Tag Archives: Honda CB350

1971 Honda CB350 Cafe Racer Project – Episode 7: Getting There…

First, let me say that I am almost there… Then, let me add that it is one thing after another! The bike is almost ready to hit the road. Until yesterday I had power to all systems and it was turning over and idling nicely. I had gas overflow running out of one of my carbs so I started the day by adjusting the float to limit the gas inflow. It all went downhill from there. Prior to messing with the float the bike would idle nicely and would rev, but not beyond about 2800 rpm. I thought this was a timing issue but wanted to stop the gas overflow prior to adjusting the timing. Once I adjusted the float I stopped the overflow, but then the bike was not getting enough gas to rev at all. Instead it would die every time I gave it gas. I checked the float bowl on the suspect carb and it was not getting gas at all so i readjusted the float and tried again. Same situation. I put it down and tackled the turn signal wiring to clear my head. I had power to all turn signals but they would not blink. They are on steady. I switched wiring around and around with no success. The headlight works perfectly bur no signal blink. The other problem is that the tail light is on but the brake light will not register. If I turn the key to position 2 then the brake light is on all the time. Something in the wiring is not right. Frustrated I turned back to the carb problem, I was just beginning to mess with the air gas mixture when all power to the bike was lost! The battery has juice but I get nothing anywhere. I checked the starter solenoid with my continuity tester and it is completely dead. I now have to swap out the solenoid from the parts bike to see if this is the culprit. Meanwhile here is what the bike looks like before I start beating on it with a hammer…

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image


Oregon Vintage Motorcyclists’ Show 2013

This past weekend was the annual Oregon Vintage Motorcyclists‘ Show & Swap Meet. As usual it was inspirational with some great bikes in all categories. The sun came out and it proved to be a beautiful day of vintage iron and oil!


1971 Honda CB350 Cafe racer Project – Episode 6: The Parts Bike

I recently picked up a 1972 Honda CL350 off Craigslist to use as a parts bike for my cafe racer rebuild. I had been ordering replacement parts piecemeal off of the interweb and I was averaging $50 a part. For $150 in a snowstorm I was able to pick up the CL350 and everything is there and in decent shape. It is almost a shame to dismantle the old girl but I really need the parts. Here she is yesterday in all her dusty glory before the part-robbing begins.

Honda CB350 Cafe Racer project

1972 Honda CL350 Front

Honda CB350 Cafe Racer Project

1972 Honda CL350 Right Side

Honda CB350 Cafe Racer Project

1972 Honda CL350 Left Side

Honda CB350 Cafe racer Project

the 1971 Honda CB350 Cafe Racer Project sitting in front of the 1972 Honda CL350


Lost Photos

I found an old box today, and in it were some old motorcycle photos I had stashed away. Funny, who knew years later I would be restoring a Honda CB350?

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image


1971 Honda CB350 Cafe Racer Project – Update

I haven’t forgotten about the poor old rolling chassy, once known as my Honda CB350…

I actually just picked up a 1972 Honda CL350 in good condition so that I can use it for parts. The problem is that I am now torn with the possibility of restoring the new bike… Stay tuned for photos of the “parts bike” and progress on the CB Cafe Racer project.

1971 Honda CB350 Right Side


Two Springers Motorcycle Club – Weekend Build-Off

The Two Springers Motorcycle Club has officially started a weekend build gathering that I have dubbed “Bikes ‘n Beer”. Fellow builders get together and discuss, drink, look, build, and inspire. Photos will follow… In the mean time I whipped up a little poster idea to promote the event.

Image

Anyone in the Bend, Oregon area that builds bikes is encouraged to get ahold of us and join the build. I will be sharing ideas and asking for help with my Honda CB350 Cafe Racer project.


1971 Honda CB350 Cafe Racer Project – Episode 3

A few photos of the bike pieces before taking the frame off to the powdercoaters…

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image


CB350 Cafe Racer Inspiration

I found another nice bike to inspire the Cafe Racer Project. I would love to polish out the tank to raw metal…

Image

This one was discovered over at jvoisrad with no additional details. It looks to be a Honda CB350 to me.

Here it is a little earlier in the process:


1971 Honda CB350 Cafe Racer Project – Inspiration

I found two bikes that resemble what I would like my final bike to look like. Most of the cafe racer projects leave the bike totally stripped down with either small modified fenders or no fenders at all. Also, since I will be riding with the Missus on the back of the bike I cannot go with the small cafe racer seat. I need to maintain a passenger friendly cafe look. These two bikes are pretty close in many regards:

This is a 1973 CL350 that was restored by Jonathan Wood. You can see more pictures of the details on his Flickr post.

Image

Image

Image

Image

This bike is great inspiration. I like the lower profile headlight and the fact that he kept the rear fender configuration with modified LED lights. I would have kept the original front fender and added rubber shock boots, but that’s just my style. He did a great job on this bike all around.

This next bike is a CB350

Image

Image

Image

On this bike I like the fact that they kept the original front fender and I am a big fan of the rubber shock boots. The handlebars and gauges sit a little higher than I like and the seat back is too tall, not to mention that the seat is meant for one person.

These two are the best conversions I have found so far, based on my likes and dislikes. Great job guys! Thanks for the inspiration.


1971 Honda CB350 Cafe Racer Project – Episode 2

Let the breakdown begin! I spent a few hours this weekend dismantling the bike to see how deeply the rust had penetrated various parts. The  original goal was to simply get the bike running in its current state and work slowly over time to fix it up while I worked out the engine by riding it. Well, my OCD kicked in and I couldn’t stand to see the rusty parts, so I decided that I would get it stripped down to the frame so I could get the frame powdercoated while I dealt with the surface rust inside the gas tank. Once the seat and tank were off I kept on going. I made sure to take many photos of each part before removing it so that when I put it back together I have something to refer to. I also ordered the Clymer Honda repair manual. It should be here in a couple of days.

After breaking down the bike I sent a couple of hours on the internet sourcing some of the parts I thought I might replace, but after looking at part sites and eBay I think some of the parts I thought were poor are actually not so bad, based on the junk people are trying to sell on eBay. It seems surface rust and dents are par for the course on CB350 parts this age and I will be better off sanding, sand-blasting, re-chroming and powdercoating some of the pieces with minor wear that I thought were throw-aways.

This is the bike after a few hours of breakdown:

Image

Image

Image

And after an hour or so more, it was even lighter:

Image

Image

Image

Image

Now I can get the carbs off and rebuilt…