What parts would members like to see reproduced ?

Posted: Wed May 20, 2015 11:39 pm

SoyBoySigh wrote:

<Edit>

Hey - if anybody's GOT a decent NOS windscreen they really oughtta just send the fucker off to GUSTOFFSEN'S or whatever they're called. Maybe they'd send it back with a couple of early prototype copies as a thank-you for the favour?

<Edit>

-Sigh.

Yeah, that's Gustafsson (not Gustoffsen) and they already did the meter cover (windscreen) years ago and screwed it up. It does not fit and is cheaply made. So no one is buying it at $130 a pop, But it does come in a lot of pretty colors including fluorescent green or pink.

http://bikescreen.com/collections/honda/CB-1100-F see second image.

Thanks for the tip anyway.

Posted: Sat Aug 29, 2015 5:15 pm

CBX-tras wrote:

To quote:

"Just a brain-fart."

What exactly have you made for mass production anyway?

Yeah, I agree with the implied sentiment. It's a big risk pouring development time and money into something and hoping you'll ever see a profit out of it. And once it actually becomes a product, every time you touch it there's more cost involved too, advertizing, answering questions, emails, PMs, then there's inventory, other business overhead. And the market for items for these obsolete bikes isn't ever going to get any bigger, just smaller. I have to admire those that actually go the distance and make it work.

Twinstar Joined: Nov 30, 2009 Posts: 38 Location: WA

How about reproduction side covers. The originals get more brittle by the day it seems.

Posted: Sun Dec 20, 2015 8:09 pm

bikerider138 wrote:

How about reproduction side covers. The originals get more brittle by the day it seems.

ABS ones are already offered ... I recently bought the same set (cheaper though) .... they are a bit heavier but the quality is there.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Honda-CB750F-CB900F-CB1100F-Side-Cover-Set-1979-1983-Vintage-Motorcycle-/171717661940

Posted: Sun Dec 20, 2015 8:10 pm

bikerider138 wrote:

How about reproduction side covers. The originals get more brittle by the day it seems.

Currently out of stock, check on availability or might be found elsewhere

http://4into1.com/honda-cb750f-cb900f-cb1100f-side-cover-set-1979-1983/

Posted: Sun Dec 27, 2015 4:07 am

indison wrote:

I would like to see rearsets produced for these bikes... good looking ones....

Webike makes good looking high quality rearsets for the 750, 900 & 1100 F models. They are pricey but,
I love mine. They have a propriety rear brake master cylinder and you can buy them with or without it.
Definitely get the set with it. BTW, they also come with the shorter rear engine mount bolt.

MB-5 Joined: Apr 14, 2013 Posts: 7 Location: 28115 NC

Orange needels (speedo& tach) 79 750f 900f trip reset knob US 1100f resonable 1100f turn signals and stems

CB1100F Joined: May 13, 2005 Posts: 3215 Location: NE OHIO

billa3 wrote:

Orange needels (speedo& tach) 79 750f 900f trip reset knob US 1100f resonable 1100f turn signals and stems

Tomk1960 has K&S turn signals for the 11F and also makes shorter AL stays .

Posted: Mon Dec 28, 2015 12:43 am

Luckysox wrote:

billa3 wrote:

Orange needels (speedo& tach) 79 750f 900f trip reset knob US 1100f resonable 1100f turn signals and stems

Tomk1960 has K&S turn signals for the 11F and also makes shorter AL stays .

Thanks for the plug Dale.

You can find info regarding my shortened 1100F turn signal stems here: http://www.cb1100f.net/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=79062&highlight=

I can also get you reproduction turn signals that look just like the originals used on the 1100F.

Tom

Posted: Mon Dec 28, 2015 2:07 am

tomk1960 wrote:

Luckysox wrote:

billa3 wrote:

Orange needels (speedo& tach) 79 750f 900f trip reset knob US 1100f resonable 1100f turn signals and stems

Tomk1960 has K&S turn signals for the 11F and also makes shorter AL stays .

Thanks for the plug Dale.

You can find info regarding my shortened 1100F turn signal stems here: http://www.cb1100f.net/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=79062&highlight=

I can also get you reproduction turn signals that look just like the originals used on the 1100F.

Tom

I'll vouch for that, I have a set...you need a magnifying glass to tell they aren't OEM....and that's the printing on the lens.....they are super nice. I have a set of the shorter signal stays too and those are great also.....

Since I spent a long time today fixing pins on side covers, pre-painted bodywork is on my list!!!!

