Photo of the Week (POW) - Jay's Custom 1972 Honda CB350

Jay's custom 1972 Honda CB350.
Nikon D80 with 18-200mm VR. 2x SB-800 flashes to
camera left and right. Click here for the lighting
setup. Note the umbrellas were used to keep the
flashes dry, not to diffuse the light

Pretty cool bike, right? You'd be forgiven if you parked this old custom beauty in a showroom and charged people $0.25 just to see it. But Jay is a biker first and this is his daily ride. In fact he rode it back from Mods vs Rockers Chicago last summer, 850 kms in 14 hours.

His project began in 2002 when he wanted to buy a couple wheels from a crashed bike but ended up bringing the entire bike home for not much more. She was destined to be a parts bike but Jay saw her beauty past her broken fork legs and non-functioning engine. After about a year and a half of major and cosmetic surgeries, she was reborn and granted the license to stroll on the roads once again.

Chicks dig his bike and many have asked to pose with it for photos. It's inspired at least two women to get their own vintage Hondas! "I can't go for a ride in the summer without at least one person giving me the thumbs up or yelling 'Cool bike!'" exclaims Jay.

(More after the jump)

Chicks dig Jay's ride. He can't go anywhere without getting this kind of attention
Nikon D80 with 18-200mm VR. 2x SB-800 flashes to
camera left and right.

A cool sidenote is that his bike was featured in a music video by Canadian country singer, Beverley Mahood in May 2008. His bike was pampered by being trucked to Sandbanks Provincial Park, three hours east of Toronto. Beverly doesn't ride so a stunt double was used for the riding scenes. Between takes Jay spent the day cleaning and polishing her (the bike) and advising the crew on how to make the bike scenes authentic. One of his vintage helmets was also used for the shoot. "It was a great experience"












Jay's parting words:

"It's been a very rewarding experience restoring, maintaining and riding my CB350 and I look forward to many more years of doing so. I recommend every motorcyclist to buy an old junker and get it running. There's nothing like the satisfaction of riding a bike that you built yourself."

Jay gave me a list as long as my left arm of all the modifications he'd done. Leave a comment if you'd like to know more about the bike or Jay.

That's a pretty cool bike, Jay. It must be nice to have brolly girls come right up to you.
Nikon D80 with 18-200mm. 2 SB-800 flashes to
camera left and right.