SOHC.co.uk Forums > Project Board
75 CB400 "Dad's old bike" project
Pops400:
Thank you. 8)
mike the bike:
I was in two minds about a replacement frame too after my 400 got nicked, bent, sidestand bracket broken off. Is it the same bike or is it like granddad's broom? (three new heads and two new handles). In essence, yes, it is the same bike. Which is why my 1975 bike has an F2 frame and F2 red tank.
It's not exactly like a car where the chassis IS the car. On a bike the frame is just one component. Not the legal opinion, just mine. Go for it.
Pops400:
Finding a frame to cut is not proving easy, Mike. By the time I've looked at the cost plus getting it here, it still stacks up to money I don't have.
It will just have to stay parked until the right donor comes along. In the meantime I am looking through the garage for sale items to raise the cash!
petermigreen:
Restorations have a way of sucking the life out of you sometimes and I must admit that the condition of your Dad's bike does look very bad and if there was no sentimental value you'd drop it just like anyone else.
Anyway, what I wanted to say is this, on at least two of the restorations I've done, there was always a problem that I thought at the time was game over or I'd just had it up to the back teeth but somehow, it all came together in the end.
I'm sure the right frame or decision will come along and, in my experience, you'll look back one day and the situation you're in now will seem quite insignificant.
If it was easy everyone would be doing it, but it isn't which is why they're not. I've often had people say to me 'wow, I just don't know how you do it' but the answer is easy. It's not necessarily technical skill that gets the job done but sheer bloody perseverance. For me that's what a restoration is about, the willingness to drag something back to it's former glory when no one else will.
I think the value of your Dad's old bike is not in pound notes but as a platform for you and your Daughter to share something special ie. the memory of your Dad and the life lessons she'll learn from watching you persevere are priceless.
Anyway, pep talk over. Crack on mate. 8)
Peter.
mike the bike:
Well said. I've forgotten all the grief I went through, but it was well worth it.
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
[*] Previous page
Go to full version