[:es]Normalmente cuando quieres hacer un proyecto Cafe Racer o de modificación de la moto, te sueles ajustar a un presupuesto, pero en este caso Alex Sailer, el dueño de esta Honda CB350 de 1969 le encargó la modificación a Cognito Moto sin que escatimasen en gastos. El resultado es esa preciosa moto.

La moto la tuvo Alex parada durante mucho tiempo, pero se encontró con la Honda CB550 Cafe Racer de Coginito Moto, se enamoró y decidió encargarles a ellos la modificación de su CB350.

Cognito es conocida por sus Sportsbike modernas usando motos de época, así que no fue una sorpresa cuando la primera pieza que se montó fue la horquilla delantera que se coge de una GSX 750R del 2006. Las abrazaderas las consigue de la fábrica de Suzuki dándole ese aspecto tan agradable.

En la abrazadera superior se coloca el cuentakilómetros Motoscope Mini, esto hace que el manillar y toda la parte frontal quede muy limpia. El cableado se ha quedado bastante más reducido y limpio gracias a la unidad de control Motogadget M-Unit que es alimentado por una batería de 8 celdas Shorai oculta bajo el depósito. El arranque se ha actualizado. Para terminar la electrónica se han añadido un conjunto de interruptores de botón de Motogadget que se han ajustado a los clip-ons de la marca Woodcraft.

La parte trasera también ha sido recortada y minimizada. Se ha añadido una suspensión de una Ducati Monster S4R que fue elegido para que coincidiera con la estructura tubular del chasis. Las luces son insertadas en el tubo en forma de U que cierra el chasis. El asiento como es costumbre en ellos, es tapizado a mano y a medida para la moto.

Debido a que la rueda trasera es más amplia, el accionador de embrague se actualizó con un cable que tiene un sistema hidráulico con el fin de despejar el piñón delantero. Decidieron usar la rueda trasera Marchesini de la Ducati. Como no quieren usar ruedas no coincidentes, usaron una rueda delantera Marchesini a juego que fue cogida de la GSX-R. El juego de frenos de discos es de la Ducati.

Y por último, el motor. Se tuvo que reemplazar el tensor de la cadena que estaba desgastado, así como muchas otras partes que no estaban en buenas condiciones. Para el escape utilizaron un Mikuni de 30mm para darle un toque más moderno a la moto.

Y este es el resultado final, algo que no deja indiferente a nadie.

La Honda CB350 Original

La Honda CB350 tiene un motor de 325.6 centímetros cúbicos con dos cilindros en paralelo, de cuatro tiempos creados por Honda para modelos de los años 1968 hasta 1973. Con su motor fiable y carburadores Keihin duales, se convirtió en el modelo más vendido de Honda. Más de 250.000 fueron vendidos en cinco años, con 67.180 vendidos sólo en 1972. En 1968 fue la moto más vendida en todo el mundo. La CB350 evolucionó durante su ciclo de producción con cambios estéticos y mejoras en la suspensión y los frenos.

Hubo barias modificaciones de escape y componentes para crear modelos Scrambler o Cafe Racer.

Una Honda CB350 con estilo cafe racer y con un escape de una CL350 se utilizó en 2011 en la película Los hombres que no amaban a las mujeres.

En 1974, la Honda CB360 sustituyó a la CB350, pero sólo estuvo disponible por dos años.

Especificaciones Técnicas de la Honda CB350

[:en]As anyone who has ever customised a bike will tell you, the unavoidable and omnipresent ‘money versus dreams’ equation is a hard one to crack. There’s what you want to do, and then there’s what you can afford to do. Most mere mortals and their bank accounts would run for the hills at the mention of a customised swingarm and all the expense, fiddling and  testing that comes with it. But not Washington’s Alex Sailer. He grabbed his dream by the horns and asked Viginia’s Cognito Moto to spare no expense. The result is a Honda CB350 that spares no coolness, and an owner that now has no spare time thanks to his newfound biking obsession.

