They say that restoring a classic bike is a journey, but few journeys are as long as this one. The story starts a couple of years back, when Antonie stumbled across a bona fide barn find via a friend in the States. ?The CB350 was in Texas, with cobwebs and bugs nesting in the carburetors,? he says.
?I had it shipped to Dubai where customs took forever to clear it, because they didn’t believe the value was only $750?what I had paid for it. It was in such a bad condition that when they eventually opened the crate to inspect it, they cleared it the same day without question.?

The CB350 comes stock with drum brakes, but Antonie upgraded the front end with refurbished parts from another barn find?a GB250. The GB’s Tokico caliper was rebuilt with new seals, fittings and paint, and hooked up to a new Goodridge line. The fork stanchions were re-chromed, and the lowers had their cast marks filed down before being re-painted and rebuilt. Antonie also had the GB triple trees machined down to fit the CB’s neck, and installed tapered bearings.
?I really like the slump curve of the GB250 top triple,? says Antonie, ?so I had to go with it once I’d seen it. It gives the front an old school vibe without giving itself away.?

All that remains of the Honda’s wheels are its hubs. They were cleaned up with new bearings and seals, before being laced to new rims with oversized stainless steel spokes. The fenders are old mild-steel items that Antonie re-formed on...