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IMHO, folks looking for the best colour schemes for ANY tube-framed Honda, pretty much anything from the '80s too - is to look at the early '60s Honda aesthetics. Matching the whole chassis in one colour with perhaps some contrast in another colour which is itself matched throughout the fenders, side-panels, the wheel hubs etc - sometimes the tank. Take the '59 CB92 Benly Super-Sport as the benchmark for all of this. My "CB900K0 Bol Bomber" is of course an '82 CB900F Bol D'Or based homage to the '65 CB450K0 Black Bomber - which is, alas - BLACK. Not very interesting at all. The police version was inspirational too, but I'm not diggin' on the white paint. However in BLUE it could really be something - or red. Either way, if I could ever lay hands on a Tony Foale leading-link fork - which he BUILT specifically for the CBX and CB900F etc - I'd call the bike a "CB902" and I'd try to do it up as a proper BENLY D'Or - I mean heck, the CB92 itself was a "SUPER-SPORT" after all. Funny too, my polished CB1100R toaster-tank styled gas tank - well it's Aluminum and so too the Aluminum tank on the CB92 - Can you think of another Aluminum tank on a Honda CB in all the years between? I mean, other than the MT series "Elsinore" too-smoke dirt-bikes etc. I just think there's some connection between the two.
Perhaps a far more appropriate front end would be the "Hossack/Fior" - and Christian Fior himself actually made a "Funny Front End" CB900F/CB1100R based racer, the bike's got "GIEDAM" or "GEIDAM" printed down it's sides, and pics show two of 'em in the pits so I guess there was a back-up bike or perhaps a team of riders out there together. Truly though, if one were to lay hands on a Fior fork & modify the frame for the Hossack steering & suspension etc - Then you might as well go whole hog and make a pressed-sheetmetal monocoque frame just like the CB92 item itself. Would be awesome.
Instead, I'm thinkin' I'd like to make a skin to wrap around the sub-frame, just like the CB1100R combination seat-pan rear cowl/spoiler, and side-panels. But with the fender turning down, and with openings beneath the seat covered over by separate pop-off panels styled after the C70/C90 Cub/Passport bulges.
YOU get the idea.
Throw that together with some shrouded forks like was put on the custom Ducati "MS4R" which are very Hossack/Fior or Girder styled - and a fake DRUM hub up front? Wow - could make for one hell of a "CB902" - if I had my druthers, if I had the $$$ and tools around to do it, I'd be working on it right now!
As it is, I'm already side-tracked from my eBay parts searches.
But hey - if you're lacking any other inspiration, try re-painting your frame in SILVER - like the '70 SL100 I once had, and used as spares to hybridize with a '69 CB100 which I'd bought for spares. Stuck both rear rims & tires onto alternative hubs, worked out awesome and was good practice for wheel rebuilds & repairs on the C70 Passport I ran for several nigh on 6-7 years in the mid-late '90s - they were both 17" rims but the CB100/SL100 rims were a LOT wider than the Passport stuff. Would make for some great replacements though I'd rather do 'em in ALUMINUM of course. Would be nice to retain the chrome however for the OEM aesthetics. One other thing, is I'll never rebuild a wheel or a bike for that matter, without upgrading the BRAKES, especially if they're drums!
Got triple discs on the wire-spoke rims for the 900, though my next DOHC-4 will be a light-weight 750 single-seater maybe a 'K or a 'C model, for my Ex-Daughter when she outgrows her "KZ440LOL" - and I've already got some fantastic 2.5x18" Borrani & 3.5x18" Super-Akront alloy rims for the 750, but I'm gonna go with a DRUM rear hub on this one, next time. The KZ440LOL is all drums, triple drums if you will, the Suzuki double-sided 4LS drum up front - And I LOVE a good drum brake.
