{"id":48862,"date":"2018-12-22T01:22:04","date_gmt":"2018-12-21T14:22:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pipeburn.com\/?p=48862"},"modified":"2020-04-23T10:51:35","modified_gmt":"2020-04-23T00:51:35","slug":"honda-cb350-tracker","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pipeburn.com\/honda-cb350-tracker\/","title":{"rendered":"AVIGNON AND ON. Volpi Motorcycles\u2019 Honda CB350 Tracker"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/a><\/p>\n Written by Martin Hodgson<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n Once the seat of the Catholic Popes, the fortified city of Avignon in southern France is resplendent with stunning Roman and Gothic architecture; but it also has a rich motorsport history. The Circuit de L\u00e9denon is nestled on the opposite bank of the Rhone and F1 legend Jean Alesi’s father once built Monte Carlo winning rally cars here. Now there is a new man in town, tucked away in a small workshop, Matthieu Volpi builds motorcycles to the most exacting of standards. His latest Volpi Motorcycle creation is this stunning 1972 Honda CB350 flat tracker, designed for the learner who wants it all.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n Over recent years such has Matthieu’s reputation grown that his small shop is bursting at the seams with customer’s bikes waiting their turn for his magical touch. Inside, everything from the latest BMW S1000RR superbikes to old school cool Kawasaki Z1’s line up to be next in the queue. But his passion is for the custom builds that also allow him to show off his creative flare as well as his meticulous mechanical nous. However for this project he had something unique in mind, a flat tracker for the road, built to a very high standard and for a very particular sector of the market.<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n Like many European countries, France places a power limit of 47hp for new riders and Matthieu was looking for a bike that fit this criterion; who says learners can’t have cool bikes too. With his talent for building old Honda’s the CB350 made perfect sense and he managed to track down a ’72 example, although she’d seen better days. But not to worry as once back at Volpi Motorcycle there wasn’t an inch that would be left untouched. The first order of business was stripping it down to a basic roller and getting to work on the frame.<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n All the old rust, oil and grime was cleaned off before the whole chassis was ground smooth, excess tabs removed and imperfections filled. Then the grinder was whizzed into life and the entire rear subframe was cut off and slung to the floor. In its place a new, drastically improved piece was fabricated, with a neat up kick to support the seat to come. Extra bracing was added, new upper shock mounts affixed and then Matthieu constructed an integrated box to store the wiring neatly under the seat. The swingarm also gets some modifications with the heel guards built into the design with Volpi logos for good measure.<\/p>\n