cb750-1 build/entry : part 5

After two 700 mile trips it was time for a reality check:

The king and queen seat looks awesome, and the sissy bar is really great to bungee your stuff to, but the seat is totally uncomfortable. My back went on strike, and so I started looking for a new, old seat without breaking the bank.

The 6 inch over forks match the seat perfectly, but twist like soft pasta when I just look at the brake lever, and god only knows how much bending they will still take after 36 years, before fatigue sets in terminally. They had to go!!!



New tubes were not in the budget. Fortunately I cleaned out a workbench last week and found a set of used standard fork tubes from a previous restoration. They have some rust where the head light brackets used to sit, but the seal area was OK. Out came the cherry picker, and 45 minutes later the bike was slammed to the ground with OEM stance. Nice!

The seat problem was solved on the other side of the big pond, where I found a vintage Giuliari seat on ebay Germany. It had terrible overspray and some busted seams and splits, but it was complete and no one bid on it. For 100 bucks (including shipping to relatives in Germany)  it was mine!!! My parent were shipping a box to me anyway, so they just stuck the seat into the package. This last purchase busted my $1000 ceiling by $50, but having no back pain on the long trip will be priceless!!!!

After cleaning the vinyl with acetone and rubbing off the primer on the delicate logos with silicone grease (works great), I patched the splits with a vinyl repair kit, sewed up a few seams and here it is:



Michael
Nashville/TN