ANYWAY what I was gonna say was, there's a spare Suzuki T500 Titan 2LS 200mm drum (same specs as the GT750J/GT550J 4LS version but a 40mm wide shoe whereas the 4LS has 2x25mm shoes, or was it 50mm and 2x30mm? But yeah, the same geometry & diameter on the drum & shoes and cams etc, ergo the same damn brake but 80%-ish the power and HALF the WEIGHT - And a very very narrow hub, which could be modded to suit a narrower fork quite possibly the leading-link forks of a C70 Passport etc. Or rather, the way I'd build it NOW - a Lifan 140cc engine - (((a V-twin interpretation of which if a commercial kit is ever copied from the one built by that guy who built the V-twin from the Enfield Bullet. Would've been far more awesome if he'd done a big-bore PARALLEL twin ala the 750cc Enfield Rickman INTERCEPTOR, planned to be a 900cc in gen-3 version....))) and an SS90 style backbone frame with toaster type tank - and a heavier leading-link fork off the CA72/CA77 DREAM/SUPERDREAM, and shorter fatter alloy rims like 16" but not quite as wide as the 3.00x16" Borrani rims on the KZ440LOL more like ... 2.15x16" WM3 and 2.50x16" - some very nice versions of which available via "Mike's XS" for XS650 rear drums which themselves are about the exact appropriate size for the T500 Titan 2LS drum, and there's also a very light-weight and narrow rear hub on the early KZ400, such that it'd have a 200mm front and 180mm rear drum - ideally set 'em both up as 2LS actuation. Alloy swing-arm from a later Cub-engine DIRT-BIKE model which they still make to this day.....
Then again I've always pictured a bigger version of the DAX - using a Guzzi Nuevo Falcone engine, or Aermacchi Ala D'Oro engine and a custom one-off frame made from a skeletonized alloy structure wrapped in inches and inches of carbon-fibre so as to look like a DAX and have an alloy bottle built in for a sealed gas tank etc - I'd want to borrow the NOS belt-drive parts from my lil' GRRRLz KZ project, for which there are several ratios available - a custom swing-arm plus adding in whatever distance from pulley shaft to swing-arm pivot should allow one to adapt to whichever ratio & belt combo one would like.....
But picture it with the same rims as on the Kid's KZ440LOL (got a spare Suzuki 4LS center hub plus the modded T500 shoes and full cams & linkages, just needs some custom brackets to replace the side-plates of the 4LS drum. Would really help anyway 'cause the speedo drive makes the 4LS plates wider than they need to be, and I'm running an electric speedo down through an old cable sheath anyhow - ergo a customized DIY version of the 4LS could be fully functional AND fit into a much much narrower fork than has ever been supposed before - heck even the over-lapping LIP around the hub center portion itself could be cut down and make the full brake system a good inch narrower than the existing hub looks right now. Of course then it's gotta be lightened quite a bit. Fact is, I've always wanted to spin 'em out to the full 203mm aka 8" and run some hardware & shoes from British 2LS hubs, just to skim out the extra drum liner & shed that weight - Providing the British stuff can be made as lightweight as the Japanese versions of which? But yeah - I've GOT the wider 3" Borrani rims but I'd wanna go witht he WM3 & 2.50" versions, the same Maxi-Scooter spec low-profile radial tires as the KZ440LOL but instead of a 110/70-16 & 140/70-16, more like 90/70-16 & 110/70-16 or 100/70-16 & 120/70-16 type of thing. There's a whole huge new range of tires in these sizes, all appropriate for a greater load-bearing range than you might think based on vintage spec tires. Would be nice - might just do it for the KZ - to use the "Mooneyes" fake white-wall trims..... This would all make for a much much beefier version of the C70 Passport and/or SS90 type of single-cylinder bikes - far more capable for highway riding. Perhaps a decent modern steering damper and some decent replacement shocks for inside maybe some HAGON brand if they made 'em, maybe something with a remote piggy-back reservoir if it could be made to fit - could improve upon the CA72/CA77 Dream/SuperDream leading-link forks? I'd build the whole thing on the premise that Lifan motors are gonna come along in the 250cc-300cc range, OR the V-twin kit cranks & cases are gonna come along some day - that's the main reason I'd want the backbone monocoque type frames which came with the SS90 rather than a C70 Passport chassis. Give it a high scrambler pipe, set it up as single-seat only - if you find somebody worthy of parking on the pillion seat of a bike such as this then what you do is build them ANOTHER one! Ha-ha. No seriously though.....
