The Rebirth of a Honda CT90: Part 7 - Are We There Yet? Almost!

Did anyone ever read the J.D. Salinger story where one of his characters threw a rock at a girl just because she was “that pretty” (See: “Raise High the Roofbeams, Carpenters”)?  Well, I’m not going to throw a rock at my bike, but it’s seriously that pretty. 

 Before the Bolting Up the Wheels:

Enough with obscure references.  We have put some serious hard work into this bike in the past few days.  Everything is painted, sanded, refinished, and just about ready to go.  I had thought painting was going to be the tricky part…….

I had ordered a headlight assembly, taillight bulb, and fork boots from the local Honda store here in Nashville.  Those arrived yesterday.  I had also ordered a seat cover that arrived about three days ago and looks wonderful.  Seriously, if you are doing a project like this and have salvageable foam in your existing seat, it is much cheaper to order a cover than an entire new seat (I paid $25 vs. the $90 I saw for an entire seat).

 Bolting Up the Handlebars:

Here we go.  We ran the fuel line from the tank to wherever exactly it is that fuel line goes (I’m kidding it’s the carb….right?),  attached the seat to the gas tank, then the gas tank to the frame.  We had already mounted the engine on the frame, thank god.  Now came the fun part.

Filing the Rust Away:

More Filing the Rust Away: 

It was not easy getting the forks to go back into the triple tree (but my god they looked pretty with those new boots on).  If I said before that they were reluctant to be removed, cramming them back in there was no picnic.  It involved lots of filling and yelling and banging of hammers, but finally, painfully, both front forks slid into place.  Imagine a similar scenario with both the front and rear axle.

 Front End Installed: 

At the end of the day I was very, very happy.  My bike now has both wheels and is at this very moment leaning on it’s own kickstand looking beautiful.  I actually sat on it this morning while drinking my coffee just to enjoy what we had accomplished.  Oh please, let it run as good as it looks.

 Sans AirBox:

It's Getting Close: