Lil' Devil Katrina '73 CB350G

This little CB350 twin is a very personal bike. It's the first streetbike I've ever owned, bought shortly outta high school. Got it for $300 from a newspaper ad. Heh! She's gone thru many iterations over the years, from simply a rattle-canned stocker, to a fully rebuilt cafe-racer, to it's current form of StreetTracker. I'd have to dig-up old pictures and scan em sometime, for posterity.. Only 'old' pic I have, from '96:

Back then, it was fairly stock, although it had gone through a frame-up rebuild. Powdercoated frame, motor, big-bore pistons (Todd Henning Racing) cam, Mikuni carbs... It was nice. But come 2007, it was getting a little dated. Needed some stuff, too. After going through Hurricane Katrina, it needed clean-up BAD. Again, another bike in the Confederate Factory when it collapsed. Didn't destroy it, but made it in dire need of attention.

Rather than yet another cafe-build, I decided that it needed a different direction: Bobber? Sled? Enduro? heh! I'd always liked the Yammie 650 'trackers... So, after gathering some pics of fun bikes online, I started tearing it down. Got it all apart, cleaned everything, and started identifying things to change. Motor: Good. New gaskets/seals, fresh elbow-grease... Frame: Not so good... Clean, smooth, re-coat satin black. Bodywork: Bleh... Sourced a 'tracker tail (Vintage Glass) and new headlight ('50s Ducati) and some other bits to make the change... Also needed to change some things around; Battery, moved under tail, electrics all new, fenders, foot controls etc.

Here's a shot after suspension, and major frame re-assembly. Vintage Marzocchi shocks on the rear, battery tray already in place, and Rizoma low-rise handlebars. New Satin black p-coat is very smooth.

I deleted the electric start, and most of the other electrics not required to run, simply to facilitate a smaller battery: This allows it to live under the small confines of the 'tracker tail, and room for other electrical devices to completely clear-out the under seat area.

Parts everywhere. Motor all clean, resealed, (starter still in place) and footpegs/linkage parts (Buell S-3T)

Funky-cool Ducati light. 4" diameter, with a Lexus SC style lens. 2" Mechanical-drive Tachometer fits into the light-shell.

Fitting the 'tracker tail to the tank, and fitting the seat-surface. You can see the emptyness under the seat, here. CL pipes, wrapped with 1" HPC wrap, and shifter linkage/footpeg.

After getting her all back together, and tweaking some stuff, I've realized that there are still a few changes to be made;

 1) Going to relace the rims, with new DID hoops, anodized in black, rear brake needs some love while the wheels are out

2)while I am a fan of pin-ups, the sticker-thing just isn't cutting it. Wrong scale, funky placement, and too-common an image. (see below)

3)I like sticky-tires. I like Metzelers. BUT- I'm going with some 'dual sport' type rubber when the wheels are done. 130-18 Kenda 80% street dual-sports. Aggressive lugs, and very 'tracker-looking.

pic courtesy HSTA website gallery, 2008 Erwin, TN weekend

Devil-Bitch '78 CB750

Ok, to start out, I have to tell y'all where it started...

Back in 2003, after fleeing AZ to TN, I was bike-less. I searched half-heartedly for 2 wheels, but wasn't finding anything I liked. So, one day on E-bay, I was looking, and got over into the CB's. This one was in SD, had less than 10k on the clock, and hadn't been registered since '87. $625 later, it's being shipped by FedEx to Knoxville.
Got it, cleaned it, and found it to be 95% original. Pretty cool, but not really what I wanted... Cafe time! Stripped it, found the tank to be garbage, so first thing was to find a tank. Now, I'd already made sure the motor turned over, had compression, etc... Rice Paddy had a tank, in GREAT shape... $50! Meanwhile, got the carbs off, rebuilt, and did the usual tune-up shite..

Got 'er running that same weekend. Now I had to make a list of stuff to replace. Tires.. Chain.. Cables.. The usual. Took a week for all my parts to come in @ work, so I sent the bodywork to a friend of mine to get painted.

Wanted something different, so we started with a fighter-plane theme, but didn't get too crazy. No rivets, etc.. Just a nice gunmetal grey. My tattoo artist hand-painted the 'devil-girl' on the tank, then we clear-coated the whole thing. Seat: Stock pan, cut to shape with a knife, and $40 later, the local hot-rod guy stitched me up a seat. Some clubman's lying around went on, then I found an old Yoshimura pipe at a garage sale. Fit great, but was WAAAY long. Cut the meg, slipped in a V&H race baffle, shot it high-heat black, and it was done!