Well - whatever. Much as I wanna build that light-weight commuter type of cycle, I've got a priority on OTHER projects right now.
A Honda MVX250F V-3 too-smoke based replica of the '60s Czech JAWA 350cc V-4 Grand Prix machine, which Bill Ivy took his final lap on. This model normally has a "2LS" single disc version of the CBX550F type internal disc hub, which is so often built into Comstar-conversion wire-spoke wheels, and I've got some 3.50x18" & 3.00x16" drilled for the larger drum hubs, so it'd be very appropriate for just that type of thing - OR one can always source, from "Mike's XS", the 2.50x16" rims also for the skinnier wheels required of this far more light-weight bike - it normally carries an 18" rear rim though IIRC it's normally a 2.50x18" I'm picturing more of a 3.00x18" or better still 3.50x18" rear depending on the width of the front rim & tire selection thereof. The gas tank is perfect for the Bill Ivy replica vibes, just needs the wire spokes and a paint-job really. Maybe a bubble fairing for authentic vitage street-cred. Too bad it doesn't have air-cooled fins, but at least it's a too-smoke so it'd be a lot easier than sticking air-cooled heads on a liquid-cooled four-stroke beast. I REALLY wanna do that - such as on:
A VF1100S/VF1100C Sabre/Magna based homage to the '60s Czechoslovakian Grand Prix racer the "CZ Type 860" - done up as a "Honda CZ860 Sandcast" - 'cause if the Czech bike had ever gotten any sponsorship or at least some factory backing & support, they'd have kicked ASS on the Honda RC181 of Mike Hailwood, as well as Giacomo Agostini on his MV Agusta - ergo the public wouldn't be into an INLINE multicylinder model, they'd want a V-4 "everyman's Super-Sports machine" - which would of course have been an INTERCEPTOR built 20yrs-25yrs before hand.
The VF Interceptors have chain-drive, but they've got the square-tube frames. The VF1100S/VF1100C both had the SHAFT final-drive, however they had the round-tube frames. All the more important for vintage retro street cred. Plus, I'm hoping the shaft could be defeated and replaced with either a chain or a BELT final-drive. Picture an 1100cc belt-drive (ergo even more efficient HP transfer to the rear wheel than the Interceptor's chain) version of the VF1100F or VF1100R - This could very well be a new force in classic endurance racing, being that these models probably never made it to those types of tracks - DRAG racing yes, probably not proper ACTUAL racing though.
What would make it a proper INTERCEPTOR though, is that of the spare alloy wire-spoke rims left over from my "CB900K0 Bol Bomber", are a spare 4.25x18" Akront for the rear - and a 3.50x16" Super-Akront which I'm having laced to a GL1000 front hub. Gonna use it on the 900, but have some 2.50x18" rims plus the 3.00x18" which I bought for the fake drum "Faux-Leading-Shoe" drum hub made from the center cut out of a GL1500 front wheel with some DIY rotor shrouds etc.
What would make it PERFECT - well, the Sabre has the perfect gas tank whereas the Magna version has the twin shocks, so perhaps some combination of both frames? Either way, the thing would need an INTERCEPTOR style fixed 1/4 - 1/2 fairing (1/3-fairing???) far more so than a fork-mounted "Bikini" fairing - as were popular with not only the VF interceptors but the Suzuki Katana from the same era - Well, ditch those angular '80s lines and take a look at the '57 Gilera as Geoff Duke raced it - with a fixed fairing like that, with the short verticle fly-screen & higher handlebars with open air straight above 'em but with the more organic bulbous shape of the '50s-'60s bodywork. Nobody MAKES a replica of that fairing, but if they DID all of the Katana and VF guys would want one! So far, it's lookin' like a DIY thing - but then again I want one on my CB900K0 Bol Bomber so perhaps it isn't as far off as it might seem.....
