Man oh man! These old Japanese and British Hardtails are really starting to grow on me.
Love the article in the Spanish mag – my bike is top of the page!!! The only thing I could translate was “addictive blog” – it is! My go to site while having coffee in the morning…. Keep up the good work. Cheers!
My pleasure! Keep up the great builds!
I saw the pics of the finished bike over on ADV Rider and knew there had to be a good story behind such a cool build. So I pm’d the owner to see if he’s be interested in sharing a few details and I was not disappointed!. Thank You John! There’s a lot of personal touches and one-off parts in this one. It’s obvious that you’ve put some time into it. Thanks Again!
John Writes in:
Hey Steve,
I would be happy to share some info on the bobber I posted on advrider. It started out as a 1974 CB750 which was hardtailed and tranformed into the bike you saw. I have been working on it for 2 years it is almost done. I just need to finish dialing in the carbs. It has been a pain since I use straight pipes and a open air intake. Everything on the bike that is custom I built. I do my own powder coating, except for frames since my oven is not that big. I tryed to go with a minimalistic, clean, old school approach. I am happy you like it. If you have any other questions or want to see any other pics (I have a ton) let me know.
John
Here’s the Before and Build pics. That’s quite a save!
To me a bike that doesn’t need to be worked on or”fixed up” is of no use.
I bought this one from a guy whose house burned and the bike was kinda sitting out in the drive for a long time. I was visiting my friends shop, Monster M4 Suzuki one day and I stopped and left a card with my name on it for the owner to call if it was for sale.
Sixty dollars later it was sittin in the garage. now what I thought. it was a total junk yard dog. There was decent compression so it HAD to run, right?
The points had been clubbed to death with a dull hatchet but what the heck. Thanks to my cost+10 deal I have at a friends shop/salvage yard it was sparken. About 40 dollars worth of cleaning supplies and a LARGE hand full of quarters fed into the car wash it was clean enough to actually start screwin with. Tapered steering stem bearings, a doner battery, a seat unit and an OLD pair of clubmans I had been saving for 20 years, this and that I scrounged from my goodies and a few pieces from the salvage yard…
I stripped the tank and sealed it with the very effective Caswell tank sealer, fixed a leaky petcock, re-jetted the cleaned carbs to suit the pod filters, new tires/chain cog, a little front brake mod to get in the vicinity of actually slowing down, tilted the pipe up to my likink and cut the end of the cannister to reveal the”reverse megaphone” hidden inside and a bit of elbow grease…it actually rides quiet nice. If i didn’t need the money I’d wanna keep it. I get attached to bikes that need love….
Thanks Much Keith! I hear ya on all of it. I love to save lost causes. Just my 2 cents here but you should hang on to it. Get a pair of rearsets on there and a spend a little more time on the details and I bet you’d never want to sell it. You’ve already done the hard parts. Go take a look at Wrenchmonkees. Those guys would have that thing in a private collection without too much effort. I’d think hard about it before letting it go. Thanks again!
It there anything you can’t do with these thumpers? From Frank Naaykens Speed Dealer customs Joplin,mo.
Hello, Just sending you a photo of my bike. Just took it out of storage from 13 years ago. It looked like this when I put it away It is a 1983 KZ1000R2
www.kz1000r.com for bike of the months photos.
You’ve got a GREAT storage room there Chuck! Thanks for the pics!
The build sheet:
Specifications For Black Briggs Bobber
Frame—————————Probably nos aftermarket hardtail from the 60s
Wheelbase———————58 in.
Rims—————————–18 x 2.15
Tires—————————–18 x 4
Hubs—————————–Honda 350
Brakes————————–Drum
Swept Area——————–56.5 sq. in.
Brakes Loaded—————-8.8 lbs. per sq. in.
Curb Weight——————-300 lbs. / 200 lb. rider – 500lbs.
Fork—————————–Homemade
Rake—————————-25 degrees
Trail—————————–3 in.
Suspension——————–Leaf spring over leading rocker
Floorboards——————-24 in. Wide and 8 in. clearance
Lean—————————-35 degrees
Ground Clearance———–6 in.
Axle to Ground—————13 in.
Crankshaft to Ground——-11.75 in.
