Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Gone to Pieces

And so, the teardown begins.....

3 comments:

abstrait said...

Man, nice work on getting that beast out. I'm still thinking you should powder coat that frame BLACK so it will disappear more. Leave the motor and good parts polished alum to stand out against a disappearing black frame. The ole 450 frame is just not that nice looking.

Getting ready to start my own ordeal on a 71. Hey, who put the earlier drum front wheel on ole Nixon? You do that? Drum looks so much better than the disk, worth the complete drop in braking performance for aesthetics alone.

- kh

Mike said...

Thanks man! It should be a lot easier putting it back in because I will have the wheels off and will get a friends to help me. I'll put the engine on its side and put the frame down on it.

The color scheme I will be doing is satin black with brushed metal highlights. The frame will be black as will the engine and the rims, but the engine covers and other bits will be "brushed". I think it will look great.

The front drum came stock on the CLs. As a "dual purpose" bike, I guess Honda thought a drum would be more reliable. Mine is pretty much useless. I think it just needs some adjustments though.

If you aren't going to do a stock restoration, you should check out www.dotheton.com for some great inspiration.

abstrait said...

Makes sense on the drum front I guess. Yeah, having had both the drum and the disc, it's amazing the difference in stopping power. On the other hand, the drum just looks an order of magnitude better on all fronts.

Performance aside, I'm on the lookout for a drum front for my K4. Also trying to source an EU rear fender, as this looked far more the part. You can see a sample at: http://www.i-vol.com/honda_CB-450/71_honda_cb450_k4_italy.jpg . The European bikes just had more style with lower rise EU bars, better rear fender, better tail light assembly/smaller signals, along with slightly more stylish exhaust.

- kh