Needs a 41mm TRAC fork from the GL1500, or a 43mm TRAC fork made from two right-hand legs from a '96+ ST1100-ABS, heck I'd want that on ALL possible big-bore Honda projects. Though the stock 39mm CB900F fork (with 296mm rotor type caliper hangers from pro-link CBX) is going onto the Kid's light-weight 750 version of the DOHC-4, though if I could pass it off and replace it with a 41mm TRAC fork from GL1200 with a thicker 20mm axle replacing the 15mm OEM version - I'd use it on an every smaller bike like a CX500 or thereabouts. The KZ440LOL has also got the same 39mm CB900F fork on it, but it's permanently modified to work with a 4LS drum hub. So if I could ever afford a big 250mm Fontana or 260mm Yamaha 4LS drum hub I might wanna try THAT on the light-weight 750 - along with a DUST-BIN fairing being that I've got a fairing bracket for the 900 which isn't gonna work with the Duck 900SS Bevel-Bubble 1/2-fairing. ANYWAY yeah, the big fat TRAC forks are what all I'd want on any big-bore Honda project I wanna whip up at some point.....
ANOTHER one, would be a GL1200 based replica of the Swiss "DLF-1000" Doncque, '75 GL1000-Based Endurance Racer which ran in the '76 Bol D'Or & IOM TT etc. Yeah - I had never heard of the 'Wing racers either. Pretty cool stuff.
Again, with the spare wire-spoke rims from my 900 project. Wanna use 'em ALL for big-bore Honda projects:
Some 4 or 5 x 3.00x16" Borrani shouldered deep-drop-center, mostly 36-spoke but one 40-spoke drilled for CB750K
an Akront (regular flat type) 3.50x16" from a '90s Triumph Hurricane
2x 3.50x16" Super-Akront - one NOS un-drilled for said front wheel, another drilled for CB750K drum
2x 2.50x18" un-marked Borrani from AMF-era Harley Sportster rear wheels, for GL1000/CB750 front hubs
2x 40-spoke Super-Moto rims in 4.25x17" & 5.00x17" both drilled for Harley hubs aka "Front Hub Trick" with a Honda FRONT hub & bolt-up cush-drive, smaller rotor etc etc
2x 4.25x18" Akront, one drilled for Honda SOHC CB750F1 rear disc hub, the other for Harley, aka "Front hub trick" etc - hopefully to lighten up the rear end for the 900 and then the 1st version inspires either of these SHAFT-drive projects, utilizing a "weld-up HUB" ala 6pkrunner's wire-spoke CB900C (cb750c.com)
1x 3.50x18" Super-Akront, drilled for the Kawasaki Zed rear drum, getting matched to a CB750K rear drum
Plus a bunch of chromed-steel rims I've got no plans on using, especially a 2.15x19" from GT750J - should make a good REAR wheel for some type of dirt-track or Brit-Bike nut....
AND - I wanna build a perfect set of COMSTAR rims. Got a front Boomerang rim I want to pair up to a rear, but instead of the OEM 3.00x18" rlm from CB900F2 & CBX750F etc....
I wanna dig up some old AKRONT "NERVI" rims - which came in all the same sizes & widths as the regular wire-spoke Akront rims. Wanna replace the heavy assed HUBS - using either ra "Front hub trick" method with bolt-up cush-drive cut out of busted up donor wheels preferably CBR type of stuff for the smaller lighter modern parts but then maybe smaller Comstar hubs like drum type with an insert-plug disc conversion - Several ways of doing it, though I like the thought of a Billet hub lump - or better still a hub cut out of a later model mag wheel like a six-spoke or five-spoke cast rim but cut down to the size & shape of one of those smaller Comstar hubs.... SEVERAL ways to do it, but the main weight savings would be in the rims.
I've got a disassembled rear 2.50x18" '82 CB750F/CB900F D.I.D. Comstar rim, and it weighs just as much as the Akront wire-spoke 4.25x18" rim. So if the "NERVI" rim is about the same weight, then we're talking like a 50% weight reduction on like widths. And I've already GOT a source on 2.50x18" & 3.00x18" Nervi rims. Just holding out for a 3.50x18" or 4.25x18" rear for an identical matched set just like I'll have in wire spoke - to swap 'em out for tire changes etc - ideally for a track project with dry weather tires and wet weather tires. How awesome if they could be an identical same weight in both wire-spoke AND Comtar wheel types....
