My Motorcycle Projects

So as to return Al's thread back to it's original broadcasting, I shall see if I can still post a thread...with pics.

A couple years ago I kind of burned out on cars. Not in general, just my own projects. (still have one I am trying to find a home for). Anyways, my neighbor talked me into changing things up. So now I have a garage full of motorcycle projects and not just ONE car project.

I actually finished one already. 1972 Honda CL125. New petcock, carb, throttle cable, hand grips, kick start grip, and battery. Thing about this little bike, it only had about 5k miles on the odometer. No oil leaks, and great compression. The front tire was original, seat cover, and all the correct gray colored cables. Honda did not use black cables during this time period. Ran awesome, and only took a few hours to fix everything. My goal with this one was to fix it cheap and sell it. Money for the next one

20230127_153227 by Sam Grabenhorst, on Flickr

Next is a 1986 Suzuki Cavalcade. I am the third owner and the original owner must have really loved this thing. All available options plus a few extras like full factory shop manual, engraved leather duffle bag, and leather belt with buckle, to name a few. I bought it from an estate.  The father bought this from the original owner and disassembled it to what you see here. All parts are there and just major components are removed. I will get a new battery for it and see what happens. This thing is loaded. 1400cc liquid cooled V4, shaft drive, electronic cruise control, air adjustable rear suspension(driver or passenger can adjust), air adjustable seat, am\fm\cass, cb radio, and more that I am forgetting. Original owner took it cross country seven times.

20221107_105830 by Sam Grabenhorst, on Flickr

1992 Honda CB750 Hawk. Runs if you bump start it. Starter was already replaced, so not that. Starter button is broken(common problem), so will replace the righthand control unit. This also has safety switches at the clutch and kickstand. I am going to check them out as well. Missing righthand side cover. Don't look close, all painted items were painted in place with a rattle can. Can anyone say "overspray"?  Add in the cheap little mufflers and this thing screams "rode hard and put away wet".  I don't have to worry about riding it like I stole it, somebody beat me to it.

20221105_105656 by Sam Grabenhorst, on Flickr

Last is the garage pic. It stayed this clean for about a week. Now you can hardly see in there, let alone work. 1985 Kawasaki 454ltd on the right, 1985 Honda CB450 Hawk on the left. Rest of CB450 parts are on the shelf. The tank is in really bad shape, and since the bike needs everything refreshed, its an open book, Stock/scrambler/cafe...? Kawasaki runs/rides. I replaced the petcock, choke cable, and battery. Still needs the electronic doohicky that automatically turns the lights on when it starts. Common problem.

20221110_155258 by Sam Grabenhorst, on Flickr

Yamaha Seca 650 is now in the middle of those four bikes, with tons of spare parts, and a mess piled around. Pics of it and the basket case CL350s will follow later.

Hi Sam,

Thank you for posting these, looks like some great projects to keep you going through the winter, so they'll be ready for the Spring/Summer sales...

Suzuki really rocked Honda's boat when they bought out the Cavalcade as it was a much better put together bike that outperformed the Gold Wing by a mile, it really was the Roll Royce of motorcycles...

Please keep us updated on how you get on with these...

Andy...

Andy, it is really nice to find someone who actually knows what a Cavalcade is. I never even heard about one before I found this one. I read somewhere that they sold more units in the European market than in the states. The only forum I can find that is still active, is a Facebook group. I have always stayed away from it, but with trying to find people that can answer questions for me, combined with their marketplace, my resolve is slowly disintegrating.

My son came over Monday and helped me get started on the Kawasaki frame swap. We had it completely disassembled in about four hours. We kept it in as few of components as possible.

20230703_184618 by Sam Grabenhorst, on Flickr

20230703_185556 by Sam Grabenhorst, on Flickr

20230703_204941 by Sam Grabenhorst, on Flickr

We also took a LOT of pictures, so as to make as few of mistakes as possible on reassembly.

Yes Sam, always a good idea to take a few snapshots of the break down.

Hi Sam,

I really, really wish you were my neighbour, I would be living in your garage...

And yes, you can never take enough photos as you remove parts, for two reasons, it helps you when it comes to rebuilding and you can share them with us...

Andy...

I took LOTS of pictures of every little thing as it was unplugged and unbolted. We have everything all back together, everything seems to work...but the starter won't engage. So now I get to look over every single connection in the wiring harness...

This explains why you haven’t got time to build stuff.. you’ve got loads to do in your garage .