War Bagel: The Cafe' That Got Away.

War Bagel went off to a new home from the Timonium Motorcycle Show. There were a lot of people interested in it, and it ended up selling twice. The story is too long for me to type this morning.

This bike ended up coming together very nicely. Even with the bulky gas tank and the odd frame shape of the DOHC CB, it's a very nice looking bike. I wasn't able to get many pictures of the bike, so these are a few that my friend shot as I was loading it up in the buyer's truck. The bike is a scion gray (can't remember the name) and true black. The engine covers are gray to match the tank panel colors. The tail is all steel and all of the electrics are hidden under a panel behind the engine and up in the headlight. Clip-ons, dual gauges, a good lean to the front, and a very comfortable leather upholstered seat. This bike was quick and sounded great with the Jarden exhaust system.

War Bagel's Christmas Wheels

Powder coated satin black rims, buffed the spokes and nipples, and shined up the hub's a bit. Way better than a crappy pair of Christmas shoes.

Don't Hate

I call this high tech Frisco.

War Bagel: The 1980 CB750 Cafe

Meet War Bagel. I just finished up the seat pan tonight. The battery will go in the tail and all of the electrics are hidden under the panel just behind the engine. You can see this panel in the second picture underneath of the seat. There's a lot more to be done, but most of the sheet metal work is finished. There's something I really like about that F model tank.

New Project: 1980 CB750

Just picked this up on a whim, got it running, and now it's time for some upgrades. It needs some love but it's a great bike. 36k on the odo, K model with an F tank, intact exhaust, and good electrics. The top end is nice and quiet and it now fires right up. One bad coil and some new plugs that were junk had kept it from running nicely.

Work continues on the CycleOne hardtail bike...

It's been a bit slow lately, but the Hot Rod Honda is still coming along. Hidden tank mounts under the wassell banana tank, seat spring mounts, and a few small touches. It's going to be a great ride when it's finished. Stay tuned...

Project Update: Out into the sunshine

I needed a different perspective. Sometimes it's hard to see where a design is going in a cramped and busy place like a garage. We slapped a wheel on the front and rolled it out to see what monstrosity we'd created. The front wheel will be a drum, but my main concern here was the overall look of the bike. With everything just hanging on and drooping about, it's still a bit abstract, but it gave me some ideas. So just ignore some of the asymmetry and the oddly long pipes. They're going to be cut, but I'm just not sure where yet (definitely before the tire ends though). Rolling it out definitely showed me the bars look goofy.

Another Late Night: Exhausting Work

Working on a set of "Scrambler" or high pipes for the dual sport, british looking, japanese thing I've been wounding myself with for the past month. I'll get some better pictures up eventually. For now, it's time for coffee!

Ohh and puns are phun!

New Product: The Broiler Exhaust System

We designed this exhaust for those long, cold winter rides. 1,400 F is enough to keep you nice and toasty at speed.

Barn-Find Beemer (sort of)

I didn't really need another project right now, but some bikes you just don't pass on. Especially not one you've been cultivating the lead on for a couple years.

This all started about 3 years ago when I was catching up with a long-time friend of my Dad's. He collects tractors, cars, radios, pipe organs, cameras, etc but I never knew before that he was into motorcycles. He was checking out my bike at the time and telling me about all the places he had been on his BMW bikes over the years. While we kicked around stories he mentioned an odd bike in his shed. A BMW with a volkswagen engine in it. The story was that he'd bought it about the time he stopped riding bikes, some 15-20 years ago. He ran it around his property a few times, but never bothered to tag it, and it was relegated to the barn fairly shortly never to be touched/started again. I was intrigued and told him I'd catch up and come over sometime and see it.

A year and a half or so went by and we hadn't seen each other again until I randomly caught up with him. He asked if I was still interested in seeing the bike. I hadn't forgotten about it, but I didn't have a garage at the time and wasn't going to take on a project like that, but I told him I'd see him soon. I got his number that time, though, and his eMail address. About 8 weeks ago I finally got a meeting set up to dig through his stuff and see this bike. It was in the back of an unlit barn, covered in boxes and blocked in by other bikes, but from what I could see I knew I needed a better look atleast. So 3 weeks ago I spent a good chunk of a Saturday helping him extricate the bike for pictures. Here's what I found.

