steampick
Member
My little group of 40+ year old friends and I are in the middle of an increasingly interesting build. Here's what we've got so far, and I've got one safety issue I wanted to bring up.
Okay, we've taken a 1972 Z50 tube frame (it was from a softtail Z50, 1972 being the first time Honda introduced the softtail), then added a CR80 (circa 1980) swingarm onto the back, and put the CR80 front forks onto the Z50 triple tree. The CR80 bascially has the forks from a 1980 and up CT, so the mods needed to get that on weren't that advanced. In fact, we even managed to put the old Z50 fork ears on it! Again, a hacksaw and grinder were needed for that.
Now, the thing is ready to have it's engine dropped into it, so we've been coasting around on it sans engine to get a feel for it. It sits very high, what with the CT70 rims we have on it, and your knees are right up to the triple tree top plate, whereas with a CT70 you'd have to be waaaaay up on the seat to have your knees touch the top plate (I'm 6'1"). There is quite a bit more clearance under the engine too, which would be good for watery areas.
Of course, the seats on these Z50 frames were adjustable, but by simply dropping the seat, you actually would be raising your knees up and making the bend at the ankle a bit more extreme (and uncomfortable). So we thought to perhaps also move the seat back while moving it down, thus placing the rider's weight more directly over the shock mounts. Which gets to my safety question: Would doing this on a frame not meant to have the rider's weight right over the shock mounts be risking shock mount warpage; at least, would it greatly increase the risk?
Naturally, pics will be forthcoming, but probably not until Sunday.
Okay, we've taken a 1972 Z50 tube frame (it was from a softtail Z50, 1972 being the first time Honda introduced the softtail), then added a CR80 (circa 1980) swingarm onto the back, and put the CR80 front forks onto the Z50 triple tree. The CR80 bascially has the forks from a 1980 and up CT, so the mods needed to get that on weren't that advanced. In fact, we even managed to put the old Z50 fork ears on it! Again, a hacksaw and grinder were needed for that.
Now, the thing is ready to have it's engine dropped into it, so we've been coasting around on it sans engine to get a feel for it. It sits very high, what with the CT70 rims we have on it, and your knees are right up to the triple tree top plate, whereas with a CT70 you'd have to be waaaaay up on the seat to have your knees touch the top plate (I'm 6'1"). There is quite a bit more clearance under the engine too, which would be good for watery areas.
Of course, the seats on these Z50 frames were adjustable, but by simply dropping the seat, you actually would be raising your knees up and making the bend at the ankle a bit more extreme (and uncomfortable). So we thought to perhaps also move the seat back while moving it down, thus placing the rider's weight more directly over the shock mounts. Which gets to my safety question: Would doing this on a frame not meant to have the rider's weight right over the shock mounts be risking shock mount warpage; at least, would it greatly increase the risk?
Naturally, pics will be forthcoming, but probably not until Sunday.
