Duke Blackwood

I ditched the screen and pack rack for the club X kick start rally, there was some cool shit there, norton commandos, BSAs, rocket 3s, bonnes and a 1935 triumph single It looks way better, gonna asshole the risers too. This bike may be for sale if anyone's interested...

This bike is fuckin' awesome! I never thought it would turn out this cool! Have you got any idea how much those springs will affect your ability to get warrants? This bike looks like it would suit modern sticky sports tyres and a bright race inspired colour scheme, single cylinder performance YE-YAH

This is gonna be sooo cool! Do you have a plan for the front guard? Will you paint the wheels? This would be one of the faster projects on oldschool too wouldn't it...?

Your bike is definetly faster, but the GB is more nimble than your old Waka even with it's Battle tread. I know it's the internet but you can't just lie haha. We need to get more people in New Plymouth riding Cafe Racers, it's not fair that we have all this fun to ourselves!

Captain Kirk, I'm very interested in a man rebulding CDI's in Whenuapie, if you have any contact details for this dude i'd love to get hold of him. The GB has been released from the Blackwood stable and is now terrorising the small town of Tumbleweed (Home of Duke Blackwood) and the CM is still banned from Dad's shed because it stinks of rotten fuel and is an explosion risk, so I have to work on it outside haha.

Also, white header wrap is kinda gay, and now born loser is gay! Somebody better say something straight soon or we're all in trouble. What is it to 'pine'? How would one know of he was experiencing a pine?

Boys, you are ALL right haha I'm gonna keep frame dimensions and those delightful air filter covers. All I plan to do is get some new mufflers (very open, I dunno what style, maybe dunstalls?) a second seat with a bubble tail, lower bars, diff mirrors, remove clutter MAYBE paint. It needs changing a little, the guy I got it off lived in a rest home, legitimately. He was getting rid of it because it upset his hip! The silly old coot must have been 69+ and when I offered him a test ride on the Shadow he goes "I don't need to test ride bikes, I'm in the Ulysses club and my bro in law is sergeant at arms for the headhunters so if there are any issues I'll just get my buddies to sort it out" At the time I laughed it off like "huh, this silly old cunt thinks he's all 'sons of anarchy" but in hindsight I should have told him to go choke on a cock, threatening me with gang violence?! Me! Duke Blackwood! Anyway if I've still got it in 50,000ks... It'll get cut up then haha

Dude, I freakin love this bike. That tank, paint and seat combo is fantastic! I rode my GB for the first time with no front guard today, those front guards actually do something eh. We'll definetly be swerving to avoid dog shit. Keep up the good work.

Now before anyone starts, I have read the entire “ABOUT TO ASK WHAT IS CLASSED AS OLDSCHOOL? READ THIS FIRST!!” thread. I know some people class ‘Oldschool-ness’ by year, others by chrome levels and others by a year minus ‘Rangi-ness’ calculation. My new bike is Oldschool inspired, Oldschool styled and features Oldschool technology. With this in mind I think it qualifies as Oldschool enough to be mentioned on the forum. I don’t think anyone will argue because EVERYONE loves W650’s and you’re all such a friendly bunch J So here’s my new air cooled, carbureted, bevel driven cam, parallel twin. I think I’ll leave it standard for a long time but I would like to remove the clutter (Risers, pack racks, mirrors, windshield) and open the pipes. I would love to do something like the Deus Blue Swingbob but this bike’s so clean I’d be an asshole to modify it too much. Possible This is the bike I traded for it, it was a good deal.

Gentleman, this is how much motorcycle two dozen Heinekin's can buy... The CM 'Twinstar' has a single carb and is the ancestor of the Honda Rebel line. It was available in a 450 big block model as well. It sold alongside the Honda CD which was a much cooler looking more vintage styled bike. It's not running at this stage, it has weak spark, not enough to fire. I think it is a CDI issue but a new one is $200! I'll put more effort into it once I've finished the GB400 but I am planning to do some cosmetic work. I'm going to have a crack at modifying the tank tomorrow 'cos it's fuck ugly. My plan is to cut off the sides and reverse them, but only along the back half of the tank making knee indents. I'm not sure if this will look cool or not but the tank is full of shit, a decade of rotten fuel and some Fertan that I put in there. Potential... Anyway, i'm after styling ideas. I think i'll do a seat like Chris's Honda CB350 and just cut the mufflers off and call it a day. Maybe flat bars and a vintage paint job too. Parallel twins rule!

