My CBX build
Posted: Sun Apr 29, 2018 10:53 pm
OK peeps, spent a bit of time sorting piccys out and will put together a post on the CBX build.
I know it's not a Kwak, but it's still a labour of love and, like some of the bikes on here, was nice to try to get such an iconic bike back to it's former glory. There were problems and solutions on the Hodna which I'm sure all bikes suffer with.
I saw this one in a dealers in Holland, he was selling it as a "barn find" non runner. The owner had left it for a couple (ten?) years in his garage. it was a two owner bike with papers and only 24,000km - about 16k miles. Even though it was a non runner, they have a reputation for carbs gumming up, I thought it looked promising. It still wasn't cheap though and there was no negotiating on the price, and I had to get it crated over and UK registered, which was expensive and a pain in itself.
The bike as it came off the curtain-sider;
I thought it best to see if the dealer was telling the truth about the bikes history and find out if I had at least a runner. Emptied out the fuel, put in fresh and pressed the button, and pressed, and pressed.........first it farted, then fired on one, two, three, four, five, but never six. It ran, but only over 3,000 RPM, carbs.........
The next week I got it up on the mezzanine in work and started to scratch my head.
The bike was in fair condition, dealer sent loads of pictures over so I knew basically what I was getting. Tank had been lacquered over and was solid but rough, exhausts were not original, frame was OK but a bit rusty, wheels were corroded and scratched, tailpiece was split (although 90% are - due to a design fault).
As with all bike projects, some people like to run and ride them with a "patina", some want to get them back to factory which is almost impossible due to the lack of parts. I wanted to rescue it and get the bike as best as I could without getting it back to a factory finish.
I needed to get it registered in a certain amount of time after importing it into the country, can't remember how long but couldn't cheat with the dates as import paperwork has to be forwarded with all the details on. To get a Reg No. you need an MOT, fill out some forms, send all the import documents and I think £55 for the first registration. To get it to the MOT station you need insurance, with no Reg number the insurers are supposed to insure it on the chassis number but they won't, or at least mine wouldn't. So, you can't insure it without a Reg number, you can't get a Reg number without an MOT, you can't get down to the MOT without insurance. Just goes round and round in a vicious circle........
Sent all the documents off and they got sent back because I hadn't filled in something right, a call to the DVLA helpline and resent it all back again... finally got a Reg No.
Pressure was off a bit now so could start planning what to do first............
I know it's not a Kwak, but it's still a labour of love and, like some of the bikes on here, was nice to try to get such an iconic bike back to it's former glory. There were problems and solutions on the Hodna which I'm sure all bikes suffer with.
I saw this one in a dealers in Holland, he was selling it as a "barn find" non runner. The owner had left it for a couple (ten?) years in his garage. it was a two owner bike with papers and only 24,000km - about 16k miles. Even though it was a non runner, they have a reputation for carbs gumming up, I thought it looked promising. It still wasn't cheap though and there was no negotiating on the price, and I had to get it crated over and UK registered, which was expensive and a pain in itself.
The bike as it came off the curtain-sider;
I thought it best to see if the dealer was telling the truth about the bikes history and find out if I had at least a runner. Emptied out the fuel, put in fresh and pressed the button, and pressed, and pressed.........first it farted, then fired on one, two, three, four, five, but never six. It ran, but only over 3,000 RPM, carbs.........
The next week I got it up on the mezzanine in work and started to scratch my head.
The bike was in fair condition, dealer sent loads of pictures over so I knew basically what I was getting. Tank had been lacquered over and was solid but rough, exhausts were not original, frame was OK but a bit rusty, wheels were corroded and scratched, tailpiece was split (although 90% are - due to a design fault).
As with all bike projects, some people like to run and ride them with a "patina", some want to get them back to factory which is almost impossible due to the lack of parts. I wanted to rescue it and get the bike as best as I could without getting it back to a factory finish.
I needed to get it registered in a certain amount of time after importing it into the country, can't remember how long but couldn't cheat with the dates as import paperwork has to be forwarded with all the details on. To get a Reg No. you need an MOT, fill out some forms, send all the import documents and I think £55 for the first registration. To get it to the MOT station you need insurance, with no Reg number the insurers are supposed to insure it on the chassis number but they won't, or at least mine wouldn't. So, you can't insure it without a Reg number, you can't get a Reg number without an MOT, you can't get down to the MOT without insurance. Just goes round and round in a vicious circle........
Sent all the documents off and they got sent back because I hadn't filled in something right, a call to the DVLA helpline and resent it all back again... finally got a Reg No.
Pressure was off a bit now so could start planning what to do first............