What to do with an old Honda....CB

Mentioned this in the hotlink thread, but I guess I'm going to do a mild build / cleanup on it and flip it to fund the (stalled) truck project.

Father in law called me and asked if I wanted a free motorcycle. Uhmm.. Free and Motorcycle are two of my favorite words. So, sight unseen, I took my boys and drove the hour north to retrieve this:

A fairly rough 1980 Honda CB650.

When I initially saw it, there was half a milk crate banded to the right side of the luggage rack holding a full size car battery. You can see the extentions for the battery in this pic.

Tires hold air and rolls fine. Rusty chain and all.

Exhaust is in poor shape, with one missing tip and another cracked through.

But, most important? It has a clean and clear title that is in my possession.

Last night I got to messing around with this a little bit. Jump starting showed zero electrical to the system. Googling says the main fuse is notorious for blowing on these and most owners replaced with a section of copper wire.

sure enough. This had been done. but corrosion has taken it's toll.

Replaced with new temporary piece of romex until I stop for a blade fuse holder and new 30 amp fuse.

Hooked the cables backup and hit the starter button. cranked right over, but the carbs are gummed up and leaking fuel from the overflows.

Handlebars. Mini-apes are not my thing and I happened to have these 1" bars and risers from the GSF parts bike I acquired a couple years back.

Nice flat and wide bars definitely give a nicer seating position.

Now to get a can of carb cleaner and starting fluid. This thing might actually run.

What do youwant to do with it?

You mentioned a scrambler in the other thread, I think a street tracker is more fitting for a 4 cylinder, but it's your bike. It looks like a better starting point for a custom then a restoration/resto-mod, so figure out what you like, and make it so

I do like the scrambler idea, but I'm agreeing more with the street tracker now.

We will see what can be done on minimal investment.

Some taller rear shocks, removal of everything unnecessary, and a lower profile seat should be doable for very little $$$ and get you closer to the flat track look- the rest is stuff you'd be fixing anyway, like exhaust, brakes, tires. It may need work on the forks as well if you want it to handle decently. Some inspiration:

Inspiration porn.

I think that most of the from another 4 cyl Honda of that era are bolt-ons. They lowered them to make customs by putting on short shocks, dished seats etc. I don't think they changed much on the frame. So by bolting on the other stuff, you would get a more conventional bike.

Pulled the carb bank and dissasembled. 3 of the 4 main jets where 100% clogged with dried sludge. An evening was spent in the garage armed with a set of jet wires, carb cleaner and a mountain of rags. Drained the tank of unknown age fuel, refilled and reassembled.

Not having a battery left me with jump starting off the minivan, BUT!! it runs! https://www.youtube.com/embed/V1DtyuMCkNQ

investment so far? Jet cleaning tool $6.

Now to cleanup a bunch of surface rust, figure out the seat, buff the tank, and front brake? it's no where to be seen. As in no caliper, rotor, or hand grip. It's not like front brakes are important or anything --insert sarcasm--

In reply to Grtechguy:

The lack of front brake pretty much settles it, it wants to be a flat track bike

Great little bike to tinker with, enjoy!

Maybe I'm the only one who would leave it exactly as it is! I love that styling. Granted, I've never ridden a motorcycle/have no perspective on how the changes would affect drivability, but still. Good find, no matter what you do it'll be a good looking bike, I'm sure

Nice project,i may have some parts for that bike but i'm in canada.. Yhe engine is based on the cb500/550 four but has a no point ignition, better head/cams.. a kick start retrofit has been done along with bigger pistons but is far from bolt on...

I would install spoked wheels from a 650c, reprofiled seat and call it off.

Inspect the charging system and clean connections, they are notoriously weak both in poser and reliability..

Otherwise, they have good power and runs great.

Three houses down from my Mother-in-law and therefore about 3 miles from my house are two young guys, brothers, who got into parting out motorcycles.
Their ebay store has 74,000 items!
When I search "CB650" 199 items come up.
I'm not sure if their prices are good or not but they sure seem to have a lot of stuff.

The family owns a rural, grass air strip, airport. In high school, they boys would rebuild lawn mowers and tractors and sell them at the side of the road. Now the boys are in their late 20's. The Motorcycle operation takes up half of the airport hangers. They have each built a $200k house on the family property backing up to a nice pond.
Just recently, they built another huge pole barn just for the Motorcycle business.
map

In reply to John Welsh :

That's what I call living the dream.

Putting a battery in moved something, now I'm getting intermittent power with the button. Must be a loose/dirty ground some where. Even with the Battery hooked up to a charger, it's not charging.

the famous faulty rotor actually tests good and it does stumble to a sputter occasionally.

Jumping the starter solenoid fixes that, but still I think the carbs are out of whack since disassembly.

In reply to John Welsh :

Hey john I have a few vintage bikes. What is the name of the ebay store? Thanks!

B13Birk said:

In reply to John Welsh :

Hey john I have a few vintage bikes. What is the name of the ebay store? Thanks!

Just click on the link, it's "Mikes Motorcycle Parts."