Twinstar Joined: Nov 30, 2009 Posts: 38 Location: WA

petrat wrote:

bikerider138 wrote:

How about reproduction side covers. The originals get more brittle by the day it seems.

ABS ones are already offered ... I recently bought the same set (cheaper though) .... they are a bit heavier but the quality is there.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Honda-CB750F-CB900F-CB1100F-Side-Cover-Set-1979-1983-Vintage-Motorcycle-/171717661940

I wish they made those for the CB750C. :/ I've been looking for a source but I can only find them for the F models in dohc.

Posted: Mon May 22, 2017 5:50 pm

Jeebuz, I type a post like THAT - and I'm asked what I'VE "made for mass production"??? Ha-ha.

Hmmm - one of my first paying jobs when I was like 13-14yrs old, outside of landscaping odd-jobs type of stuff, was working with ceramics, slip-casting stuff with the heavy plaster molds - not exactly astronomical numbers, but the whole idea was about getting everything looking more or less identical. Doesn't really count, 'cause practically all of those designs were ordered out of a catalogue. Maybe it'd be different if one were involved in the prototype making and initial master-mould making? Whatever....

I've definitely done some "mass production" stuff in aquaculture, come to think of it. Not just starting up a Tilapia operation that supplied most of Canada's & the American North-West grow-on farms which were & probably still are the mainstay of food-fish aquaculture - but also some DISCUS and I did breed some Jellyfish several years prior to the Vancouver Aquarium pulling off the same stunt - And I mean these ones got sold to the public in little plastic baggies. And for the physical stuff, I built a hell of a lot of custom aquariums during those years, but in terms of "mass production" we also got some shipments of glass & plastic frames which we punched out as a whole lot of 30-gallon & under STANDARD type tanks. I cut enough glass in those days to rebuild the Victoria & Albert EXHIBITION HALL.....

But I think that was entirely my POINT here, is that you don't NEED the methods inherent to MASS production, but rather something more like a small batch prototyping sort of thing, hence the suggestion of SOFT moulds rather than dies machined from stainless steel, and hand laid composites rather than rapid injection moulding plastics, etc.

Yes, if you WERE going to make several tens or hundreds of thousands of the things, the methods which I suggest would be totally impractical. Unless you had a group of UMPA LUMPA ... or child labourers, undocumented immigrant workers....

IF you're only looking at a very small scale, then casting stuff with the dental silicone type of crap makes perfect sense. You'd have to it clean all up a whole bunch of hand trimming, you'd have to make several attempts at things, most of which won't work out. It's only after you've got the methods down pat that you'll produce anything up to someone else's nit-picking standards. Let alone a show judge looking for flawless OEM parts, who you'd have to FOOL into thinking that's what they're looking at.

I DO have a bit of experience with acrylic sheet, believe it or not. And not just the flat-sawn butt-jointed Aquarium type of stuff either (though there are some "tricks of the trade" even within THAT type of acrylic tank manufacture, such as how to scrape a smooth edge to create the best surface for joining, plus there's "FLAME-BUFFING" which can be both a short-cut AND a higher skill level technique used in joining acrylic sheet. I've done bent-corner acrylic aquariums and THAT whole process is a pain in the neck. Done a little bit of moulding sheet over forms, warming 'em in the oven. In fact that's some of the earliest acrylic sheet stuff I ever tried, as a part of a project for SHOP CLASS back in school. My SPERM-DONOR also worked in an early "Light-Pipe" factory circa 1984 or '85, where he put those huge glowing edges onto parts of the Vancouver skyline, like an enormous neon light with a diameter upwards of ten inches nominal pipe size etc. Oddly enough we actually spent time together, too - So I got to see a lot of the proper techniques for all of THAT stuff.

Plus I've tinkered around with some VACUUM TABLE type of stuff, in some Calgary plastics shops circa the late '90s when I was in my early-mid 20s (to paraphrase Hedwig & the Angry Inch) They were making BUBBLES for various purposes, the security camera covers for store ceilings, plus some other oddball oval bubble shapes which I think were for some type of aeronautical purpose or other. The Bell Helicopter factory wasn't far away, though this stuff was probably more like scale-model remote-control helicopter type of stuff.....

To whit, I'm pretty well familiar with the methods used for producing an acrylic/polycarbonate WINDSCREEN.

It's remarkable though, how the mass production methods for which are basically the same as you'd do on a small scale, only they've got the technique down pat - they're getting the sheet to the proper working temperature without forming bubbles, they've got their forms properly prepared and they know the working time and how it's gotta be handled.