'Cause Comstar wheels are AWESOME. Plus - the Gold Boomerang rims in 3.50x18" are works spec only from team racers like Ron Haslam's CB1100R but then he raced the '81 CB1100RB and I don't recall who raced the '82 '83 versions - the '82 never turned a wheel in anger, IIRC....
But on top of that, there were the earlier SILVER five-point Comstar wheels, from the '76 & up RCB Endurance racers. Now THAT would be some pure 24-carat "Unobtainium" - Thing is, most of ';em had a different profile on their forged spoke plates, so it'd be hard to do a PROPER replica. Thing is, any which way you slice it this would be impossible without the Akront "Nervi" type RIMS.
So ya'll have to write a letter to "MORAD" getting 'em to dig up their old tooling from out of mothballs. This would be a world changing event for us Comstar enthusiasts - The Ducati TT1 folks could really get their rocks off on it too. as it would be feasible to make replica MARVIC rims from other three-spoke wheels also.
More than anything, I'd like to see a set of proper OEM COMSTAR rims on a competition-spec DOHC-4 or VF1000F etc, ("CZ860" VF1100R/VF1100F replica too) and how about a CB1100R/VF1000R spec GL1200, as though Craig fuck-you-very-much Vetter had never SCREWED with the '75 GL1000 in the first place??? It would essentially be the "DLF-1200" in a nut-shell anyhow.
For the time being, it's a bit WHEEL OBSESSED - no question about it. But I've gotta use up all of these "spare" alloy rims I've snapped up. And if they inspire my next 2 or 3 projects then so be it!
Yanno what's even crazier than figuring out a FRAME colour? What sort of finish am I gonna put on all of these wire-spoke rims and hubs? For instance, the CB1100R gas tank seems to just beg for some GOLD rims, not only in homage to the CB1100R rims but also the GL1000 LTD models - Plus, with the shouldered rims I had wanted to do the COMSTAR style paint scheme, easier to paint the centers black and brush the shoulders rather than polish the whole damn thing. However I've only got shouldered rims up FRONT, not unless I paired 2.50x18" front with 3.00x18" rear, hardly worth doing when there's the same damn sizes available in Boomerang Comstar rims themselves. However, the actual matched pair with 3.50x16" & 4.25x18" now THAT could lend itself well to the gold paint though. Gotta wonder if that peel-off rubberized plastic crap comes in a metalflake GOLD.... Hmmm - polish 'em AND run 'em in Gold. Suffice it to say, powder-coating a colour is unwarranted, perhaps my original idea of polished rims with hubs in bead-blasted alloy with clear-coat all 'round, could sit underneath all of these other colours.....
As for FRAMES, IMHO the most beautiful frames on any & all motorcycles would have to be the bronze-brazed steel with bare or clear-coat finish is beautiful on ANYTHING.
But yeah, silver metalflake frames with bright coloured CANDY-paint bodywork now that's MY perfect image of a vintage Honda. Awfully tempted to throw some Candy Blue-Green or Candy-Gold on my "Toaster-Tank" - it's just all the more difficult to colour match it to a frame. 'Cause silver SL100 SL350 replica paint is about the only metal-flake paint one SHOULD use on a Honda four frame. A navy blue would be good, a basic blood red, maybe even banana yellow ala C70 Passport etc. On the whole it's pretty limiting due to the Honda palette circa 1965. However if you bump it up to around nineteen-SEVENTY-five, give it the silver frame or bare brushed steel under clear-coat frame - and THEN you've got this whole huge palette of primary and secondary colours, the ROOTBEER BROWN how about? Bottle Green metalflake? HUH? Awesome stuff right there.
One thing I would NEVER advocate, is the whole macho-insecure flat-black spray-bomb shit. It's far better to leave it crusty and just let it's patina "SHINE" or so to speak. Sometimes AGE in itself can be very sexy on a bike. Check out Mike Hailwood's '78 Ducati IOMTT "Come Back" bike - compare that thing to the best restored Ducati Mike Hailwood Replica "MHR" - it's far better in it's "Ridden hard & put away WET" finish treatment.....
-S.
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Locked
Sweet looking engine 
