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1970's Santee CB750 chopper in the works

Stabler

CB750 Addict
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I'm back. I just can't stay away from these old Honda CB750 choppers. It's an addiction.

A couple of weeks ago I got the opportunity to trade my wifes XS400 for this gem. A 1970-ish CB750 Santee Rigid Arm Chopper (as Santee called the frame back in the day).

I traded this:
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For this:
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Looking at all the sweet parts on this Santee and the fact that I didn't have to pay the other party of this deal a single penny makes it all so much sweeter.
It's a non runner as of now. The PO mentioned that it ran on 3 cylinders in May this year, but it didn't start when I found him. I had my brother in law to perform a compression test on it (since it was located some 520 miles from me) and that gave 150 psi across the board. Done deal.

When I got it home I found out that all 4 carb intake rubbers were cracked from over tightening and all 4 plug cap wires were taped to keep them together. Also the battery was dead.
New coils, wires, caps and spark plugs are done as well as a new battery is done and as soon as my new intake rubbers arrive I'll fire this bad boy up.

The things I'll do to this Santee is giving it a Ness digger-style rear fender, 18" rear wheel, new grips, new pipes, loose the speedo and tach, new narrow six bends stainless handlebar, maybe another thinner seat, some 1970's turn signal indicators and some fresh golden flake and candy red paint. I'll clean up those cluttered handlebars as well and get som 1970's switches instead of the junk that's on it now. Oh - and I have to redo the whole wiring harness 'cause that shit's a mess as it is now.
Not as big of an overhaul as when I built my Amen from the ground up.

So when I'm not changing diapers or heating baby bottles, I'll be out in my shop wrenching. This means updates here might be scarce. Good times!

Stabler - out.
 
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I got set up in my chop last night. I don't have enough room for both my choppers, so I'll have to ride my Amen over to my folks place for the winter, to have it stored indoors. This is where I'll be at when I'm not tending to my little ones or the Mrs.

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I also got to pull my carbs. Doesn't look terrible, but will need some new gaskets, some tweeking of the floats and new float needles and jets.

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The Santee electrics box on the other hand.. Damn. I'll just have to gut this and start over. Oh well. Winter is long and cold anyways.

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Seems like a nice trade to me. Why did they want the XS400? Because it was running? Did your wife not ride the 400?

I'm curious to see what the bars look like that you plan to use.. It already looks better with the old ones off. :twocents:
 
Travis - my wife rode the xs400 but when I showed her the ad on this one and told her about how I wanted to remake it she said sure, make the trade.
The guy that had this Santee didn't know one thing about motorcycles. When he bought it in May this year it ran on 3 cyls only but the previous owner sad it would an easy fixer up. Only problem was, the buyer couldn't grip a wrench at the right end. So it just sat. And he tinkered some with it, until it didn't run at all (ergo ran out of power in the battery trying to get it to start).
He was so fed up with it that he just wanted a registered, inspected and running bike. I actually didn't think he'd bite on my mrs xs400, so when he did and didn't want any money on top of it, my jaw dropped. And then I came to my sences and made this deal happen.
My wife is as happy as can be since she'll be riding an original Santee CB750 seventiees chopper next summer..
Now I need to get it running in a hurry before I buy to many new parts.
 
Regarding bars, I'm debating on wether to go wit a real narrow set of six bends or a semi narrow set of tiller style bars.
I really love the digger look it gets with tiller bars, but I think it's to high and to short to work as a digger. Might be six bends after all.
 
Well it sounds like that worked out for both of you then. He got a running bike that he can ride now, and you got what you wanted. It doesn't sound like it should be too much trouble to get back on the road. Have fun with that electrical! :D
 
HA. Thanks Travis :laugh:

I pulled all wires today. I have to start over fresh. I need a new solid state reg/rect, but that shouldn't be to hard to find.
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Got a potential girder front end in the works, will try and pick that up this week to see if the rake and length gives it more of a digger stance or what. It's a good friend of mines, and he'll let me try it out before I decide if I wanna buy it. SUPER stoked. I'll try and get some pictures of some sort of mock up later on this week.
 
Ya Travis. It just doesn't seem ti flow with the frame. It pushes it up and keeps the front wheel to close to the frame for my liking.. And it needs a new stem to work with my Honda neck.. Lot's of tinkering to get it right. Dunno yet..
 
This is what I'm thinking of.. But I think my trail will be shot if I rake the front end to where I want it.

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Could the trail be fixed or at least closer to where you want it by making new connectors for the girder? I'm not sure what they're called but I'm talking about the links between the trees and legs.
 
Girders are the most forgiving front end when it comes to front end geometry. The are more forgiving then springers. They can take a lot of rake and still be stable. I dont think you will have an issue on that frame...but you wont know until you try it.
 
I've heard that all 4 connector links needs to be the same length for the girder to work properly. Hence no change in trail, Travis.

You think so DD? I might shoot this a try anyways. Needs a new stem still and I dunno if I should have one made just to try it. It costs quite a bit here in Sweden..
 
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