For starters, this is the yard in front of this particular shed (one of several):


In addition to the 15 or so VW's left he parted out and scrapped another 21 he said. There's a shed full of VW engines and parts. There are also a number of Mercedes cars piled up and a building full of Mercedes engines and parts. Parts everywhere. My kinda guy.

When I got there on Saturday we started with the tour of the place. Besides the cars you can see, and the several dozen tractors not in the pics, here are some of the fun pictures.

On "the terrace" which is a lean to on the back of one barn were these two bikes. A 1961 or 1962 R50/2 BMW:


and a 60's R69S parts bike (those are his high socks, not mine):


In the corner of that picture you can see some of the stacked Mercedes car engines. Below the bikes, packed in between several tractors, was this 37 Mercedes car:


So that more or less sets the tone of the place, but it is one of those hordes you'd have to see to understand. The bike I came looking for was in this unassuming barn:


Opening the sliding doors that don't have sliders yet (he's only been there for like 30 years) I found this collection:


My camera decided to turn-off the antishake and I didn't know it until I got home, but you can't see the bike in this shot anyway. It's behind the silverwing on the left, under some boxes and a sheet. The bike on the right is his special bike. A 1960's R69S that he rode everywhere. We pulled it out first to make room to work in there (it's not for sale, I tried):


After we dragged the silverwing, stuck calipers and all, from the shed we revealed the BMVW for the first time in well over a decade.


Here's the BMVW out in the daylight:



I was kind of blown away with the quality of the work done on this conversion. The frame was stretched atleast 4" to fit the extra two cylinders, and BMW's don't use round frame tubes (oval) but I couldn't find any evidence of the work. They must have used pieces of another BMW frame to do it. Too cool. I know car-engine'd bikes aren't everyone's thing, but this is the classiest one I've seen. I had to have it. Here she is about to be unloaded from the trailer:




I can tell you this, I'm not changing hardly anything on the bike. The 80's aircleaners have to go, in favor of something older, and I'd like to make the turn signals a bit less obtrusive, but other than that all I want to do is make it run. The patina on it is great. Work's gonna be slow on it for now, I do have other bikes and projects that I need to finish first, but I wanted to share the barn-find pics with you guys. I need to get the engine loosened up, free up all the cables and controls, and preform the standard BMW maintenance that hasn't been done on this bike ever (like taking the trans out and lubing the input splines, crucial on the old airheads).

No idea how it'll ride, but damn it's a conversation piece isn't it?

Where the F is my Jetpack?

With such talk about jetpacks and futuristic junk pertaining to certain builds, this little diddy popped up on my radar. And it is spectacular.

More Pictures of the New Project

These bike photos are ripped directly off of Saint Motorbikes Blog because I didn't have a camera and Jeff stole one from one of his kids.

Here we are testing out the new oil/rocket tank on Tesla, Jeff's new project. I wanted a vertical oil tank to sit between the twin carb setup on the hardtail CB frame to free up some space behind the seat post and get rid of some of the void above the transmission.


This is what I came up with. 2.5 qt's of cappuccino capacity. It looks really odd off the bike, but fits right in on the frame.

Some other things on the bike are a new girder, some bar end levers, a leaf spring seat, and a Cycle X twin carb setup. I had been wanting to build this girder for quite some time. I liked the look of the side mounted springs of the old solid leg girders, but wanted a more modern feel while riding. With that in mind, I used two air shocks set with 50 psi each. For now, that gives it a good tight feel and a travel distance of 2.5 inches. The bar end levers fit the bike nicely and the leafer seat keeps with the lines and doubles as a moon bounce.


I really like the way the oil tank turned out on the bike. The bungs follow the angle of the seat tubes and it fits perfectly between the carbs. This is Jeff's favorite angle on the bike. Looking at the header pic on his site, you can see a pattern. Hmm? New header pic?


Since I am currently banished to working in a shed, Jeff offered me some space in his garage to do some work. I left last night a little before 2 am. The day before that was 3 am. Before that, 1 am. Thanks Jeff for the space and harassment!