Handlebars——————–Lowrise buckhorns 31 in. wide with 5 in. rise on 3.5 in. dogbone risers
Grips—————————Anderson style
Engine————————-V twin ohv Briggs and Stratton
Displacement—————–34.75 cu. in. / 570 cu. cent.
Bore—————————-2.83
Stroke————————–2.76
HP——————————18 @ 3600 rpm
Torque————————-30 ft. lbs. @ 2400 rpm
Exhaust————————two into one header 1.75 in. auto
Drive Train——————–comet ind torque converter
Drive Clutch——————-44 c magnum
TQ Overall Ratio————-2.43 to 1
Final Drive———————428 chain sprockets/ 15t into 60t for 4 to 1 ratio
Speed————————–70 mph @ 3600 rpm
Frame Geometry————-Cloned from Indian 101 Scout
Steering Geometry———–Cloned from Indian 101 Scout
If I had half a brain I’d go buy one of these and never look back. Nice to see one being used correctly!
Thanks to Jamie LaMent for this beauty!
The ride of a lifetime and proof that you don’t need a $20,000 specialty motorcycle to go on a real adventure.
Vic Wilkens writes in:
Hello,
I’m a fan of your awesome blog. Thought I’d share a few photos from my recent 16,000 mile trip through the United States. Pictured is my ’78 KZ1000 that carried too much stuff, and took more than her share of abuse. (you may notice the tach is missing) Keep up the good posts, love the variety.
– Vic
Thanks For sharing these Vic! Great Stuff!
Updated with more pics! Thanks again Bob! And once again Nice Job! I REALLY like these sorts of builds. Very Creative.
Bob Decker sent in some pics and links to this really cool custom Briggs and Stratton powered custom but this is the only one I could get to that was big enought to use. I’ll update the post if Bob can get me some more. I love this concept. I’ve looked at the big Briggs engines and before and thought that they were plenty powerful enough for a motorcycle. 35 HP and 52 ft lb of torque ain’t bad! Guess I was right! Thanks Bob!
Here Is the Build Sheet he sent me with it:
Frame——————————————————————Homemade designed from scratch
Wheelbase————————————————————-59.5 in.
Rims——————————————————————–18 x 2.15
Tires——————————————————————–18 x 4.5
Hubs——————————————————————-Honda 350
Brakes—————————————————————–Drum
Swept Area———————————————————–56.5 sq. in.
Brakes Loaded——————————————————-10 lb. per sq. in.
Curb Weight———————————————————-368 lb./200 lb. rider – 568 lb.
Weight Distribution—————————————————Front – 169 lb. / 46%
Raer – 199 lb. / 54%
Fork——————————————————————-Homemade
Rake——————————————————————-26 degrees
Trail——————————————————————-33.3 in.
Suspension———————————————————–Leaf spring over leading rocker
Front rocker lift ratio————————————————2.6
Floorboards———————————————————-24 in. wide and 8 in. clearance
Lean——————————————————————-35 degrees
Ground clearance—————————————————-5 in
Axle to ground——————————————————-13.5 in.
Crankshaft to ground———————————————–11.125 in.
Handlebars———————————————————–Lowrise buckhorns 31 in. wide with 5 in. rise on 3.5 in. dogbone risers
Grips——————————————————————Ivory from a dead woolly mammoth
Engine—————————————————————-V twin ohv Briggs and Stratton
Commencer———————————————————–Electric
Displacement———————————————————-60.6 cu. in. / 993 cu. cm.
Bore——————————————————————-3.36
Stroke—————————————————————-3.42
HP———————————————————————35@3600rpm
Torque—————————————————————-52.2 ft. lb. @2400 rpm
Exhaust—————————————————————Dual
Drive Train————————————————————Comet torque converter
Driver Clutch———————————————————-94c duster
Overdrive————————————————————–128%
TQ Overall ratio——————————————————-3.49 to 1
Highest gear———————————————————–2.8 to 1
Low gear—————————————————————9.8 to 1
Final drive————————————————————–50 pitch sprockets / 15t into 54t for 3.6 to 1 ratio
Speed——————————————————————106.39@3730 rpm
Motorcycle Photo Of The Day 