In this case the early bird, does get the worm. Good for you, for making the call first thing, and then showing up at his house with cash... Can't wait to see it...
It bears mentioning that I am enough of a sucker for unrestored vintage stuff that if I do mods the original parts will come off and go in a box and I'm not likely to do anything irreversible. So weigh in you FF or I'll be forced to drink until I find inspiration
A quick quote from an e-mail from the afore mentioned friend who wants a first bike "What!?! You sonofabitch! I'll call you on my ride home! "Followed me home..." please..." Actually that was the whole e-mail Dan we'll just have to wait and see what the poll says.... Starbuck, I'm sure we'll come across something great for you too, and now you really need a good little vintage bike so we can start a gang
Not crazy about the bike in stock form personally... I do like original classic bikes in certain cases but just not feeling it with this one.... I would recommend a good, cheap, used dualsport for a friends first bike. Easy to learn on and they don't worry about it when the inevitable drop(s) happen... and you're not risking damaging an otherwise good bike that are getting harder and harder to come by... Not to mention that with the suspension/drum brakes, etc, this might not be a great first bike... Of course that again is a personal opinion thing.... Now, the scrambler thing has been at the forefront of my interest of late so I'm definitely feeling that idea. I just don't know enough about this particular model to know how the conversion would go. I'd be more likely to look for a CL if I wanted to do up a scrambler. Of course this one may be easy enough to convert, that's your call. I guess given your choices and this particular bike I'd probably go with Cafe, but ultimately your idea about drinking until inspiration hits is probably the best overall plan... Have fun, take plenty of pics and do a good build thread... .
I rode one for years... commuted to work, to college, rode on dirt roads, logging roads, even toured on it... Yours already looks cafe... doesn't need much (maybe handlebars?). I think one could meld the cafe and scrambler styling qualities quite nicely... use dual purpose tires, put a supertrapp spark arrestor on the pipe... good to go! The suspension and power band preclude heavy duty dirt use but all in all, it will be a versatile bike. If you want to put more into it, get good shocks.
I had to vote "sell it to a friend as a first bike." Such good bikes to start off on. I started on a 360T myself, and why not bring another petrol head into this world! Any of the above routes, aside from cafe, is a cool option to me though.
paging AdamMTB to the white courtesy phone (sorry it wasn't the Bandit 1300, I am saving that one for you) oh yeah and here is one I saw in the most recent issue of Overland Journal which was the first scrambler style bike with a low pipe that I really liked and seeing the CT I bought made me think of it. there are more photos at the link above but here is one
Agreed, this bike is cool because it is stock but the stock form isn't particularly inspiring to me. That has been the top recommendation from the group of us who ride who know the fiend who wants a first bike. One trouble with that plan is that he is pretty short and would definitely need to lower a D/S as a first bike Best of all he takes his MSF course this weekend, after that we'll try to get him to try out a range of stuff to see what feels right to him I had this one a few years ago in cali, I liked it but this 360 was so fun on the initial couple rides that I fell in love. the project is at least half the fun, I might even try to put together parts to be able to do both Cafe and Scrambler with an afternoon of swapping parts. The only part of the plan that is fixed at this point is plenty of photos the bike came with an extra set of bars that will be perfect for a cafe set up That is kind of how I am leaning at the moment. as for heavy dirt use it is parked next to these so really the CL won't get much more than a moderate fire road run I'm off to DMV, wish me luck :huh
So yesterday I needed to either get drunk or ride "it" out. I had to go to a meeting later in the day so ride it was. I took the little CT out and while I did have to apologize to her when I got home, the ride was just what I needed. With Alex Clare's "too close" pounding in my ears I probably pissed off more than a few neighborhoods with the completely unmuffled backfires under engine braking but the little geisha spoke to me. So... FYYFF's and poll results be damned, the first mods to this newest member of the harem will be cafe-ish the next few days off work will see things started.
