Monthly Archives: September 2020

Thailand’s Little Drag Bikes- With A Lot of Speed!

Posted on by Steve Carpenter
29 Sep

Well, here we are, still having to keep our distance and wear masks, its like we are all lepers and are plagued to stay at 2 meters apart, but I know it isnt for too much longer, and I strive to continue to make parts and create motorcycles.  Our Hobby is still very strong and, as we now have to stay home more, many people are picking some wrenches up and getting into their Shed, garage or workshop and get into some old projects that they thought they would never have time to get at.

 

So, as to make the day go by a little easier, I thought that i would add some videos of these crazy Thailand Drag bikes, these little things are stripped down and they can run as fast as 9 seconds on the drag strip.

These look a hoot to ride and I have to laugh how they change gear, its fun to watch and to listen to them little motors revving their arse off.  I thought some of you would also enjoy watching these as you work at home?

Thank you all for ordering my parts, my exhausts are going through the roof and continue to do so, so thank you all from the bottom of my heart.

 

CB550 the Mono Chrome Caff bike

Posted on by Steve Carpenter
20 Sep

Well, the weekend is here and I dunno whats going on with the world, but here, the Pandemic, then Fires and this morning a 4.6 Earthquake, jeez it will test you at times thats for sure. But I thought I would show a Little CB550 I put together for a Customer and he still rides it, a fun Brat machine for sure.

 

 

This was a fun machine and even with square Firestone tires aboard, it rode really well and always had a smile on my face as I blapped around town on a test run etc.

A lot of time was spent taking bits off and leaving them off, getting back to as bare bones as legally possible and give this little 550 a new life and look.

Many people asked me about the gas tank, asking how much it was to Chrome it etc, they looked amazed when I told them that its a stock tank with the paint removed and I simply hand sanded and polished the fuel tank, then Clear Coated it to try and keep that Chrome look.

 

I rebuilt the stock forks with New springs and I also added 4 stainless Washers to set the Pre-Load and give this machine a little harder ride than a stock version, I polished the lower Stanchions and then fitted New seals, and added a Chrome Dust Cap to finish the lowers off a little better.

As you can see, I stripped the Black paint off the upper tree and polished that to a mirror finish, I added my New handle Bar Holders as well as my Chrome Classic Clubman 7/8 Bars, there are no control switches on the bars to clean the look up, and of course, One of my 2.5 Speedometer gauges with trip counter for that Old School appearance.

The speedometer is housed on my own Aluminum Bracket that I cut from 6061 and polished, and the whole bike is put together with Aircraft grade Stainless Allen head bolts at a Cost of a minimum $2.00 Each!

I used a 5-3/4 Chrome Harley headlight and even though the speedo cable has a C bend in it, I have managed to route it to work smoothly and was super stoked to see the speedometer ran true all the time I rode it, I of course Fully triple Chromed the Lower tree as thats steel, new fork tubes 2 inches under with New upper Fork caps.

I used stock 2.15 Rims but used a rear as a front, coated them Black and laced with stainless spokes and of course, the Customer insisted on a set of Firestones for that Olden day look and yes, they track like crazy on the freeway but heck, thats half the fun of it right?

My 4 into 1 system makes this machine bark and gives her the get up and go something of this nature really does require, this is by no means a timid machine.

I have sold close to 2000 of these systems all over the world and continue to reach New customers all the time as well as having repeat orders from many Motorcycle establishments.

The Rims are Powder Coated a Gloss Black, then the Hubs are hand polished with New bearings etc, the rims have New stainless spokes and this is a good color concept for this type of build.

I made up a stainless one piece stainless high pressure aircraft quality front brake line, rebuilt the front caliper as well as take all the factory anodizing off and polished to a chrome finish.

A tough looking machine with a monochrome finish, this gets a lot of attention, this bike had been to many shops over the years and they had no luck getting the bike to run, let alone look cool, this runs hard and strong and I am glad that the customer still has it.

There are many that have tried to make their machine look like this one, thats very cool to see, as it means I did this right and to see hybrids of this Motorcycle always puts a great big smile on my face.

The carbs are all rebuilt, syncronized and have a polished set of Steel Dragon velocity stacks on them, 2 are shorter, to allow for the down sweep of the frame.

Hidden Dry cell battery and Kick only, but this fires up right away first kick, running irridium plugs and new Factory coils, I hope that you liked this build and maybe have inspired you to get back in the garage at this difficult time in everyone’s lives, and have some fun and mechanic therapy, creating your very own. “Covid Racer”

If you need this exhaust, its on my website and available in Raw steel, or cerakote colors. Thanks for looking.

 

 

CB550 I am putting together from parts laying about.

Posted on by Steve Carpenter
15 Sep

Well, here we are and will shortly be beginning a New journey, moving to a bigger place with an acre of land and shall be having a Barn built for my workshop, so I thought I would try and use some of the old parts I have in my storage, to at least get a rolling chassis, so will be easier to move around when the time comes for me to move all my stuff.

This 550 frame was a friend of mines, but he got into a bad accident a few months back and will no longer be riding again, so, rather him getting rid of the frame, he gave it to me with some bits and bobs, and Ii thought now was a good time to at least assemble a few bits that I do have and see where we end up down the road a bit.

I had de-tabbed it and welded a hoop a few years back and then he had the chassis Powder coated and thats how it stayed, so I now have this at home and am now starting to see what I have to get this in some sorting of movable project, and I have a long way to go, as well as dealing with the smoke ash and bad air quality, due to the fires, I shall not be rushing this.

I am going to be putting it together in my spare time and see where we end up, but have an idea roughly of a Brat style bike that might be fun to ride on El Mirage dry lake etc later  on when the SCTA meets start up again.

