Hi all,
To give you a little background, I'm an 18 year old college student and have been wanting to get myself a bike for a couple of years. My father finally gave in after a little over a year of "proving that I could be safe" by riding a 50cc scooter to work and school. I found a running Rebel 250 on craigslist that I have been riding for a few months now, but I finally sold it after bobbing it out (for a good $200 dollar profit, too). I like learning about the mechanics of motorcycles as well as the cosmetics, so I plan on doing a good bit of DIY projects like I did on the Rebel.
Now I know there are a number of things best left up to the professionals, so Ill need you guys to let me know whats beyond my experience, and what I can do myself.
Here she is, I picked her up last Sunday:
She's a 1981 CB750c with around 45,000 miles on her. I picked it up for $700. She runs good, a few pops here and there, but nothing big as far as I can hear. There's a slight (very) oil leak near the shifter. The guy who sold it to me said it was because of an O ring or something... anyway, I plan on getting that fixed as soon as possible. I already have an appointment with my local mechanic for next Tuesday. Besides that, the the choke cable is locked up so it's hard to start in the mornings. (I've been push starting it and pulling on the choke cable to get it started for work.) Otherwise, the bike seems solid. After, or maybe before, I take it to the shop to get the oil leak and choke fixed I plan on getting some Sea Foam into it. Anyone have any good tips on using this product for just an all around good clean of... anything and everything? Also, I was wondering if I could use sea foam to get rid of the rust and grime on the outside of the bike as well? Firt things first, I want everything clean (or at least relatively clean) before I start to work on it.
After that, depending on how much the mechanic's bill costs me, I plan to get on my mods pretty soon. Heres a list of what I plan to do...so far:
Paint the tank (or sand the paint off of it for a cool bare metal vibe)
Get the fellas at my local shop to fab me up a seat pan so I can get to work on my seat. (still debating on having a cowl or not)
Wrap the pipes.
Add pod filters, so I can get rid of that big clunky airbox. I think this will help in giving it that gutless cafe look. (someone tell me if I will need to rejet)
Paint the engine components, and basically all of the bike (except the seat and gas tank) black.
1981 CB750c 45,xxx miles (and counting!)