The waiting game...

I haven't been able to do much on the bike as of late.  My rebuilt brake caliper is pretty ready to go so I just need to swing by the race shop this weekend and pick up a stainless line - fortunately a buddy knows a place that'll cut them and fit them with the right banjo fittings for about $30 - helluva deal.  Then I'll get to learn about brake bleeding, which I hear is not the most enjoyable job out there, but I'm looking forward to being able to say I did it.

I just placed the order for two mini-gauges from Dime City Cycles - $134 total.  I went for the white-faced versions as they just look more 'classic' to me.  Added bonus is they'll easily bolt on to the old fairing mounts right on the triple tree so no messing around with custom setups.  They should look like this when they're mounted up.  

The headlight/turn signal kit I ordered from Speedmoto Company just came in last night, but they forgot to tap out the side mounts to the larger 10mm thread necessary for the turn signals to mount.  To their credit, they're sticking a new bucket in the mail to me today with an return shipping label so I should have that one by mid next-week as well, but it would've been nice to get that mounted up ahead of the gauges.

So I can do the brakes this weekend but that's about it.  Oh well, more time to think about what I want to do with the rest of the bike I suppose.  It's all been a good learning process to this point.  I'm realizing to temper my expectations at every step of the way.  This isn't a 'bolt-on' process, it's a 'make it work' process, so patience is the key - but I can't do anything until those parts arrive at my door.

All that said, when they do arrive I'm like a kid at Christmas - gotta love that feeling!

New Bars - Clubmans of course

So I figured I'd start with the easiest things first and work up to the more involved modifications - so I figured I'd start with the bars.  After all, what could be easier than a simple bar swap, right?  Wrong.

As it turns out the clubman bars interfere with the stock fairing on the bike, which houses the turn signals, gauges, and headlight.  So I figured I'd better start pulling that apart and seeing what I can make work.  Everything comes off as one unit.  The turn signals are mounted to the tree via a bar and then the fairing, which houses the gauges and headlight, mounts to the turn signals.  So now I'm left with a rat's nest of wires and need to buy a headlight, mounting brackets, turn signals, and either new gauges or figure out a new way to mount the ones I have.

Here's the damage so far:

Once that was done I did manage to get the clubman bars put on, but with one problem, the brake line is too long and the master cylinder is sitting at an angle on the bars (not sure if this is a problem), so there's a sharp bend in the line immediately coming off of the cylinder, which isn't good.  The good news is I think I should be able to get about $100 for the fairing and signals on ebay, helping to fund the new headlight and gauge mounts.

Taking things apart is easy, it's the whole 'putting it back together in a good-looking and working order that seems to be a little tricky...

So what now...

This is the start - a 1979 Honda CX500 with 12,000 miles and in good working order.  I was able to pick this up for $1,000 and the guy I bought it from had it running great - new fluids, new seals and it runs great.

So it's sitting in my garage unmolested and pristine - so what to do?  Mess with it!  Having no mechanical knowledge or experience whatsoever, I'm viewing this bike as an opportunity to change all that.  I have a couple of friends that have a lot more knowledge than I do, and armed with the aid of online forums (www.cx500forum.com) I'm going to give this a shot.   Hopefully the end result will come similar to one of these bikes as I can't decide exactly where I want to end up yet.

Inspiration: