CM250C budget bobber build

[owenw]

Hi all, figured I'd use the site to keep a record of my project as I sourced the bike from the forums initially (thanks bealz). The bike is a '84 honda CM250C and it's my first bike, actually rode a bike for the first time on the weekend too. I've decided to jump right in and build the bike up quickly to coincide with getting my P plates. I use my phone for photos so the quality will be lacking and limited (as it's usually hooked up to the stereo in the shed rather than taking photos).
The plan for the bike is to build a heiwa/bratstyle inspired bike. I want it to be fairly basic with a few custom made parts to keep the $$ down and knowing I'll probably want something older and bigger later on.
I've completely stripped the bike already and have ordered alot of the parts I will need (peanut tank, tracker bars, new controls, grips, 4.5" bates headlight, short clamp on mirrors, model A type tail light, 60mm speedo, pod filter). The frame needs a little work (looks like something munched on the down tube) and I've had to source a 2nd hand lower front engine mount. I'll be doing all of the work myself as that's how I generally roll, the bike will be mostly black, beige tank, dribbles of polished parts (very limited). I will polish a few parts up like the brake drum plates and engine cases but that'll be about it. I'm deciding on what to do with the wheels at the moment, I think I will just paint them and get some nice tyres fitted.

Here's how I got it:


The day after (masking tape is the parts of the frame I'm removing):


Started polishing parts:



Tomorrow I'll do the other brake housing and degrease a whole lot of parts (least favourite things) I'm not going show quality with the polished parts, more just functionality and slight visual appeal.

[owenw]

brief summary of what's on its way so you can get a feel for the bike:
tail light

tank

headlight

speedo

and bars

[Tbird tracker]

Should be a nice little ride Owen, I love the tank "where from and $$" I got the 5 1/4" Bates for my old Triumph. Sounds like you got a clear plan and the cash to do it, good luck, I'll be watching.

[owenw]

Hey tbird, thanks for the kind words. The tank is from lowbrowcustoms, there is a picture on their site of one on a trumpy - I ordered mine with a few other things (dropped the postage) but the tank is 229 US excluding postage. I wanted a smallish tank as the factory tank is too big for the bike in my opinion.

[Ben Hunter]

Good stuff, I'll keep an eye on this one. Do you have a seat? I've supplied a couple of these ones for blokes doing similar.

[El Skitzo]

Awesome little project owen I'm looking forward to seeing how this one turns out!!

Also nice to see that you're planning on doing most of the work yourself, and plan on making some of your own parts. IMHO a bike is never cool unless it has your own hand made parts on it

[Cbr Junkie]

Owenw i will extend you the same offer i gave bealz i have a mostley complete cm250 in parts would you like to take it off my hands for cheap? Pm me

[owenw]

Pm sent. Spare frame and engine could be handy.

[owenw]

slight update, might post more later on.
polished the rear brake housing:

and next removed the pillion peg mounts (well modified them anyhow)
left side before:

left side after:

right side before:

right side after:


-owen-

[El Skitzo]

God damn you're good at polishing!!

Is that tank one of those Detroit Bros Wassel replicas? LowBrow Customs are great to deal with, I've ordered from them on a few occasions.

[owenw]

The photos do it alot of justice. The tank is indeed the one you mention, everything else seemed likely to look too big on the bike

[Rastas]

Nice work mate, look forward to seeing this come together.

[brethren22]

lookin good already! what did you use to cut through those brackets?

[owenw]

Hey brethren, just used the trusty 4" grinder with a 1mm cutting disc and then cleaned them up with a flap disc. Pretty much my favourite power tool

[owenw]

last bit for the day, I wish every day was a day off. more polishing...
before:

after:

-Owen-

[Spike139]

well bugger, i ride an 82 cm250T when your finished polishing that i got a few bits that could use a good cleanup

[owenw]

haha I think I will have had enough polishing by the time I finish this. It's far from mirror finish but it's good enough for a runabout which is what I'm aiming for.
how do you find the CM250T spike?

[Spike139]

runs nicely through the city, but does not like the 110 speed limit around where i live and hates hills at speed, slows down realy quick, but that's jsut an old engine i guess, all in all she's a lovely run around bike, is my first bike so not really anything to compare it to, but she starts when i need her to and hasn't let me down yet, so far i've had to replace the taco and speedo, taco cable was snapped when i got it and speedo descided to stop on me, so went a bit more high tech and put on a trail-tech vapour unit with light dash to upgrade the front end(the price of genuine was a bit scarey ) and get all the idiot lights working, but parts are a bit of a bitch, currently loking to replace the switch on the front brakes for the rear brake light (can get a new one there so is all god), will definately be wanting to ride down and see this little beastie of yours

[Tbird tracker]

Thanks for the tank info Owen Lowbrow make some awsom stuff. You said you thought the original tank was to big, but it's very small compared to the original CM250 Custom that was based on the CB250 T/N motor. I remember seeing it new in about 1981 or 82 the whole bike looked big compared to the later models with the smaller motor and 15 to 20 KG heavier to.
Great work on the cutting and polishing to btw

[owenw]

Spike: I'm pretty sure my bike is going to struggle with speed also, the factory specs say 110 kmh top speed or there abouts and 17hp. I imagine my engine is alot more tired than 17hp also. Hopefully cutting off brackets and fitting smaller tank/guards/seat will reduce the weight a little. Its main use will be a work commuter however so the speed limit doesn't go over 80 km/h
I considered doing a little work to the engine to perk it up a little but it's probably not worth the effort.

tbird: no problems with the tank info. I'll let you know what the quality is like when I receive it. Thanks for the offer on the seat, it looks great but I think I'm going to make my own seat for this build, going for a tracker looking seat so I'll make a longish seat pan. I am planning on building a hard tailed bike next however so I'll keep it in mind.

-Owen-