We were thrilled to hear recently from Adam Smith of Indianapolis’s Renew’d Moto. Not only is Adam an avid reader of BikeBound, but he manages to put in 40 hours a week as a mechanical engineer before the 30 hours he puts into bikes, working out of his jam-packed two-car garage. This is his first attempt at building a bike, and what an incredible job he’s done. Says Adam:
“My goal was to show that you don’t necessarily need a big fancy shop to build a kick ass looking bike.”
He’s certainly accomplished that. The 1974 Honda CB360 you see here started from horribly inauspicious beginnings: a $250 “roached-out” CB with no title and a motor that had been run without oil. Adam split the parallel twin motor for a full rebuild, which included bored cylinders with .50 over HC pistons and a full powdercoat job, while the seat pan, battery box, and headlight, turn signal, speedo, and seat mounts were all hand-fabricated.
In order to prevent surface rust reappearing, Adam replaced nearly all of the bike’s original hardware with NOS or cap head SST. He trimmed down the original fenders and put his own take on the color/design of the original tank layout.
The result is a one kick-ass Honda CB brat tracker. Below, we get the full details on the build along with some killer shots from Joseph Hansen of Electric Eye Images.
Honda CB360 Brat: In the Builder’s Words
I’m an avid reader of Bikebound, but this is the first time I’m submitting a bike. I bought my first motorcycle about a dozen years ago, and I’ve been a lover of vintage motorcycles ever since. I am all self-taught, mainly through making mistakes enough times to finally learn my lesson on how things work. I work 40 hours a week in the corporate world as a mechanical engineer and then spend another 30 hours or so a week working on bikes. I went from offering some repair services on craigslist as side work to pay for my own hobby, to refocusing on just trying to build bikes. I started an LLC (Renew’d Moto) to kind of keep track of expenses, with the end goal to see if it’s possible to do this as a living at some point. This is my very first attempt at building a bike.
My goal was to show that you don’t necessarily need a big fancy shop to build a kick ass looking bike. I have a 2-car garage that is jam packed with a ton of bikes, and a Pontiac Lemans taking up an entire half of the garage. I’m just the average Joe who has a passion for bikes and the perseverance to see something in my head and then make it come to life.
The Bike: 1974 Honda CB360
The bike started off as a $250 roached out CB360 with no title and a motor that had been ran without oil.
Motor completely split apart for rebuild. Engine cases, cylinders, head are all powder coated. Engine covers polished. Cylinders bored for 0.50 over HC pistons. New cam chain and tensioner guides. Cap head bolts on all engine covers and case. Stock carburetors ultrasonic cleaned and completely rebuilt.
Frame had all unnecessary tabs removed. Hand fabricated battery box. Hand fabricated seat pan. Hand fabricated seat mounts, turn signal mounts, headlight mount, speedo mount. Custom upholstery on seat.
Upgraded reg/rec combo. All the original parts that you can see are now black are powder coated. Rebuilt front forks, polished fork legs. Original fenders used, trimmed down to fit style of bike. Stock hubs laced to aluminum rims with new spokes.
Bates style headlight and taillight.
Acewell all-in-on mini speedo/tach.
Brand new wiring harness. Hand pinstriping on tool holder
95% of the hardware was replaced with NOS or cap head SST. Too many bikes I see, folks just clean up the old hardware and then it’s surface rusted 6 months later. New paint on tank in stock “layout” with my take on color/design
Photo Credit to electriceyeimages.com (Joseph Hansen)
Follow the Builder at Renew’d Moto
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