NOS Bike Tank

It's not Falcon related but I wanted to show off my latest eBay score. An NOS tank for my `69 CL350. I've looked off and on for one of these for a couple of years and this is the first new and in primer I've seen.

The bike needs a paint job and my old tank has a dodgy fiberglass repair and a pinhole leak on one of the seams. So I wasn't looking forward to stripping the POR-15 liner (MEK or acetone), welding a used fuel tank (or $$ to have it done), and then doing all the body work you have to do when you patch. Oh, and hope the patch doesn't leak.

Anyways, it's always cool to come across a 43 year old tank, ready for paint! And I thought $175 was a decent price. I'll sell my old one to cover postage.

Cafe racing again??? Not too fond of riding on the streets anymore. Seemed like everyone was aiming at me. Got too many body parts temporarily attached due to hill climbing, dirt bike racing, and endo's. But at least the trees I hit didn't seem like they were coming out after me. BE careful, there are idiots on the road.

I once put a new tank on a TS-250 Suzuki back in the day, and if I'm not mistaken, it was in that price range (1975-ish). Good score!

No racing for me! And it's getting back to factory stock. Some day I'll find a decent rear fender. The one that's on is the wrong year. And the seat upholstery is not exactly stock.

But otherwise a nice bike! And I'm a very cautious rider. Gotta act like you're invisible. Luckily painting a bike should go much quicker than a Falcon so I'm looking forward to putting some miles on it soon.

Nice score. I'm not sure if you score anything from BikeBandit.com Kenny, but I've ordered a lot of NOS parts for my '81 Suzuki GS750 from them. Great prices if they have anything. Just got a big batch of nuts and bolts and brake parts a couple weeks ago to freshen' up some of the bolts and nuts that were rusting and a front brake reservoir that was turning chalky.

As another motorcyclist too, I can echo Larry's concern. But as long as you are a defensive rider - times 100 - you're pretty safe. What makes me shake my head is when I'm driving down the road (in my car) and some id10T is coming at me on the opposite side of the road doing a wheelie @ 50MPH in a 30MPH zone. These are the guys that need to have the bullseye painted on them. :bicker:

Several years ago I was taking the motorcycle safety course and we were done with the classroom part so we headed out to the parking lot for the riding portion. There were a few new students joining us who had already passed a written exam but not their first attempt at the riding course. So they got a second and final chance.

One guy came over to talk and was telling me all about this Ninja (500??) with a bypassed rev limiter. He said they got it up to 120 or so on I-5. He seemed like the kind of guy who enjoyed blowing smoke out his *** so I just shook my head and listened.

The best part was when we were doing this part of the course with a curve in the road you're supposed to accelerate through at a certain speed. The instructor mentioned several times not to use the brakes and whatever you do don't spill the bike. Since this was a beginner's course you had to use the bikes they provided.

Wouldn't you know it, as soon as Mr. Ninja hit the curve I saw his brake light flash and the bike came right out from under him. You could see the instructor's face get red as he picked up a rear view mirror that broke off and ran over to assess the damage.

I just thought, man...I really hope his Ninja story is B.S.

Okay, I gotta add my story.

Way back when I first started riding, I convinced my wife we'd save lotsa money by purchasing a dual purpose bike. And it'd also be great fun.

Back then, I was working two offices (Marysville and Lk. Goodwin) for the local phone company. Being as how I had this really economical ride and no company vehicle available to me most of the time, I of course decided to ride the bike between the offices. I would generally take the Fire Trail road up over the hill as it was pretty sparsely traveled at the times I would be on it. One day I had just crested the Fire Trail hill westbound and came up over the next little rise to see a car passing another car coming at me side by side. Fortunately, where I went off the pavement to avoid a head-on, the was no ditch and I didn't even lay the bike down, but rather just kept on motoring and thanking my guardian angel.

Any way, all this convinced me I wasn't meant to be a road rider and soon converted it into a full-fledged dirt machine.

Well, I've been busy doing a paint job on my `69 CL350 and the end is near!! Hat's off to anyone who's painted an entire car because a motorcycle is about all I can handle!!!

Everything was stripped down to bare metal or plastic, filled a few dents, then shot with sealer and high build primer. Then about 10-12 hours of sanding and the 2 base colors were applied. Then 2+ coats of clear and probably 20 more hours of sanding with 800 grit. I had a few runs to deal with and didn't want to break through the clear so the sanding was very tedious.

Now I have a few areas to touch up with the base and give it 2 final coats of clear. I'm hoping I can get it to go on at least as good as a factory paint job. I really don't want to cut & buff. Too many curves and corners for that.

Oh yeah, I was also able to sneak in a steering wheel each for me and Jeff. I used Ford Wimbledon White for the bike so I figured it was a good time to get a nice automotive finish on our steering wheels. So the Honda has a little Ford in it. And I'll have to admit there's a little Chevy too. I had them match to Chevy Engine Enamel Orange as it's a pretty darn close match to the original Daytona Orange (which you can't find a mix code for).

BIG thanks to Patrick for helping me get it this far. I'm doing the final clear over at Jeff's place so I can be in his ghetto garage trying to avoid blowing dirt and bugs. I also made a stand for each part so I could have good access while spraying the clear. My last attempt had everything hanging from clothes hanger wire. Being on a stable platform should be much easier.

Hoping to have it all ready for the W. Seattle Junction show.

Lookin good. Lookin real good. But, it doesn't count as work until you have three zeros in the man hours of sanding. LOL Can't wait to see it. Larry:BEER:

Looks great Kenny!