1973 400 CR

I know, right? Looks more like a motorcycle showroom than a workshop.

Yeah, I remember when my garage was clean.

that was when it was built!

haha, i thought this before scrolling down

Thanks for the kind words about the shop. It sure is nice to have a place for the bikes.

Here are a couple pics of the custom, super trick, unobtanium bowl nut. The quality is amazing. There's lots of case clearance and plenty of room inside for fuel to get to the main.

The intake does have some angle to it, but maybe not as much as in some of the photos above. I didn't consider having the angle increased (duh) until after I had the bowl nut project underway. Also, The intake-carb-airfilter alignment was really good, so didn't want to mess with it.

Built the Ohlins today. They came out right on the required 4" wheel travel. Valving is a total WAG but easy to adjust. Nitrogen piston is inside the body tube.

bike looks killer man ! good luck with your build. you do nice work.

Great build this. What length shocks are you using?

They are 14-5/8" center-to-center. That's 371.475mm to you smart guys across the pond.

Is that with the stock length forks?
Aren't the stock shocks 12"

The bike is to be AHRMA legal, so it's restricted to 4" rear and 7" front travel.

I have no idea what the stock lengths are, but I'm a bit longer in the back. The frame has Vintage Husky's geometry mod so the required length increases a bit, and I'm trying to pull the rake in a touch to get a more modern feel. There is still exactly 4" rear wheel travel but it sits a little higher. The unmodified fork measured almost exactly 7" travel. It's possible it's not original, but it's pretty close if not.

Well, darn it. Couldn't get the chain clearance I was hoping for. Going with a temporary outboard mount for now so that I can ride the bike, then will make another round of final changes including new shock mounts. It looks a little (ok... a lot) Mickey Mouse. Actually, the shock angle is good but I don't like the obvious makeshift look. I'll clean it up eventually.

Bummer, sweet bike and I'm sure you'll get it straightened out eventually.

How about screwing the preload adjusters closer to the top and installing a spacer at the bottom thats about 1-1/2" tall, and 1" smaller in OD than the springs. Hard for me to tell but would that be enough to move the spring above the chain? You would only get the shocks 1/2" closer to the wheel with this mod but it may be sufficient.

GREAT IDEA!!! And... have already tried it. With the clip at the top, the spring collar is at chain height. I'm going to leave the Pro-Fab arm as is, and instead cut up a '75 arm that a friend is selling me. It's about 1" longer anyway.

I'm still plunking away on this. Ended up cutting and re-welding the lower shock mounts to make the Ohlins "correct." And still need a few parts.

Anybody have the 3 metal "straps" that hold the airbell to the frame? Those have been IMPOSSIBLE to find! If you can even loan me a set I'll have some made.

Should be able to make them off of a set of drawings. I can trace the 3 off my 450 mk and post a PDF with dimensions. The part numbers for two of the three are different on the 400 from the 450 due to the length so you would have to compensate for that. Let me know if drawings would help.