Flashback: 1975 Honda CB400F Cafe Racer!

Well here's a blast from the past: my old 1975 Honda CB400F cafe racer. I was recently reminded of this machine by my buddy Rick, the local CB400F guru. More on that later.

I don't remember where I got the bike but I'm pretty sure it was cheap. It certainly had a few cosmetic challenges too. I got it when we were at the old house, probably around 2003 or so...? The point of picking it up was to build a low-budget vintage cafe racer.

Anyway it did spend quite a bit of its early time with me in pieces in the enclosed front porch. I got a set of ace bars for it and some headlight ears to drop the headlight down lower. That's one of my pet peeves on vintage Hondas; the headlight sits too high up. I like the look to be long and low, and this is as low as the headlight would go without major mods.

I'm pretty sure I replaced the silencer and I did cut back the rear fender and re-cover the seat. Alloy mini turnsignals got added, as well as a set of "Superbike" grips (didn't everyone have a set of those? At least mine were back and not pink or something).

I didn't do much real mechanical work to the bike. Unfortunately though the "bulletproof" Honda engine packed up with a terminal problem. However the local shop I used (Motor Parts on Arlington Street, long since defunct) came to the rescue with a parts bike that donated its engine to this bike. The parts bike only cost a couple hundred bucks and I even got to keep the frame. The tank might have come from it too, I can't remember.

After getting its new engine the bike ran pretty well and I rode it around town and on short rides out to Headingley. I had fun pretending I was off to the Ace Cafe wearing my leather jacket, pudding basin helmet and goggles. Pam liked it too, especially the flat seat. She said it was her favourite of all my bikes.

My recollection is that I sold the bike around 2006 when I got my Ducati 900SS/SP. Three bikes were too many back then as I had the Hawk GT and no garage. And I was able to re-home the parts bike frame by giving it to Rick the 400F guru. Recently I had to give him a hand registering that frame as part of a very cool custom endurance racer he just finished, I had to swear an affidavit saying where I got it etc. Pretty easy but it was a bit of a pain for Rick to have to do that.

I listed the 400F on kijiji and a guy came from Toronto pretty promptly to see it, he was an airline pilot I think. Anyway I think I was asking $1,500 for the bike and got it - the machine went back East on a railway car. I hope it's still riding around somewhere. It was a good, and a good-looking, machine.

 

Arai Regent-X and More Hawk GT Pics

So after nearly 35 years of motorcycling I've finally bought a premier-class helmet. Don't get me wrong - I've always tried to buy quality (on a budget), after getting my first full-face helmet for $10 at a second-hand store in Brandon, Manitoba (true story but not recommended)...

My first decent helmet was an FM (remember them?) bought from a bike shop on Dundas St. W. in Toronto back in the early '90s. Scott Russell had one and I liked the brand. Since then I've owned HJCs and a pair of really sharp Icons, one of which was originally owned by moto-journalist and Hawk-lister "Double-A-Ron" Aaron Frank. That one was in the memorable "Technicolor Puke" colourway, was given to Aaron by Icon and worn at the launch of the Kawasaki ZX-10R in Malaysia. I said at the time that the helmet will have gone faster on Aaron's head than it ever would on mine...

Anyway I've always been partial to the Arai brand. I think you're either a Shoei person or an Arai person and Arai has always been my favourite - Kevin Schwantz, Mick Doohan and "yer maun" Joey Dunlop wore them and that just about convinced me. So after all these years and miles I finally decided to buy one last year. This is the Regent-X, the entry-level Arai and one positioned by the company as most suitable for "western" (i.e. white guy) head shapes. But even though it's an entry-level helmet it benefits from all of the hand-finishing and quality work that goes into all Arais (have a Google if you want more info about their helmet construction processes).

I've taken a medium in every helmet I've owned and the Arai is no exception (fortunately I was able to try one for size at a local shop) but I bought it online as said local shop couldn't bring in this colourway for me. It's the "Rock Multi" and I love the colours - so bright. Plus you get all kinds of cool Japanese goodies in the box, including some Arai stickers and lubricant for the shield mechanism.

I'm really pleased with the helmet. The paint quality is sublime, the interior materials are luxurious and comfortable - it's just a great helmet. It's reasonably quiet on the road and the fit is pretty much perfect. The only thing I need to get used to is opening and closing the shield - it has a funky lever mechanism that takes a little getting used to. But I'm so glad I bought it.