Here's the weekend it was on the street:

Rode her that may until Katrina hit New Orleans. She was in the Confederate factory when the roof collapsed. Fuk. Done, right? Amazingly, it was still standing upright in 1.5ft of water, with building rubble all around her! Took a long time to fish her out, but she'd survived!

 

fast forward: January 2007, I decided to address the leaking head gasket on #4.. Motor's gotta come out. Damn. I'm a really bad person about this crap... I can't leave well enough alone. I knew by pulling the motor, I'd be starting down the long road of restoration.

the long list of mods/things done:

Complete disassembly. Stripped her.

Complete tear-down of the motor. Split cases even...
Powdercoated cases, jugs, head, all covers...
Bored out for a Wiseco 836 piston set.
Knife-edged/balanced crank.
All new bearings. Seals. Gaskets. BTW, David Silver Spares in the UK is AWESOME.
New Barnett clutch.
Upon re-assembly, all engine wiring is now internal.
Frame has been trimmed of all excess BS, gusseted and welded up. Oily-wet black powdercoat.
Tarrozi rearsets, Steering stabilizer, and sealed bearings thruout the entire frame.
New (made by me) wiring harness. Modeled after the Hellcat harnesses...
Solid-state reg/rectifier. DynaII ignition. New VTX 1800 coil set.
LED lights- Lazer star tails, Rizoma signals. Azure headlight with PIAA 80/110 Superwhite bulb.
WMD Combiguage. Nice fuggin unit... (no longer available, see Motogadget)
Buell/Ducati handlebar controls. Needed an updated look, and reliability.
ISR calipers. Spiegler brakelines.
Supermoto Wheelset. Dropped to 17" hoops, but GAINED some sick tire profiles: 120-17, 160-17. Yes, a 160 will fit a stock swingarm!
Penske Coil-over shocks. Same as Hellcats... Beginning to feel a theme?
530 o-ring chain, new Rebel Gears' sprockets.
Carbon fender on rebuilt (modified) stock front forks.
And lots more.....

See the original build-thread (complete with broken/missing pics) Here

More Build pics:

Current History (where this all began)

Cerberus started, unknown to me at the time, back in 2006. Events leading up to that point included starting my Dream Job and moving 'Home' in 2003. That would be Confederate Motorcycles, and New Orleans, respectively. Hurricane Katrina changed both of those things into History... But started us down the path to where we now stand. JT Nesbitt (former Confederate lead-designer) and I decided to start a motorcycle design house; Bienville Studios, in Storm-ravaged New Orleans. It was something he was extremely good at, and something I've always loved... After much ado-about nothing, New Orleans was no longer a good place for my family, so we relocated to N/E Tenn to be near family, and give us a chance to re-group. Cerberus was at that time just an idea bouncing around in our heads- A small motorcycle shop, specializing in custom-rebuilds, service, parts, knick-knaks and coffee... Of course, we'd have to find where to put this thing. On the far-back burner, was a new motorcycle design that had started with ideas from Bienville. A design we'd played-with, and thought about, but couldn't do anything with... But too good to just let go.

Life gets in the way of Grand-Schemes, and everything just laid there, doing not much of anything until Spring '09, when a fellow Terrorist announced that he was thinking of doing the same thing- Start a small-shop. We talked, and came up with some great ideas. The New Bike; The Cerberus 400 Triple, was heavily discussed, and put into forward motion, as a 'side-venture' of the main shop, BlackStar Motorcycles. We met, talked, schemed, planned, procured materials, etc.. with The Plan being that we'd build some bikes, and get the Shop going in Spring '10.

As we all know, the economy hasn't been good to anyone- And things being what they are, some wrenches have been thrown. Stuff has been pushed around, and backwards. At this time, BlackStar is waiting. Patiently, for a place to be... Likely in Richmond, VA Further progress will be determined, and acted upon in the coming weeks. So, for now, Cerberus, as a separate Entity, continues quietly in a small garage in the mountains above the Tri-Cities. Things are going-on, but slowly.

Please take the time to read about the past projects up to this point.

-dave

Welcome!

Having not much going on, as winter buries North-Eastern Tenneesse with foul weather, and cutting back on expenses, I've made the executive decision to move everything to Blogger. I'll be posting, over the next few days, 'historical' information regarding past builds, events, goings-on, and some current projects. I've needed to get some things in order anyway, and starting with a fresh template, so to speak will help facilitate that.

Read, be entertained, amused, disgusted. All I ask is that you feel free to comment at your leisure, if it so suits you.

-dave