It's just like the fiberglass stuff. There's making something from a mould, even making the form itself then getting copies out of it. And then there's being able to do so without making a huge MESS first of all. After which you've got to be able to do it without making a mess plus the further step of being able to make $$$ at it! A whole other kettle of fish.

Probably the best example of what a LEARNING CURVE there is when working with these materials - When DARPA SKUNK-WORKS was involved in making a full-scale 3-D non-flying copy of that WWII German HORTEN HO-229 flying-wing jet, for a mock-up test of the radar & it's purported STEALTH qualities-

(Surely we've all seen the documentary by now?)

Well we're talking about some of the best most experienced aeronautical engineers, let alone fabricators, in the Western-World if not THE World as a whole

And yet even THEY couldn't get the damn cockpit canopy bubble right. Even after several tries. And if you ask ME, it was due to either not having the acrylic sheet quite up to a good working temperature, having too cool of a work-space, or just plain being too slow on the ball when moving the sheets from the oven to the forms.

Of course, give 'em a whole lot more time on the project and they'll be popping 'em out one a minute. When working with this type of thing, you're ALWAYS going to screw it up at first - Unless of course you're ALWAYS working with acrylic sheet moulds for cockpit canopy bubbles or whatever other similar aeronautical purposes be that an astronomy observation bubble for the tops of most '30s-'40s bombers which were used for navigation by starlight - or perhaps windscreen protection for whatever defensive gun positions, turret bubbles or whatever - fairings for running lights on wing-tips etc etc. What HAVE you. The folks who are working with this material all the time, they'll get their modus operandi worked out and thereby waste a heck of a lot less material.

But throw 'em for a loop, give 'em something different, and they'll be back to screwing up over & over until they get it right.

It's only when you've finally nailed down the technique, and you're punching 'em out over & over again, then you're gonna be able to look back on how much plastic sheet you've wasted (hopefully it's getting sent back to the manufacturer, to be recycled!) how many hours of labour were involved, THEN you can figure out what the cost-per-unit's gonna be.

When it comes to the injection-moulding techniques however, there's that whole elaborate pile of equipment, a factory essentially, which they're keeping on hand and trying to keep it busy, all of that stuff is assembled & arranged precisely so that they CAN say they'll produce this number of units on such-and-such a date. And that there won't be a wasted first batch which doesn't live up to the buyer's standards. Well, surely they'll still have a bad batch but they keep that to themselves, sweep it under the carpet and PAY for it all under the umbrella of operating costs.

THEY'RE gonna quote you such ridiculous prices due to all of these contingencies. Not only making up those stainless DIES but also making up any first-version dies which don't work out. ALL of their ancillary costs go under the umbrella of that quoted price, be it an office assistant going on maternity leave or the owner's kids going to college or needing braces, etc. They'd only hope their competitors aren't giving a "too competitive" estimate -

And that brings up a whole other point, is that the factories will also FIX PRICES - It might be illegal but that doesn't mean it won't happen! Practically every industry engages in price fixing. It's one of the underpinnings of the "free" economy!

ALL of that type of shit's gonna find it's way under the umbrella of that price you've been quoted.

How else would the "Big Four" keep coming up with "competitor" motorcycles within each class, which come so close in performance AND price-point, while the actual state of the art seems anywhere from ten to fifteen years ahead of street-bike production - if not even further.

This is why you don't want to "out-source" the mass production of this or that plastic item to the wrong class of manufacturer. You want to find the right business scaled just nicely for the batch size for which you're 'marketing' here.

Oh they'll take your funds though, if they think they can get you to cough it up. One of my favourite stories as to mass production of small plastic bits would have to be that 2015-2016 movie "JOY" - Which I suppose was only unique & interesting 'cause it took place so many years ago that it all happened within the states - 'Cause if it were today, they'd have tried to have the stuff made over in China, like a bunch of cheap-skates, and it would've been out of their hands forevermore, with cheap knock-offs showing up in all the dollar stores, half of 'em already cracked & broken....

Put that ... what was it? Sixty thousand bucks? Put that same chunk of change into your own home DIY type of shit and have a go at it.

No, you won't get a per item price on the order of $22.45 etc.

Sad to say, getting FIVE HUNDRED people onboard for an idea, here on the 'F-ORUM? You'd take about a year just to get the names, and by the time it's complete the names up at the top would start peeling off like wallpaper with a humidity problem.

I'd love to try something similar my OWN self. For as long as I've had my CB1100R gas tank ... heck even LONGER I suppose, I've wanted to find a way of making a REPLICA of the thing.