I recently moved and the shop photo above is my old place, now I can walk to work but the new garage/shop is much smaller. So before work could begin in earnest I had to get the shop set up. While doing that I shot a quick message to a fellow inmate to see if he wanted to help with the project. He swung by and we got right into it. First we checked out the shape of things where they were at the start. We started to check things out and played around with another set of bars that the previous owner passed on with the bike to see if we liked the lines. The headlight was cracked open and the first order of business was to get the new aftermarket blinkers off. The switch wiring on this bike runs though the bars so we had some labeling to do and then be old bars could come off. Then the new (used) bars had to be drilled for the wiring at the new flipped orientation. Once all the holes were made and the edges beveled it was time to start threading the wires. Then it was time to see how the new bars looked The new bars need to be cut about and inch narrower on each side but rather than chopping away with a hacksaw we decided to wait for the next time we were working on it to use Steven's pipe cutter which will be neater. He was out of time for the day so he headed out and I moved back a bit to pull the side covers and air boxes off to see what it would take to open up that space and tuck things up under the new seat. That's the end of the work for today and a bit of a teaser of things to come. Oh yeah, and for those of you that voted to keep it stock as stated previously I won't be doing any mods that can't be reversed so here is the pile of stuff to save so far:
Some questions for the collective wisdom: How small a battery can I get away with for a kick start only bike? I want to hide it in a new tail cowl what do you think I should put on in place of the air boxes? stacks, cone filters, foam filters, flat metal filters, nothing? time to weigh in again.
phew. Too many people are all like "LOL SAWZALL" and ruin a perfectly lovely UJM for no reason. anyway, can i have your taillight cover?
as best I can figure giving away parts would fall under "irreversible modifications" I am thinking about these in place of the airbox, I also like the idea of a simple disk filter that would leave that area even more open if I relocate the battery, but haven't found anything suitable yet. Speaking of the battery anyone know how small I can go on an old bike like this if I don't have blinkers or a starter?
Pulled some more stuff off yesterday and found a loose throttle cable mount on the carb so it had to come off you can see how stripped out the screw head was, and someone had cross threaded it. So I chased the threads and used a bit of loctite. I found that as I was working on rerouting the throttle cable but now the bars are all the way on.
Got the front end bundled up and pulled off the front fender to start thinking about what I wanted to do there. Then it was time to start playing with some sheet metal This is where the first piece ended up. That will be a pan for the fuses, relay, voltage rectifier etc. Then the urge struck me to ride the thing so I needed a tail light I found a trailer side marker that I liked the lens on which had two bulbs so a little dremel time and some solder turned one bulb into the running light and the second into a brake light. I dropped the battery tray back in so I could take a test run with the new smaller battery Then slapped the seat back on and made a temporary mount for the tag and tail light The ride was fun and I like the new bars, but found an issue that I hadn't noticed with the original bars on. The bar clamps are asymmetrical and the one on the right has a rubber bushing which is worn thin enough to make the bars sit off level. Time for a bit of internet hunting to see if I can find a replacement. Next up a new seat pan and tail cowl
Pulled the bars and the mounts to check out what was going on and here is what I found: For now I shimmed up the shorter one with a couple fender washers to get the sizes closer to the same. It isn't in the photo, but I also shimmed the threaded end so that the shaft that holds the rubber cones is still the same length and there was enough remaining thread left to catch the nut and cup washer. This bike looked pretty unchanged/modified, anyone have any guesses if the mounts were different for a reason (factory or otherwise) I can't think of anything other than an accidental part swap somewhere in the last 30 some years.
Common problem with the 360 was broken upper triple trees and worn out bushings. In a box somewhere I have some parts for a 350 and 360. I might have a set of bar risers with bushings in fair condition. I hope you aren't chopping it. It irritates me that guys start projects and ruin nice old bikes then want to sell the hacked up parts missing remains, or hack up a bike and think it's worth more than stock. I applaud that you are not going to destroy it. I'd like to see the finished project.
definitely no chopping going on here, I am enjoying the challenge of seeing what I can do without making any permanent changes. There is a nice big box of parts that will go back on when I get bored with the cafe style. The bushings look very new, I took her out for a run today and it felt much better with the fender washers shimming the bar clamps up even. At some point I will look for a matched pair on e-bay, or if you happen across a set I would gladly send some money your or Baldy's way for them. Thanks for the insight
Those of you that voted for keeping it stock will be pleased to hear that today's project is taking the little red bike back to stock guise. The SO is finishing up her last day of the MSF course and needs a bike to ride so this will be it. She had a similar one years ago out in Cali when she had her permit but then got busy with school and never got into riding, maybe second time's the charm It has been a blast to rip around on this summer in cafe-ish guise, the dropped bars and loud pipe made for a very viscerally pleasing ride. I never did bother to build a tail cowl or new seat because other projects took it's place. Most recently getting this "barn find" back up and running has been at the front of the line.
