In 1975 I bought the 1971 Honda 450 with a set of "500" jugs/heads and started stripping it apart.  Everything that was stock had to go except for the front wheel, engine, rear hub, speedometer and tack. With all this set aside I ordered a soft tail frame kit and started modifying it to accept the Honda engine and added brackets for the rear fender, seats, etc. The "battery" box between the engine and rear fender in the photo below is a 30cal. ammunition box from the Milan Arsenal with a few mods to hold the battery, rectifier and fuse panel, perfect fit and no one knew it was an ammo box unless I told them. The engine was also customized, I blacked the jugs, carbs and heads with wrinkle paint, took all the aluminum side covers and stripped the clear protective lacquer off, polished them to a near mirror finish and engraved scroll designs into them and glaze filled it with black to make the engraving really stand out. With the grace of a local dentist friend, Dr. "Pete", I had access to a dentist drill with carbide bits, this was probably the first time anyone had motorcycle parts at the dentist office. I used the high-speed dental drills and engraved for several hours, needless to say the whole room was covered in aluminum powder. 

 I bought a 15" rim and had it laced and trued to my hub and put  a 4 1/2" wide car tire, a real piece of meat on the rear at the time. The springer girder front end was ordered and I was ready to get it up on wheels but after installing the girder it sat up like a praying mantis so I had to rake the frame. I cut almost 2" out of the top frame rail, heated the lower struts, bent it up to meet the gap and welded it back. This set the bike at the desired level and really stretched the front end out, I thought it would handle strange in tight turns but it handled great and rode very comfortable with the adjustable spring/shocks on the front and the adjustable soft tail rear.

 The diamond gas tank was the next project, I cut cardboard templates, taped and trimmed until I had the shape and fit that I wanted, transferred the shape to 16ga. sheet steel and welded up the custom tank, oh, there was one more piece of the original bike that I used, the fuel shutoff from the old tank was cut out and welded in.

 The seat came last in the construction, I had already decided on the handlebars that fit the look I wanted, and yes that is a windshield mounted on there. I started mocking up a seat shape with wood to get the position and angle that fit me to the handlebars, after I had the measurements right, I used .112 tempered aluminum and created the main seat frame and also the passenger seat. I designed the style for the upholstery and had a local shop sew up the cover. I stuffed and padded until it smoothed out and sit good, the front seat was about as wide as a stock saddle but the narrow passenger seat was not much wider than the back fender and wasn't that comfortable I was told by my girlfriend, but when you're young and in love you'll ride on anything.

 The paint scheme was accomplished with a base gold metal flake on everything that wasn't chromed, I then taped, masked and airbrushed a dark rich brown glaze for the graphics and hand painted a sunset lake scene on top of the tank with flying geese, this was then cleared with two-part poly. I still own the bike and have it stored away in my barn, although all the chrome has long turned to rust, the paint still looks as good today as when it was done over 30 years ago. Someday,,,,, I hope to put it back on the road.
 

1971 Honda 450

Engraved engine covers, even the damper pots on the carbs got a touch from the dentist drill.
Note the "ammo" box for the battery and electrical components. Exhaust pipes were modified to fit the angle of the front frame struts

Custom diamond tank.
The tack is mounted at the top of the engine and the speedometer is on the opposite side along with the ignition switch. All cable were wrapped with chrome cable dressing. And yes, that is a "windshield" on a chopper, who'd a
thunk it would work?

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