Project Bikes

[mark.lb]

Anyone currently working on a project? Recently my son in laws and I dug a 1975 Norton Commando 850 out of the attic in my brothers garage. He took it apart 35 years ago to repaint and rechrome and never got around to putting it back together. (Easier to put it up in the attic when you are 25 than to get it down at age 60!) We are thinking about building it into a cafe racer...

 

[Max Kool]

All my bikes are project bikes, but not like this no. Kudos to you sir!

 

[Ultratoad]

Anyone currently working on a project? Recently my son in laws and I dug a 1975 Norton Commando 850 out of the attic in my brothers garage. He took it apart 35 years ago to repaint and rechrome and never got around to putting it back together. (Easier to put it up in the attic when you are 25 than to get it down at age 60!) We are thinking about building it into a cafe racer...

I had a 1975 850 Commando back in the day and truly wish I had kept it.... Left side shift is a real plus, the electric start (we used to call it power assist) was marginal.... The good news is your can currently get a kit that makes the electric start for real.... Amazing how smooth and good handling these things were....

 

[JDP]

I was building a sportster street tracker until I got the FTR now that’s all I want to work on.

 

[mark.lb]

All the parts and bits are there but were all in boxes! After consulting the shop manual we realized some of the parts were for an old Triumph my brother once owned! Separated them and sold the Triumph parts to raise money. He also installed a hot cam and higher compression pistons. Then converted the bike to a single carburetor 1 into 2 system. The engine mods were done by a reputable shop in California and I remember the bike running very strong. The front forks are shot. Springs are rusty and stock tubes are very narrow. We have a lot of sand blasting and polishing to do to see what we actually have to work with......

 

[Sullaha]

My neverending project "Barbie" bike...
1991 Yamaha SR250. Two different tanks, three different seats, three exhausts, three sets of different sized wheels. YFM350 cylinder with a 10.25-1 compression ratio Wiseco piston, SR500 carburetor (original swept volume of 239cc now 313cc).
Three different front ends, two sets of differing length rear shocks.
I bought this bike in 2013 and have changed with the trends, was a scrambler and effective short range adventure bike, eventually morphed into a street tracker with a small supermoto phase in there and it's done duty as a trail bike.
All metal work was done by me, including the adaptation of the cylinder and the crank cases to fit the bigger bore. Battery relocation box, head light and instrument brackets, rear frame loop all custom stuff. Swing arm modified to accept the torque arm for the underslung brake caliper and some stand bobbins.
The single piece seat base and number boards, bash plate, and exhaust heat shield all formed by hand out of recycled aluminum.
I have a YFM350 cylinder head with a left side exhaust port which I plan on porting the crap out of (small ports on farm quads) and building a left side high exhaust ala XR750. The inlet tract will be straightened up vertically and kicked out to the right to get that K&N hanging out in the breeze a bit.

I have an aluminum tank from a '70s era Suzuki which will be the next major cosmetic change along with powder coating the new spoked wheel rims and hubs, an aluminum front guard to replace the steel Triumph one there currently and voilà, it's done!
Until another trend comes along😂