Took the GB for a blat today with Anglia4… I might not sell it! It’s so much fun to ride; perilously slow, fantastic handling and shit brakes! It was awesome fun, we were genuinely Café Racing and my license was safe because I top out at 110kmh haha (post a pic bro)

I have delayed making this post for as long as possible because I have been MAD at my little GB. I had the bike running and road legal before the Bikes, Blues & Hot cars show which would showcase the results of the half-assed biker build off Anglia4 and I were participating in. It took so much work and money just to get my bike road legal that it was still slmost completely standard. Anglia4's bike was looking awesome but even on the morning of the show it was in a thousand pieces after being painted. I was riding the GB to Anglia4's place early on the morning of the show to help him assemble his bike. This was only about the third time i'd ever ridden the GB and I was loving it. The bike was developing funny quirks the further I rode and I realised something was not right. The horn stopped working and the headlight, then the guage backlights and the gaues themselves. By the time I arrived, functioing the indicators or brake lights caused a drop in revs which would nearly stall the bike. The GB had a charging issue which later turned out to be a fucked alternator. I could not repair it in time for the show ad had to take my Shadow 750 American Classic instead. I am lucky to have a 2nd bike to fall back on and I was glad that Anglia4's CB pulled it together for a fun day's ride, but the GB broke my heart. I let it sit for a month or so while I sulked and worked on other projects but then I got stuck in. I bought a spare engine and robbed it's alternator. The bike's now running, but I still haven't ridden it as I had the entire rear end stripped off for customisation. I made mini indicator brackets, a side mount number plate bracket, an aftermarket tail light, ditched the guard and grab rail and I'm now ready to re-assemble... But plans have changed, I advertised My Shadow American Classic for sale and a guy offered to trade a Kawasaki W650 with a bit of cash his way. I accepted. The W650 will satisfy my need for a slow vintage styled bike and wont be the money hole that the GB has turned into. So, with only the fun jobs left to do and $1,000 of aftermarket parts which I now have nothing to do with... I think I'm going to sell my GB. I'll take a huge loss on it after all the money I spent vinning ($700) and rebuilding the brakes ($800), fabricating custom made swingarm bushings ($250) and getting two top of the line spanking new tyres ($500). I'll sell it with the spare engine but I think I'll keep all my aftermarket parts for other bikes and sell custom parts separately (Like my refurbished seat pan). If anybody is interested in the bike feel free to enquire, I've only started thinking about this today so i'm not set on a price yet, maybe $2,500? I'll make parts available too once I've decided what i'm going to keep. I'm sorry we might not get to see this bike finished on OS, I'm dissapointed too but it wouldn't be sensible to keep it. You can look forward to two new projects coming out of the Blackwood Stable soon... Pics to come.

Hey Goat that tail is looking awesome! But if you decide to go for the one piece leather look there's a place in Napier called Kimber Charmans Motor Trimmers and they'll make anything on your original seatpan. They're really affordable and you can just send the dude a photo of how you'd like it to look and he'll make it happen. They can put decals on it and stuff too, here's the double seat I've just had done for my GB. But it is always better to build it than to buy it, cool bike man.

Nope, I checked too. It looks wrong eh, like I say, next time i'll just use a rear. Everyone at the workshop was like "No, no you can't put that on, oh, you're wrecking your bike!" but you should see it in person, it looks mean! And it's only good for 120kmh at the mo, how well does it need to handle? haha. Hey I might have to get you to take this in for it's recheck for me...

Oh and I almost forgot, My double seat has returned, re-covered... It is an awesome improvement over the heinous standard double seat. I told them to ditch the grab strap, shave the foam so that it is all one level height and use pleated leather on top. $130 including shipping, awesome value.

So, I failed my Vinn. Shit. But I've almost got her sorted, she failed on: - Loose grips - Swingarm play (Rooted bushings) - Front tyre - Blown lamp - Brake light switch From the top: - He told me to glue my grips but that's gross and those grips aren't long term so i cut the ends off, put horrible end caps on and wired the grips on like a race bike (With help from anglia4) - I've got a race bike machinist dude making me some swingarm bushings from Phosphor Bronze (Expensive) because plastic ones wear out regularly unless you grease your swingarm every ride (apparently) - Front tyre was a pain because I wanted to run a 110/90 but the original guard wont fit and it needs a guard... you'll love my solution to this dillema pictured below. - VTNZ blew the lamp by trying to use my rooted electric start which I TOLD them not to do. Easy fix. - They also stopped my brake light switch working by fucking with it, a tiny adjustment and now it works fine. Mondo 110/90 18 front tyre, same size as rear. Next time i'll put a rear tyre on the front, they have a way cooler tread pattern. Obviously the standard guard wouldn't fit over that, so I made this new guard mount with the help of Dad Blackwood. And used it to mount the hori-est mudguard I've seen on OS. This guard is so Rangi, I almost want to keep it. It's off a KX80. Hopefully it inspires someone to make a dual purpose GB scrambler with knobblies and a really tall rear. That should see me through my Vin reGUARDless. I've been working on my tank decal too, I made up a stencil but it's too big. Unfortunately I'm back to work tomorrow for two weeks, so the bike will be completely standard (Except for that tyre) for Bikes, Blues and hot Cars. My realistic goal is to have it running and legal. That way I'll beat anglia4 by default if he doesn't get his slack ass into gear and put his bike back together! Two weeks Jeff!