The first long ride I took in the Arai was on the Hawk GT along my usual 50km route south of the city, with a stop for photos at the usual spot,

What a lovely machine and I'm so happy with how it's come together, The paint looks great and the bike moves along very nicely for a 650cc twin. The last thing I've got planned is installing the CBR900RR shock, the main benefit of which will be to increase the rear ride height a bit. It's needed for sure, as even a person of "average height" like me (!) finds the seat to peg distance pretty tight. But raising the rear will lift the seat and increase that distance a bit, which will be great.

GTI Gets New Suspenders!

Praise the Lowered! My 2024 GTI 380 Autobahn is back from the shop. H&R Sport springs and CTS Turbo wheel spacers are installed and man, it looks good doesn't it?

I'm not sure what it is about stock VWs, but they come from the factory riding like 4x4s. My Reflex Silver MK5 rode high, my Carbon Steel Grey MK7 rode high, and this Dolphin Grey MK8 rode high too - but no more.

My local specialists Speed Factor Racing recommended H&R Sport springs to work with the GTI's DCC adaptive suspension. They were about $100 more expensive than the CTS Turbo set I'd had my eye on, but I'd had H&Rs on my MK5 and they were good, so I went that way. 

The spacers from CTS Turbo were quite inexpensive, came with wheel bolts, and had good reviews. I went with the recommended combo of 10mm front and 15mm rear.

The H&Rs have settled down to pretty much a perfect ride height I think - the car looks really good.

Got the obligatory (for me anyway) country-coded decal on - D for Deutschland. But it's not exactly a decal on the car - as with past cars I stuck the decal on thin magnet material so I can stick and unstick it from the car. Handy when you want to wash the car.

It does look pretty purposeful with the springs and spacers doesn't it!

The 380 Autobahn GTIs only come with a six-speed manual transmission and these pretty fancy gloss black Golf R wheels. 

You can see those meaty 235-section tires pushed out to the edges of the bodywork. I think the MK8 is as good-looking as any previous generation GTI.

Anyway that's it for showing off the springs and spacers. The ride is noticeably firmer than stock and there is ZERO body roll in the corners. So that's the suspension done, save for some adjustment of the DCC damping. Next up? Not sure. The guys at Speed Factor have been talking up the new APR tune package for the car, over 325hp and 390lb-ft of torque, all on regular fuel. That sounds tempting for about $700. Power certainly doesn't come any cheaper than that. I'll keep you posted!

Hawk GT is Done!

Well I reckon the Hawk GT project is done! The panels are back from Brandon the painter and fitted to the bike. I applied the gold striping and decals myself. I think it looks pretty good in the RC30 colour scheme.

The colour blocks even line up pretty well, which was a concern if I'm honest. The gold stripes set off the colours nicely don't they.

I figure this would be a good time to go over all the work that was done, before I forget!

• RC31 fairing, brackets, headlight kit (Facebook Hawk group)
• Bodywork and paint by Brandon Graham, local painter
• Powdercoated wheels (Villain Motorsports)
• Dunlop GPR-300 Tires - 110/80 and 160/60R17 (Fortnine)
• Stainless steel brake line (Facebook Hawk group)
• Rear wheel hubcap (Hawk GT Forum), painted by me
• Clip-on bars (Chinese, eBay)
• F1 mirrors (eBay from the UK)
• Seat cover (eBay, installed by Guy Anthony)
• Battery (Fortnine)
• Fuel filler cap restored by me
• Fork lowers sanded by me, much improved!
• Honda decals (Honda-decals.com); tank wings and stripes (eBay)

This cap is funny story. I posted on the Forum looking for one and some joker said he'd sell me one for $45 or something. Then I got a message from another user offering me one for free. Nice!

The striping was mostly straightforward but getting it round the curves was a bit tricky. Hairdryer heat helped.
 

Here's what we started with last year. Good mechanicals but poor cosmetics. The fairing was all cut up, the PO had trimmed it back to fit raised bars but that meant no top bracket and wobbly mounting...

This was fixed with the fresh vintage RC31 kit, it came with all the brackets and even the original paperwork from Two Brothers Racing, pretty cool.

