Riding or building a bike can seem a lonely game, deserted in the shed or solo in the saddle. But it doesn’t have to be, as with everything, it is better when done with mates. Meet Kasper Andersen and his lovely CB, the fourth bike to feature on the Bikeshed from the third pair of hands that share the same workshop. Kasper used to tinker with old Porsches and Volkswagens with Jesper, boyfriend of Bikeshed Heroine Helle. Jesper was the first of the space sharing trio to roll two wheels instead of four through the door with his Cb400, this was hotly followed by Helle and herGN 250 and gorgeous Creme Diamond. Now Kasper has kept up the quality of the output, loosing his first build onto the streets of Copenhagen, a city boasting the Wrenchmonkees and a complete grasp of the custom ride vibe.
The 1973 CB350 rolled into the workshop in a sorry state, the pervious owner had attempted to implement a cafe racer conversion, the extent of which involved messing up the Keihins, a bar swap, ill conceived knee indents and a coat of rattle can black. Nothing met Kasper’s standards so he started from scratch. “I wanted something that stood out but still retained a somewhat original old school look”.
He started by cutting the rear of the frame and adding a kicked loop fabricated from flat iron. A new custom seat was manufactured by friend Helle under her new seat building venture Bang Seats, the ribbed brown unit sits snugly within the revised parameters. We can only hope that in this case she did not tear the leather from Kasper’s sofa as she did with her own XS250!
The botched tank needed replacing but alas the replacement found had also been treated to a self spray. After dipping the new tank in acetone Kasper discovered the lovely 70′s avocado green scheme that had been scrubbed back to accept the boring black overcoat. A fruitless search for the original colour codes led to a different approach, “I carefully sanded the tank down all over still keeping the original colour, then I painted the original decals right on the tank and coated it with 5 coats of clear..”
CB450 forks with period shrouds and upgraded springs improved the suspension and lend the front the old school look Kasper craved. The style defining Firestone Deluxe tyres in 4.00-18 and 4.50-18 were picked up new and cheap but created a dilemma after fitting.
“I used a couple of days staring at the bike and found out that it looked like it was hit from behind.. I then knew i had to extend the rear swingarm 2.5″.” Kasper undertook the alteration and achieved perfectly the proportions and dynamics he was looking for.
The original CB350 headlight was deemed too cumbersome so was replaced with the smaller and cleaner unit from a familial CL175 and given a European yellow tint. Tommaselli vintage grips and bars take care of the bike/rider interface.
With the fruits of his labour meeting his visual approval Kasper took the machine out for a well earned spin, “I drove it for 2 days.. And then what.. I found out the engine was shit.. Instead of rebuilding the engine completely I found a factory rebuilt unit 25years old, this engine had the sharper K0 cams.” Kasper then treated the new engine to a set of Mikuni VM30 roundslide carbs and an optical ignition. The bike reportedly now runs sweetly and has lots of punch.
The CB350 is a proven donor for the vintage modified look with bikes from the likes of Untitled, Analog, the film version of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and now Kasper’s incarnation showing how fine the classic silhouette can appear when de-cluttered and tended.
After putting 1500km on the bike in 2 months Kasper decided to put the bike up for sale through the Bikeshed classifieds, it sold within 2 days to a lucky Austrian. Now the shared workshop hosts a 71′ XLCH Harley Sportster that is receiving Kasper’s daily attentions. We look forward to seeing which is the first of the trio to get their next build out the door, into the world and onto the Bikeshed. Any thoughts on a name above the door?
via The Bike Shed