Mr Loser beat me to it, your red frame will look tacky without a freshly painted engine! Also, you should install one of these to match your battery box. Then keep Raro in it, don't drink and ride!

So there have been some set backs, my speedo drive cable was broken, but I fixed it. I discovered the backlight lamps for the speedo were missing, so I replaced em. I re-assembled it incorrectly (Missing a washer on the rear axle) so my rear wheel was lose and chain went slack. The bike shop that I wont name (The same place that has twice now reemed anglia4 brutally), where I spent $500 rebuilding my brakes, is now suggesting they might still not be up to Vinn spec and they want two hours to fix 'em at $75 an hour. GRRAAR. They reckon they're gonna sand out my rear drum, but then it might not be within it's wear out tolerances and i'll have to get a new one... FROM THEM! I might stop going there. But anyway, provided I get my bike back today it's going in for it's Vin tomorrow and then I just have to prove I own it, stupid system. My twin seat is in getting recovered, I can't wait to get that back. My little jaunt into the shop was the first time i've ridden the bike and I loved it! It has a speed warning light which comes on at 85kmh... it gives me the heebee daba GB's haha.

Behold the majesty... Anglia4's frame is back from the powder coater's and currently residing in The Blackwood Stable It looks really good, it will be a completely different bike after re-assembly. Battery box mounting platform and no sign of all the old side cover tabs Red bikes go fast, it's just science.

Ok team, it might not look like it, but shit's happening. I've got my new rear tyre fitted 110/90-18 Metzeler Lasertech. It will get the same on the front after the VIN. At first I thought this was the ugliest freakin tyre i'd ever seen but it's growin' on me. It is very, very close to being VIN-worthy now. I just have to bleed the front brakes, install the battery & I might also chuck the rear view mirrors from my Shadow on her to look a little more legit. The one thing i'm waiting on is the seat hook latch I am missing to arrive. I'm buying one from a guy wrecking a GB400 on Trademe. VTNZ have happily informed me that it can pass a VIN as kick start only, YAY! It wont be how I want it in time for the show, but that's ok, it still looks good. As soon as it gets vinned I'll have two weeks to do all the modifications I can. I have a pod filter and exhaust heat wrap on the way from the states, and this baby arrived this morning... BOO-YAH! It's straight open and not bad quality for costing under $100 new! The end cap is removable as well so I can install and remove baffles for warrants...SWEET! I've decided the bike will get a shed job rat-paint before the show so that it doesn't look so standard. I've also been in touch with Kimber Charmans motor trimmers who say they'll recover my bench seat with pleated leather for $150! So then it will look sweet even two up. http://www.trademe.c...px?id=551200881 http://www.trademe.c...px?id=551200881 Here's two sweet finished projects that have boosted my motivation. Thanks for following my build!

Sure thing, I'll need them for my vin but then I'll be putting little ones on, I'll let you know when they're available (hopefully soon)

This is going to be an awesome bike, it's a shame you can't get stuck straight into the fun bits! That racing number on the front of your inspiration looks freakin' awesome, I wonder if you could copy it entirely and encorporate a headlight? Like something Roland Sands would do, he made his cafe racer from a CR500.

Okay that's good, I think i'll run without a guard then. I'll make the original one available for sale once I've put it through the Vin. I'm thinking i'll put a massive front tyre on it, the same size as the rear, to get that symetrical/muscular look. It has a 90/90 18 up front and a 120/80 18 on the rear. I think a 120/80 18 should fit up front and look very staunch, without comprimising the handling too much... please let me know if people have tried this on other bikes and failed? You don't often see a bike with a massive front tyre so there must be a reason people don't do it. Butch, let us know how you get on whet it comes time to relace your wheels. Fat front tyres, matching rear, look good.

Hey dudes, check out the brand spanking new stoppers (If only they had something to stop! I've only ever ridden this thing to the end of the road once!) Don't go falling in love with that Honda Blue, it's days are numbered... Next move, save for a couple of weeks then buy a battery and new tyres. Then save again, Vin, then the fun starts! Anyone have any tyre sugestions?

Hey Lew155 welcome to Oldschool. That's a neat photo you've taken and a cool bike, I'm diggin' the knee pads on the tank haha. Did you ditch the front mudguard or a previous owner? Because I've heard that removing the front guard on a bike of this vintage can adversely affect handling as they act as a fork brace? If you do take the air box off don't biff it as you may find your standard carb won't tune without it. Keep us posted on your progress If any GB owners get a moment, would you mind posting a pic of the fastening hook that latches your seat down? Mine was missing when I got it and I've never seen another? Better yet if you have a spare seat latch ill buy it off ya! Cheers guys.