Takes you back doesn't it! Although I still have a couple things to do on the bike (the horn stopped working, not sure why) it's pretty much done. I had it out for a ride over to my photo spot tonight and fortunately it fired right up with some gas added to the freshly painted tank. Man is it ever tiny though - the seat is so low it feels like a cruiser, next to the R1 or even the Buell XB9R. Fortunately I've got an old-school 900RR shock modded to fit the Hawk GT. My old Hawk GT had a 900RR shock too and it was a great mod, really improved the ride and usefully increased the rear ride height. Anyway I'll likely get that fitted this summer at some point. Then it will REALLY be done :-)

Cheers!

Hawk GT Paintwork

OK so let's get this out of the way right off the hop: painting is expensive. Like REALLY expensive. But it was really necessary to have paint done on the Hawk GT because it was a multi-coloured mess.

Not only are the materials expensive, but it takes time to do bodywork, especially on 30-year-old fiberglass like this Two Brothers Racing fairing. But just look at the result - fantastic.

The gold pinstripes between the colour blocks will be added with tape.

It took a bit of figuring to work out how the lines would work on the tank but I think we got it.

Next thing is to get the bodywork on the bike and apply some more decals. You should see the seat unit, the red looks really good. Fingers crossed that all of the assembly goes smoothly.

 

New Garage Resident - 2024 GTI

A new car has arrived in the garage, a 2024 Volkswagen GTI 380 Autobahn in Dolphin Grey Metallic. The 2018 Audi S3 has been traded in on the first new car I've bought in 25 years.

Why'd I trade in the S3? That's an excellent question. It was a great looking car, handled well and was a veritable rocket. It had all-wheel drive, a comfortable and sporty interior, and nearly all the creature comforts you'd reasonably want. But it didn't have a manual transmission and after three years of trying to get used to the DSG, I'd had enough. Maybe a "tune" on the DSG might have helped with the hunting issues and soft response that drove me a bit crazy, but some news from VAG helped me pull the trigger on the new GTI.

Basically I found out that the model year 2024 GTI and Golf R would be the last of their kind to be equipped with manual transmissions. That's right, after 2024 there will be no manual GTIs. Let that sink in for a second.

Volkswagen has actually commemorated this by producing a "380" edition for the 2024 model year, 380 apparently being the internal build code for the 6-speed manual transmission. And when I looked at the prices of GTI and Golf R Mk8s on the used market (that's model years 2022 and up) it honestly made more sense to buy a brand new one. So I did. 

I opted for the GTI over the Golf R for a few reasons, not least of which was price. Golf Rs are closing in on $55-60K around here and that is too much money to get my head around. A GTI is lighter and $15K less, and the lower-powered 2.0L turbo should do me just fine. The GTI also has a fancy limited-slip differential that takes some of the sting out of losing AWD. And look at those tartan cloth seats!

So far I've put about 200km on the car and have quite enjoyed it. Yes it is slower than the S3 (50hp less and a manual transmission will do that), but the driving engagement is much much greater. And it has some nice creature comforts that the S3 didn't even have (heated steering wheel, looking at you). The much-maligned haptic controls haven't bothered me overly either, they are mostly pretty easy to manipulate. The interior layout is nicer than the Audi's as well - the centre screen is well-integrated and it doesn't look like somebody stuck an iPad to the dash. Interior lighting seems infinitely adjustable - the person at the dealership who showed me round my new car spent more time on that than anything else. I had to figure out how to disengage the electronic parking brake myself. 

Exterior styling I quite like - it's a GTI after all and I don't think they've ever made a really ugly one. The light strip across the grille is cool, the door handles light up and the mirrors power-fold as well as projecting a psychedelic design on the ground. 

There's lots of adjustability in the driving end as well, you can adjust everything from steering response to exhaust sound, as well as the DCC suspension. And speaking of that, why do all GTIs come from the factory looking like jacked up 4x4s??? (look at the fender gap in pics 1 and 2 above, sheesh) Like the Mk5 and Mk7 before it, this car will be getting lowering springs (this time, from H&R) and wheel spacers (from CTS Turbo out of BC). Speed Factor has been tapped for the install.

And a hatchback is convenient! My ice hockey bag fits in there fine but I might have to lower the load floor to get my ball hockey goal pads in there better. VW really got it right with the rearview camera under the hatch release handle. Never gets dirty and always a crystal-clear view.

I'll update next after the springs, spacers and summer tires get put on but until then, enjoy shifting your own gears while you can!