know how.

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1st motorcycle 2004 Yamaha V-Star 650 Classic.

Good luck with the new project.
here is a little inspiration from another forum member.

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you guys are great! i can't wait to start a dialog with people who know what they're doing! per some earlier suggestions, i'll be re-posting this blog in the "garage" category as soon as i get permission.

and yeah, that other guy's cb360 cafe racer is SWEET!

as far as wiring goes, i'll be starting a much further in -depth blog in my new post.

thanks for reading!

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beat it to fit, paint it to match

i guess it's already been moved to the proper location. ok then, back to business

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beat it to fit, paint it to match