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17 Posts
Hi from Edmonton, Canada. I think I made the last two-wheeled commute of the year today, and with the end of the riding season it's time to get serious my winter project. That would be the CJ360 I've had kicking around since 1980. After I rode it avidly as a teenager and 20-something in the 80s, it spent most of the 90s and 00s in an open-sided shed. In 2012 I came back to riding after a 20 year pause, but it was on a newer, larger bike. I finally hauled the old CJ out of the shed in 2013 and brought it back to roadworthy condition so that my teenage kids could learn to ride on it, but none of them really took to it. I've thought about selling it often, but all that time in the shed wasn't kind to it cosmetically, and I knew I'd never get more than a few hundred for it - not enough to offset the bit of sentimental investment I still have in it.
Which brings us to the fall of 2017. I wanted to spend $1500 or so on a running bike that I could clean up over the winter, and either flip in the spring or keep around as a "guest bike". Unfortunately the money just isn't there because we're still paying off our daughter's August wedding. The good news is I now have a son-in-law who rides. He's interested in cafe racers, so I've decided to spend my meager funds on a cafe rebuild of the 360. I know the purists out there among you are cringeing; I've resisted the idea myself for a long time. Honestly though it's no prize of originality already, and it's just a white elephant to me as it is. So my mind is made up, and I have a hump-back seat and frame hoop on order from E-Bay. I'll put up a build thread when things get going.
This seems like a friendly and helpful place, so I'm looking forward to drawing on the collective knowledge, and maybe add a tidbit or two of my own. Maybe I'll even get the cussed thing to idle properly!
Here it is in its original livery and a layer of farm dust, circa 1982
![Land vehicle Vehicle Car Motorcycle Motor vehicle]()
This is around 1986 in the new paint I chose for it.
![Land vehicle Vehicle Motorcycle Motor vehicle Mode of transport]()
Which brings us to the fall of 2017. I wanted to spend $1500 or so on a running bike that I could clean up over the winter, and either flip in the spring or keep around as a "guest bike". Unfortunately the money just isn't there because we're still paying off our daughter's August wedding. The good news is I now have a son-in-law who rides. He's interested in cafe racers, so I've decided to spend my meager funds on a cafe rebuild of the 360. I know the purists out there among you are cringeing; I've resisted the idea myself for a long time. Honestly though it's no prize of originality already, and it's just a white elephant to me as it is. So my mind is made up, and I have a hump-back seat and frame hoop on order from E-Bay. I'll put up a build thread when things get going.
This seems like a friendly and helpful place, so I'm looking forward to drawing on the collective knowledge, and maybe add a tidbit or two of my own. Maybe I'll even get the cussed thing to idle properly!
Here it is in its original livery and a layer of farm dust, circa 1982
This is around 1986 in the new paint I chose for it.