The bike started life in Japan as a ‘69 CB350 before it found its current owner, Alex. He rode the bike in stock form for a while, but deep down he says he always wanted to do something custom to it. Then he stumbled across Cognito Moto’s CB550 build and was instantly hooked. And as Alex is located right outside of Washington DC and Cognito Moto is located in nearby Richmond, he reached out to talk about customising the bike. Smart guy.

Devin Henriques, the owner of Cognito Moto, welcomed the challenge and started shooting the poop with Alex to decide what direction to go in. Cognito is known for their modern sportsbike front-ends on vintage motorcycles, so it was no surprise when a USD front end was the first piece of the puzzle to be solved. It was sourced from a ‘06 GSX-R750 and was tied to the frame with a custom Cognito Moto stem pressed into the factory Suzuki bottom clamp. It was then finished with another custom billet top clamp and a Motogadget Motoscope Mini that’s been machined right into the surface. Nice.

Along with the Motoscope Mini, there are a plethora of other modern electronic goodies adorning the build. The wiring is all tied into a Motogadget M-Unit and powered by a Shorai 8-cell battery hidden under the tank. The ignition has been upgraded with Probe Engineering’s single-fire system as well as dual Dyna coils and a HotShot charging system. To round off the sweet electronics show, a set of Motogadget push button switches have been strapped to the Woodcraft clip-ons.

Riffing with the modern theme up front, Alex and Devin decided to swap out the rear of the bike as well. After much thinking, a Ducati Monster S4R single sided swing arm was chosen to match the tubular frame. That, and the fact that the Duke arms look so damn cool. With all the added suspension components, they both knew frame modifications would be in order to increase structural rigidity. The original factory spine was removed and replaced with 2½” mandrel-bent tubing. Then the newly designed rear frame was tied directly to the backbone to accommodate the original S4R strut linkage system. With all the hard work done, a Cognito Moto LED brake light loop and a custom upholstered seat were used to wrap up the rear end.

Due to the wider rear wheel, the clutch actuator was upgraded from a cable to a hydraulic system in order to clear the offset front sprocket. They decided to stick with the Marchesini rear wheel from the Ducati, but they also knew that they didn’t want to run mismatched wheels. So a matching Marchesini front wheel was adapted to the GSX-R front end by using a set of Ducati brake rotors and spacing out the calipers to accommodate the larger rotors.

And lastly, the motor. It ran great before the tear down, so the boys focused on rebuilding the top-end to replace the worn-out chain tensioner as well as all the other usual odds and ends that would need replacing. Then a set of new 30mm Mikuni’s and a custom slash-cut exhaust were used to round out the motor and to give it a little bit more bite.

Then end result? A bike that wears its ‘less is more’ aesthetic like a Samurai wears his sword. It’s modern. It’s retro. It’s café. It’s street fighter. But most of all, it’s damn cool.

The Original Honda CB350

The Honda CB350 is a 325.6 cubic centimetres (19.87 cu in) OHC parallel twin cylinder, four-stroke motorcycle produced by Honda for model years 1968 through 1973. With its reliable motor and dual Keihin carburetors, it became Honda’s best-selling model. More than 250,000 were sold in five years, with 67,180 sold in 1972 alone. In 1968 it was the best-selling motorcycle worldwide. The CB350 evolved during its production run with cosmetic changes and improvements to the suspension and brakes.

Like its predecessor, the CB77 Superhawk, the CB350 was also offered in scrambler form, as the CL350, with high-mounted exhausts and a 19-inch front wheel, and as the SL350, with upswept exhausts and off-road styling.

A black café racer-styled CB350 with an up-swept CL350 exhaust was used in the 2011 movie The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.

In 1974 the Honda CB360 twin replaced the CB350 but was only available for two years. Note: The four-cylinder CB350F, introduced in 1972, was a completely different model.

Specs Honda CB350

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