This bike was built from a fairly rough looking donor. It started and ran but not at all smoothly, and had a persistent clutch drag. But knowing I had at least a running, engine I decided on a resto mod instead of embarking on a years long search for oem parts.
Having a soft spot in my heart for bobbers and having built a few, this seemed like an easy choice. So over the course of two months I stripped the bike to the frame (except for the engine), cut the bike in half and welded on a hard tail rear half. This also required welding up a new drum brake stop, brake pivot and rear fender bracket.
In order to adhere to the old school hot rod aesthetic, I reused as many parts as possible. The rear fender is actually the original front fender, the brake pivot section was cut off the old frame and welded to the new section, and the drum brake stop was cut down, slugged, and rewelded about 5-6″ shorter. The original rear foot brake lever was retained as were the original foot peg sections, but they were cut down and rewelded to a bracket and mounted to the original exhaust mounts. The pegs are from a BMX freestyle set up. The foot shift lever was also reused.
The wassell style tank was mounted using top hat bungs, which allows for easy removal. The seat was mounted further back to allow more room and a custom front bracket was made and mounted using top hat bungs as well. 4” coil springs were used on the seat to give a more level appearance and keeping the seat from bottoming out.
The bars were replaced with clubman style bars and the original clutch and brake levers were replaced due to excessive play. The original wiring harness was still used but any unnecessary electrical components were deleted along with their wiring. The coil had to be relocated and the upper motor mounts were shaved down to accommodate the new tank. The bulk of the remaining electrical components are stored in the fake oil tank.
The gas tank, rear fender, and oil tank were painted in-house in an antique white. The frame was stripped of any unused brackets and any unused holes were filled. It was then painted along with the wheels and forks in a gloss black.
I replaced the rear tire with a dual sport tire for a more aggressive appearance. The fender mounts were custom bent and welded to acorn nuts for a cleaner look. The chain was replaced with a longer gold chain due to the 5” extended frame length, along with new front and rear sprockets.
Once the bike was built I started on the engine. Compression was great on both cylinders so no need for a tear down. I balanced both carbs, replaced the clutch cable and fiber discs, and after some fine tuning, she purrs like a kitten. It handles really well and despite the hard tail, the 4” springs make for a nice smooth ride
