With a spare damaged tank, I decided to paint strip it and sand it back to bare metal. Didn't realise how quickly it would rust, which made the sanding a prolonged affair. In the end the tank was powder-coated clear to preserve the raw look and seal it from the elements.
FRONT INSTALLATION
With the majority of the bike stripped, it was time to put on the front end and see how it fits. The roller bearings were replaced with tapered bearings, and the races were knocked out of the headstock. Removed the fuel tank too as it's going to be brushed and powder-coated clear for a raw metal appearance. The rear of the bike will soon be chopped and a new rear end loop will be fitted to give it more of the cafe racer characteristic.
FRONT END
Decided to replace the stock fork on the bike with a racing upside down fork from a CBR600RR. I feel this will give the bike a tougher stance, and allow it to perform better. I quite like the thick gold forks aesthetically. To make it fit, the stem length was cut, rewelded and extended. The top yoke had the ignition bracket cut and polished back to bare metal.
EXHAUST
The stock exhaust is a beast, it's heavy and large. Decided to change this my swapping over for a smaller muffler and to freshen everything up, the headers were given a nice polish and clean.
POWDER COATING
Had a few parts soda blasted and powder-coated. Felt that the bike had too many silver parts, some of which weren't matching in colour. This way the finish will be similar across the board.
PAINT STRIPPING
The new front end came with a black wheel, while the stock bike rear was a dark grey. I decided I'll give both wheels a paint strip and bring them to a nice bright polished finish. Turned out that the front wheel was much more stubborn and in the end had it soda blasted to get rid of the remaining paint. Nevertheless, the paint-stripping experience will come in handy when stripping the paint on the fuel tank.
CARPARK TEARDOWN
It was time for a hands on project. Having the bike I figured I'll go ahead and bring some old school cafe style into this modern Honda.