First off the obvious answer is fiberglass, but that shit's so dangerous! If it cracks in a fender-bender you're covered in flammable/explosive hot-sauce. This idea's obviously a NON-STARTER.

Though I suppose there are supposed to be some new fiberglass composites revolving around GANJA of course - like everything else these days - which doesn't crack but BENDS and DENTS more like other plastics etc. Maybe there's hope therein. Though I'm very curious as to how it'd stay joined to the alloy plate used for threading bungs & petcocks, caps etc etc.

Then of course there's ALUMINUM. For those who'd want it polished, just like ME & MINE - for the absolute authentic accuracy & all that.

FOR WHICH, we'd again be looking at a MOULD not unlike the fiberglass method, heck maybe even just like it - Ideally you'd use HARDWOOD, CNC routed into a concavity for each of three panels - the top is made from two pieces, sealed down the center-line top of the tank with a weld bead that's dressed down on the exterior, left all bubbly & dribbly on the inside. The filler cap stem is made like a beer can, a thin-walled tube with a lip rolled into one end, which is then welded into a hole drilled through the joint of the two side panels. Along with it, two telescoped thicker-walled tubes reinforce the rear section where the tab bolts the tank down to the frame. And a baffle is joined inside to hold the two sides strongly together. Then the bottom panel is welded to that, and the cups for the mounting bungs and the rear mounting tab's bottom panel, are added to the outside - maybe before it's joined to the top maybe after. Who's to say?

EITHER which WAY, the important part of the process, which makes this a proper CB1100R replica tank rather than a square block of fugly - like the "DLF-1000" ... or the CR750 ha-ha ... JUST so they don't look like a flat box:

The PANELS must be shaped accordingly, and this would be done via the FLOW-FORMING method, where the alloy is bumped with a pneumatic hammer with soft smooth plastic tips just like a proper alloy sheet-metal working hammer should have - and they're pushed into the concavity of the hardwood.

One thing I can't quite figure out about THAT one however, is that the side panels have an overlap with the bottom panel, wherein that edge makes a 90-ish-degree angle with the sides, rather than having a flat edge all around which would be trimmed off after it's removed from the hardwood "buck" mould.

And so that one detail seems to "contradict" my theory of the side panels being wrought into shape within this enormous hardwood block.

Or rather, it would probably indicate that either part of the way or ALL of the way, through shaping the side panels, they're wrapped around a CONVEX form and hammered or pressed against that, such that the bottom edge lip of the panel curls INWARD....

SOMEBODY'S got to attempt an authentic Aluminum replica of these gas-tanks!

Well, then there's also yet another option - to get the thing cast in an opaque white POLYETHYLENE, just like the DIRT-BIKE tanks are done with - I talked to some poly tank making companies, there are several near where I live due to the agriculture here, heavy on the irrigation side, on the pesticides more to the point - fucking chemical death leeching into the groundwater ... ah, but while I've worried about THIS shit all of my life, it's actually the FRACKING which is messing with the groundwater....

Well I spoke to 'em but they said the types of polyethylene which is used for handling gasoline, is different than the poly used for handling aqueous chemistry (water & shit) & as such I'd have to track down the right outfits, 'cause they tend to make 'em in different facilities so they don't cross-contaminate their plastics etc etc etc.

But I still think it's a good IDEA, in that a semi-opaque white poly could still be painted with the new Krylon plastic-coating paints, but at the same time leaving a blank stripe to see the fuel level through - Or even just left in semi-opaque white and paint the RED part over it, lay some decals over that & clear-coat over it - Heck the whole red portion itself could be laid on as a decal, a big friggin' STICKER for all I care - even so, there ARE paints available to cover the polyethylene tanks.

IF we could get 'em made this way, they'd dent on the track & the dents would just pop back out! Scratches might be harder to repair, but it'd be a lot less dangerous to use these plastic tanks on the STREET. And I'm sure the WEIGHT would be advantageous as well.

Now THAT'S a bike-part which a lot of 'F-ers would like to have. Or more to the point, the 'C-unts & 'K-ranks who, 'F-oolishly perhaps, 'R unsatisfied with Thei-'R body wo-'R -'K et-'C....

Surely not that cheap to MAKE, let alone commission. ('C-omission?) However THIS is an item which would reasonably sell for around $500 and a good 500 'F-orum members would buy it. Truth be told if it were made to also fit the 2010+ "CB1100" well then you'd sell an additional thousand of 'em over in JAPAN alone!

I should think it's one key piece which is both NEEDED in a very real sense, and WANTED for another.

