Lovingly restoring the worst bike I've ever ridden.

what Bendernz said ↑

And if you're REAL lucky you might even get 2 bikes out of 3. But that steering head is WAY fucked up.

JJ

A milling machine and a lathe would make quick work of resleeving the inside of that head tube.

Heck, even an insert of the correct length, bearings with a slightly smaller OD and generous JB weld would probably work.

This is just my way of thinking, I would JB Weld those bearings in to the race, finish the bike, ride it around the hood, show it off, take pics and have fun with it. If it gets a little wobbly later on then just pull the forks and fix it right.

That tube has a nice oval shape.

I'll 2nd the JB Weld idea.

Step back take a deep breath. You need to find an old machinist . There are more than one way to fix you head stock up .
and not allot $. Like dog the frame down to a milling machine table use a
boring head to rebore pocket turn an insert press it in and your good to go

So awesome!!

So it looks like the lower portion of the head tueb was cracked adn then welded up again. On they left a gap when they welded the band around the outside of the tube.

I'd throw everything back together. Make sure the fork angle is what you want, spot weld the race to the head tube. Take it apart, then throw in some more weld material in there. Make sure you do not heat it up too much to cuase any weird heat effected pulling.

And I'll third it. This is going to be a fun, nostalgic, low-speed putt-around bike. How many miles did you ride it not knowing about the beer can shim? Put the damn thing back together with just very slightly more care than those who came before you and enjoy the hell out of it.

I like the cut of your jib.

Plus, it will give all of the people following this project a good laugh to see what frightening "fix" I come up with.

See, that's the spirit!

Like I haven't laughed enough already...

Be sure and soda blast it thoroughly before repairing.

Please?

heh, i still say all that jb weld trickery and such sounds like more work than just cutting the bastard off and welding on a different one! but then i guess it would not be as "authentic" heh.

If you use the head tube off another frame (with numbers and a title) that will solve two problems at once for you.


Mike

oser

Two down, one to go.

If you can score the fork and triple trees with the headstock, you've just solved a whole bunch of other problems at once.

cop would pull you over and be like.. "are you sure thats a cb350?"

You may have missed this but believe it our not he has two more Minsks boxed up in the corner of his garage. He shipped three home so he's got a Minsk frame that he can pull a less oval headstock off of. So the cop will just say "WTF is a Minsk?"

no no no. he has to restore them all or whats the point! the three of them need to once more stride those beasts and head off on some adventure! i suggest death valley..and catch a bus back.

Move to Idaho

But at that point why not start over with a different bike altogether? I think this thing is screaming out for a respectful, minimally invasive resto. Once you've put the headstock, triples, forks, and front wheel from something else on it it just won't have the same soul.

Maybe I'm just sentimental.