New Owner with a few stupid questions

[Insulinboy]

Okay back story. Friend of mine's dad had a Honda Dream before she was born and sold it when she was born to keep from getting hurt on it. He got sick a few years back (ALS that wasn't diagnosed till a few days before he passed) and she wanted to get him another one to restore before he died. Unfortunately it didn't happen but she decided getting a smaller model she might be comfortable on (she doesn't currently ride) would be a nice tribute to have in the garage.

Long story short Friday I found the perfect bike, Honda CA95E Bently Touring model, Complete, not a whole lot of rust but doesn't run $595. 6 hours later it was in the garage and in teardown mode.

We are not terribly worried about historical accuracy and as long as the bike still looks fairly legit as far as fenders and the general look we are happy. Plans are olive drab paint and since most of the chrome is pitted and rusted now we are thinking a brushed metal look for most of the shinny parts (she's always been into old military vehicles)

We would like to ditch the 6v system for a 12v and looking at the bike I used to ride an old CM250 custom and it seems like the engine could be shoe horned in there (and it was a single carb twin as well) but I would like to know if anybody has tried this before and if it is even possible? I know some custom work would still need to be done, but it seems like a way to have a more reliable engine (I remember having points in some of my older bikes and having to play with them almost every time I went out) so that if it sits for a few weeks and she decides to take it out it will just fire up, and as well it would have the ability to attain highway speeds more efficiently (the road right outside the drive is a 65mph road, it just seems a bad idea when that is MAX speed for the vehicle to be on the road with it)

[Hoosier Tom]

The roads and traffic we deal with today are nothing like the roads and traffic that was around when these bikes were designed and built. I've owned , ridden and rebuilt three CA95s and one CA160 and they are nice little around town bikes, but they are not highway bikes. Leading link front suspension and small single cam drum brakes are not designed for high speed stopping, especially for inexperienced riders.
Now that I am off my soapbox anything can be accomplished with enough time and money. There is someone else new to the site that wants to do a 12v conversion on a CA95. Maybe you two could work it out together. I suggested he try the twins site, www.hondatwins.net .

HT

[Insulinboy]

Appreciate the link, and yes I hadn't thought about the fact that it had drum brakes. And ironically I used to work on cars and always told people they should make sure the vehicle can stop before they try to make it go fast or put bigger wheels on the vehicle.

Thanks for the heads up, on the brakes and on the other forum :)