I also feel the CB1100R brake PEDAL is an item which should be reproduced. I was delighted to see that the Norte-Americano feet-forward CB750F/CB900F pedal SPLINES actually FIT the pedal from the CB1100R - most serendipitous as it was the only splined pedal shaft I found in my possession. I've got a GL1200 pedal and a VF750F pedal with the integral shaft, and they both fit together - good to know 'cause the other parts from each would make a decent Tarozzi style secondary BELL-CRANK linkage, although that's some ridiculously complicated nonsense.

Speaking of brakes:

You want to reproduce some really cool gear for these bikes? Talk to CAILLOU BEDIER on CRACKBOOK he's doing a '76 RCB restoration, including casting new heads and jugs in Magnesium. Well, they've ALSO got some very rare BRAKE parts, some proper RSC works-spec prototype gear from NISSIN - Like single-puck calipers and hangers for 296mm front rotors! Wow. And a rear master-cylinder with integral reservoir and bell-crank pivot link.

I've got myself a BREMBO rear master unit, much in the same vein, but that's a tip of the hat to the ITALIANS, imho it's got no place on a proper JAPANESE motorcycle!

Well there are other pivot-link rear masters out there, though they may be few & far between, they can be HAD - and more to the point they can be HIDDEN, if they're not Japanese in origin....

I've talked to an eBay seller who's making 296mm CAST-IRON replacement 9-rivet discs for the SOHC-4 'K-bikes, about making a version of it for the 9-rivet 276mm discs with the spiral center-carrier from the Canuck/Euro CB1100F - only in 296mm, which would make it something more like the RCB/RS1000 front discs. Well, they also did some versions with a solid center carrier, I suppose you could either use the GL1200 version from the double-thick vented rotors, though that's only the same size as the SOHC-4 carriers and it'd be a lot easier to fill the order but I'm pretty sure the RCB/RS1000 version was the same size, larger that is, as the SPIRAL type. That's an unusual piece specific to these race-bikes.

Well in addition to these spiral rotor-carriers in 296mm Cast-Iron, I should think it necessary to reproduce a caliper-hanger for 296mm dual-disc but in the SINGLE-PUCK caliper type. As opposed to the twin-pot type from pro-link CBX - If you're shooting for an early RCB or later RS1000 pseudo-replica build, either which way you're after the SINGLE-PUCK calipers. 296mm up front, and a carrier for a 260mm or smaller disc in the rear. A nice package could be put together, for the '79-'80 models an alternative set of caliper HANGERS, for 296mm front (dual-disc of course) and something puny in the rear - Ideally the 6-rivet 4-bolt CB350F/CB400F front rotors, and a special carrier to mount THAT to the rear wheels, whether that be the 6-bolt wire-spoke and/or 6-bolt COMSTAR from the SOHC-4 era, or the 5-bolt Comstar from the CBX & DOHC-4 era - EITHER of 'em could use a much smaller rear brake, and for those who give a damn about keeping it all PERIOD-CORRECT, the 260mm 6-rivet disc is a good fit!

Ah - SPEAKING of which - the AKRONT "NERVI" rims!

If there's anything worth reproducing in any quantity, that anybody with a DOHC-4 or a GOLD WING or a SOHC 'F2 or a CX-series v-twin or the little parallel twins or the XBR500 or the VF INTERCEPTORS - whatever the hell you can think of, coming out of Honda's line-up between the years '76 and '88, they're ALL gonna benefit from their COMSTAR wheels being REBUILT with wider, 50% lighter, yet stylishly original looking - AKRONT 'NERVI' RIMS!

So if there are any 'F-ers out there talking to factory reps about large-scale manufacturing, they should talk to the MORAD COMPANY about bringing the 'NERVI' rims back from the brink of EXTINCTION!

It's some hugely important stuff. Several limited-edition DUCATI models, plus the original BIMOTA TESI 1D, a whole pile of cool bikes, all of which could benefit from a set of replacement rims rather than wearing out their original "NERVI' rims - Sometimes it might be about making 'em WIDER - But there are a good many bent or cracked MARVIC wheels, which could be restored in a heart-beat!

Yeah - THAT'S about the most important stuff we need manufactured 'round here....

-S.

Posted: Mon May 22, 2017 6:30 pm

a carb kit that includes velocity stacks like RSC that leave the air jets exposed ( so the venturi matches the carb inlet) - a set of filter socks that go over the stacks and a dyno set up jet kit
so folks can junk the airbox and get a decent carb set up without needing the knowledge / time to do it - and without needing to fit KN pod filters