When you start off with just bare bones, and no Game Plan, who knows where you will go, but, as we may be on the move very soon, I need to clear some of my storage out of parts laying about and at least make this 77-78 Frame Rollable, so I can move it about a little later on.

I managed to locate an old swing arm and fitted that to the chassis, and then I pulled out some TEC shocks that I had in a box and thought that this would be the best project for these as they are Brand new and will set the bike off nicely.

I had some Polished lowers in a Draw and some Hard Chromed upper stanchions all wrapped up in a box in my storage facility, so a good time to put together a good set of front forks, complete with New O-Rings and Upper Nuts etc, finished the look off with some chromed Dust Covers and there you go, a neat front end. I actually use A.T.F. for the oil and then set the pre-Load by adding 4 Stainless Washers in the top above the spring, just like they did at the Race tracks, as I hate the plastic tube spacers, dont trust them at all.

This bike needs everything, so it may take some time to get all together but, for now I am piecing the bike in the garage and its taking shape right now, a 18 Inch rear rim laced to a front polished hub and stainless stee spokes was the order of the day and of course, it would not look as Custom, without a set of Diamond Pattern Tires.

You may also Notice that I have fitted a Pro Moto set of Black 7/8 Handle Bars, with a center brace, just to give it a more Tracker look and to be honest, they feel really good on these tree’s.

Now she has a rear wheel and, even though she sits higher, I really am digging the ride height and stance of this machine, admittedly, she may drop down a tad when the Motor gets plopped in but, I like this concept so far and am having fun piecing this old girl together to begin a new life after many years of laying dormant.

Not sure on the Headlight or the Gas tank right now but, as I have a few parts laying about, I am just using them up for now and can check them later if I find something else.

This does have a nice look and feel to it, it roils so nice with new bearings and the bars give it a Classic pose and something I have high hopes for later on, long way to go and noticed the right foot peg is incorrect, so will need to find a 77 version so the brackets fit the frame right.

You may get bored at looking at these photos but right now I am trying to get a feel of how I want this bike to look and am sure I will be trying a bunch of gas tanks until I get the right one to work.

I polished up the old Rotor and will grab a set of old caliper and brackets from my storage and see what I can mount up on here,then strip and polish to a chrome look.

I tried another gas tank off a 500, still not sure and will keep trying, I will make a seat pan but make sure plenty of padding and i think tuck n Roll but not sure what color just yet, will wait until I know what fuel tank I shall use on this build.

Working on a super cool front bobbed fender, getting there and will be stoked to get that all dialed in, looks pretty dope already but just a few tweaks more.

That where we stand right now, and talking of stands, there is no main stand for this, so I have to come up with a longer kick stand for this bike, as she wont be able to stand upright with out one.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Working on an old CB550 Honda

Posted on by Steve Carpenter
06 Sep

Well, this Labor day weekend has been Hotter than a bowl of Chilli peppers, right now, as I type this, its 108 Degree’s. Now, I have a lot to do in the garage and I need to move some parts that have been sat in storage for a long time, I looked at what parts I had for this CB550 Honda, and figured I might be able to get it together as a roller over these few days.

I am sure like you, what you plan out, never really does go the the plan you have outlined in your head a hundred times and this weekend was one of them. The frame is pretty much all set, I had ground some Tabs off a while ago and then hopped the rear for a customer, but unfortunately he got into an accident and can no longer ride, so I had the frame in storage, an engine and a few other bits and bobs.

Anyway,I bought that home and cleaned it up a little, sat it on a dolly and thought I would add the triple trees and bearings etc, just to make a start etc. Well, I added the 37 Ball bearings and inserted the triple tree, only to fins that there is a 1/8th inch play gap in the top of the steering.

Upon further investigation, I have observed that these are CB750 Triples not 550, and although they look simular, they are not, obviously the 550 is shorter and the pinch bolts are also in a different location, but- I have searched high and low in my storage and I do not have any CB500 or CB550 triples at all, plenty of CB750 ones though but they wont work.

 

I am now scrolling through the Dreaded Ebay to buy a set of CB550 tree’s but am now at the mercy of the seller to wait for the goods to turn up, so there you go, my weekend is now buggered to be able to complete the front end.

 

So, this is the story for all bike builders, you think you have all the parts but you only find out you dont, when you come to assemble the darn thing, you get that ” Wait a minute, that aint right ” Thought.

Even though right now is now 109 degree’s, I managed to find an old swing arm and fitted that to the frame, as well as a set of TEC shocks that I had in a drawer and thought I may as well use these for something. As you can see, I have made a start, not sure if I am going to use an old CB750 gas tank as I am still in the mocking up, but we shall see how it goes. But, until I get the triple Tree set up off Ebay, I cant do much to the front end, but at least got something done on a scorching hot Sunday.

 

 

Using up old snotty parts

Posted on by Steve Carpenter
01 Sep

Well, it is still hot as hell here in southern California, and I have been flat out with work, so not too much time on the Blog side this time but always try to post something to show you guys n gals out there.

I have a few bits and bobs laying around in my storage, an old 5550 frame, some rims and a set of tires etc, I may build a little Brat bike to take out on the dry lake when the races are on- As that 550 Honda is a great size machine to blap around on and right now I just have a few parts, but will start to piece it together and see where I end up, it may be a forever buld, but hope to have it running and rideable at some point and see what route the style goes.

I used to have quite a stock pile of old parts back at the house and in storage, but things do slowly get used, but that does not mean I wont find more, as I always turn up stuff from time to time.

Be nice to have a few more old snotter laying about like a i used to and maybe a road trip for later on in the year to see what I can locate on one of our travels.