I have a little slice of concrete right next to Tesla, the primary patient in Jeff's stable.

After getting 3 hours of sleep I woke up exhausted but I knew it was worth it. The best thing that came out of last night was this killer Pillow Hawk! Ohh and an evil twin to my left. He's not all that bad but he does remind me of someone. I just can't put my finger on it.


No, wait. I figured it out.

New Project Teaser Photo

Hardtail with a new girder design. The size of my little escort is deceiving.

My GrandPappies New Toy

My Granddad called me up a little while ago and asked me if I knew anything about the old military harleys used in WWII. We talked for a while about his old bikes and the one he was looking at. In the end it turns out the bike he had found was a hodge-podge of different parts and wasn't really what he was looking for. But at the root of the conversation, he was looking for a vintage motorcycle with a sidecar to putt around in. He's going on 84 and is as sharp as a fresh edge on sheet metal.

I took a look around and found a few things within his budget. In the end, he settled on a bike that reminded him of something he saw quite often during his time in Okinawa. The bike he is picking up is a 1977 BMW R100/7 with a nice sidecar. When he was in Okinawa, there were probably quite a few knock off's of the old BMW boxer engines floating about.

The 77 beamer has full luggage, windscreens for the hack and the bike, muddies, floorboards, new rubber on all three corners, and a pile of extras. The paint is in great shape and he's pretty happy about the whole thing.

Here are a few small pictures of the bike. I have to pick it up for him so I'll snag a few more pictures then. I'm going to go through it a bit, make sure things are kosher and then take it for a spin.







Nice looking bike! In a little bit we'll get something up about John's new find, which is also a BMW... Sort of.

New Carbs for a new project

Here's a set of sexy carbs that I picked up yesterday for a project I havent mentioned much here. In a few weeks I'll throw up some pictures of the bike. Jeff at Saint Motorbikes posted a few teasers from when I stopped by in the wee hours of the night to harass him.

This pair of beauties is a Cycle Xchange twin carb setup. Two VM34 mikuni round slides with a cast aluminum manifold to adapt them to the CB750. Ken claims a good boost in power with these. I think they'll look nice with the type of bike I'm currently working on. Something simple yet complex. Refined, yet rugged. Vintage, yet advanced. Confusing right?

Can't Kill a Honda 750

The age-old question; "Should I buy this"? Our buddy Carl scrounged this bike up on eBay. It was cheap and had a title. If the engine turned over he was gonna buy it. It did, so it's in the shop now.


It was last registered in '94 in Hawaii. How it made it to MD is a mystery, though judging by the condition it was dragged here behind a ship. We'll spare you all the gory details, but the only thing in there worth salvaging was the engine, and that's only if it'll run. We weren't going through the trouble to pull it and clean it before trying it out, so with some jury-rigged wiring to the original coils, a set of clean carbs off Carl's other bike, and a battery it was time to see what was left in that old motor.

Not only does it run, it idles better than his daily rider! Mission accomplished for now. We'll cut it the rest of the way down later.

New Project in the Shop - "HotRod"

After winning a hardtail section at the WHCM raffle (generously donated by CycleOne Manufacturing) it was just begging to be used immediately. So we put a few other projects on hold for a bit and dug a frame out of the rafters (a '76 CB750 K frame to be exact) to hack up.



Been wanting to use a couple "hotrod" CB750 parts and make a cool little bobber (pardon the overused expression) so let's see what we end up with.

Following the instructions, the first step is to carefully remove the kickstand mount. Don't want to ruin the tubing, or the mount since it can be re-used later.


A couple passes with a flapwheel and it's like it was never there.


A little cutting, a little prep work, and before you know it the frame is ready to go back together


Test Fitting


Bolted the engine in for final alignment and tacked it up.


Here's the roller with a CB450 frontend and an Akront 18x4.25 rear wheel off an old KZ dragbike.


A perfect stance in no time flat. Plenty of grinding, cleaning, sculpting, and chopping left to do, but it's off to a great start. Big thanks again to Red and Kate at CycleOne for the hardtail section, and Jeff at SaintMotorbikes for welding and the forks. Keep watching, this one's gonna be quick.