Around 13 years after our initial introduction, Ellaspede is pleased to present Ron’s 1975 Honda CB360T. Our story with Ron stretches all the way back to the very early days of Ellaspede, back when we were transitioning out of Leo’s house and into our first fully fledged, non-residential space in West End. In fact, this was so early in the piece that we’d only recently put the finishing touches on EB001, also a CB350 twin - a build which would later come full circle and play a key role in EB1279.

So we wind back to 2012, an innocent time for the custom scene in Brisbane back before Premier Campbell Newman made it illegal for motorcyclists to have mates. News was spreading (presumably via fax) of a fledgling event where riders would don their Sunday best, meet up in New Farm Park for some charitable peacocking before cruising through the city, and the Ellaspede crew were keen to get involved. It was at that very first Distinguished Gentleman’s Ride that we met Ron, who rolled in on his ’75 CB360T looking like the world’s best dressed pirate, a talent which he’d later parlay into being an actual extra in a Pirates of the Caribbean film.

Over the years Ron periodically dropped into the shop for events, rides, and to purchase parts for his ever-evolving CB project. Throughout that period we saw Ron’s bike progress through a multitude of custom incarnations, really becoming 100% his own. Fast-forward to 2024, Ron found himself recently retired and juggling a host of projects, with his beloved CB360T torn down and unceremoniously packed away into boxes. Up until this point Ron had done the custom work on his bike himself, or with the help of a friend or two over a beer or three. But with a new state government, too distracted by the influx of Lime scooters to continue determining all groups of three or more motorcyclists as gang, Ron was free to enlist the help of Ellaspede to design, create and build the final iteration of his CB360T.

Ron’s brief was simply to build a reliable, nimble and light weight cafe racer using all of the parts and components he’d gathered over the past decade. Being a fifty year old vehicle, we began with a quick assessment of the engine. The bike had undergone a top end rebuild in recent years and had good compression, and everything inside looked nice and tidy, but we wouldn’t be able to determine a whole lot more until it was back to a fully assembled state.

The next step in that process was to marry up the front end and swingarm that Ron had provided, which after a bit of research were determined to be off a 1990 Kawasaki ZXR250. We were able to spec up a few new bearings and mount up the front end with relative ease, however the forks themselves would require a full refurb and rebuild once the fabrication phase was dealt with. The rear was a little less willing to play along, as the alignment of the front and rear sprockets was unfortunately way out of whack. After having no luck sourcing a dog-legged chain, a mounting spacer was machined up and welded to the sprocket to offset things out and keep the alignment laser happy.

Another piece Ron had earmarked for the build was a nice vintage Honda tank he’d sourced from a swap meet years earlier. The tank itself was around one and a half times the length of the original 360 fuel unit, which had a desirable effect on the riding ergonomics by positioning the rider further back and allowing a more balanced, sportier stance. The cowl that came to us on the bike was once an old Suzuki TS tank that Ron had chopped up and repurposed. It worked quite well visually with the larger, slightly boxier new tank, so with a bit of a tidy up and mounting adjustment it was reincorporated into the new build. A round chrome POSH tail light that Ron purchased through Ellaspede some seven or eight years ago (does that count as vintage?) was fabricated snugly into the rear of the cowl.

The remaining fabrication dominoes fell relatively smoothly - and with the seat, exhaust system and general bracketeering finalised we had a raw silhouette ready to get running. A few remaining parts were replaced with off-the-shelf upgrades - a fresh Mikuni VM32 carb set up, new braking components, and some YSS Bravo Series shocks to provide a smooth ride whilst maintaining that classic twin shock look. The old girl had no issue firing up and revving out, but it was evident from the very first test ride that the clutch wasn’t gripping like it used to. New parts were sourced, but after trialling several different clutch packs, various combinations of steels and fibres, nothing felt 100%. Once we’d exhausted all of the new parts we could throw at it, we decided that it might be time to start throwing some old parts at it. Enter our old friend EB001, still standing guard in the Ellaspede workshop after all these years, and despite not being kicked over for many a moon, still possessing a perfectly functioning clutch. The entire clutch basket was swiftly pillaged and frankensteined with the most desirable of the new springs and plates, and the slipping issues were resolved.

With mechanical function sorted, the bike was once again torn down for paint, powder coating and all other final finish processes before the official reassembly. Of course with a 50 year old bike, there’s always another pothole lurking around the corner, so when the old CB threw a charging issue at us it was all taken in stride. The wiring had already been relaid, so the issue was chased back to the rotor and resolved. Final tweaks and extended test riding were carried out on the local mountains and confirmed that the bike is a pleasure to pilot - but more importantly, this bike was a pleasure to build - for a friend we’ve known for such a long time now, since the opening of Ellaspede’s official workshop stretching through til now with over 1300 custom bike projects in the books. This bike has been a welcome trip down memory lane, reminding us of where we started, how far we’ve come and all of the awesome people who’ve been a part of the journey - and if anyone happens to have a 1971 CB350 clutch basket squirrelled away, let us know! It could be the beginning of a decade-long friendship!

Albums we listened to during the build of this bike:

Build Pricing & Enquiries:

For build and pricing details or to discuss commissioning a custom motorcycle build of your own please email contact@ellaspede.com