Cafe Racers

[Brandon12V]

It's nice to finally see it's body lines.

[Brandon12V]

seat pan still needs upholstered, carbs need sync'd, tail light needs hooked up, etc but it's running!

[nomansland92]

A fried of mine builds them and actually has been on a few of the discovery episodes

[MonkeyMadness]

seat pan still needs upholstered, carbs need sync'd, tail light needs hooked up, etc but it's running!

Dude looks hot,
If it was me (please take this with a grain of salt, and everybody has a diffrent eye and see's something diffrent, please take no offense)
I would chop out the tank tunnel and rebuild it to allow the
front of the tank to fall to the spine of the frame. I would bring the weld seem in the front right down to the frame, bring the "line" of the tank down to match the tail better and also allowing you to give the "image" of the frame, motor, and bike in total lower..

[Brandon12V]

No, youre 100% right man. it would look a heck of a lot better bc the tank would run the same line instead of tank angling up. we did have to cut and re-weld the backbone but I don't trust my welding skills well enough yet to change the angle. it's such a crucial point for structural integrity and frame straightness that I didn't feel comfortable doing it. Good advice though bc it would def look better.

[gearheadE30]

Did you end up going to motogp? I think I spent like an hour under the bridge on the front straight with some other guys from Purdue trying to get some of the sportbike tools to do burnouts. None of them did, but a bunch managed to stall their bikes haha.

[Brandon12V]

lol nope. I was so pissed off bc I didn't finish my bike in time. Going to the race would have been salt in the open wound.

[scabzzzz]

Bike looks good Brandon! Nice job!
I agree wtih @MonkyMadness... but of course you knew this would be a weird cafe conversion from the get-go. You should paint the wheels the same color? Looks neat, what color is that?



As far as my bike, made some progress this weekend. Figured out my bike isnt covered in the Clymers manual. Found the original Honda service manual and it had an addendum to the 76 CB550. GRRRRR..... NO WONDER NOTHING WORKED RIGHT THAT I WIRED UP. Also figured out the left side coil is bad and the starter solenoid doesnt work. Otherwise, bike fires right up. Installed pod filters, and now I need jets. One thing after anothing man! Sheet!

[Brandon12V]

thanks Scabz! The color is Battleship Gray. To be honest I don't know what color I'm gonna do the wheels. They're so ugly, IMO, that you can either go black and try to hide them.... OR embrace the ugliness and go with a crazy "out there" color. Spoke wheels aren't really an option without at least one deep pocket. I'm looking into a possible spoke wheel swap from a virago but it still require some decent modification.

[Str8 Rippin]

thanks Scabz! The color is Battleship Gray. To be honest I don't know what color I'm gonna do the wheels. They're so ugly, IMO, that you can either go black and try to hide them.... OR embrace the ugliness and go with a crazy "out there" color. Spoke wheels aren't really an option without at least one deep pocket. I'm looking into a possible spoke wheel swap from a virago but it still require some decent modification.

That virago wheel swap isn't really worth it IMO. I'd black them out. The front is super easy to get a front spoke rim on but the rear is a bitch to find the right virago hub that will fit. Only 2 guys on the xj forum claim to have done the swap with minimal modification. The other 3 or so guys built there setups from the ground up, Like converting to chain drive.

[Lof8]

I'm headed more the bobber route. New bars and paint.


sweet dented gas tank^

Its got lowering shocks in the rear and i've got 2" drop springs still to put on the front. It should be sitting pretty low when it comes off the jack.

[samurai pizza cats]

dont know exactly what model this is but i found it parked outside my friends job. Do want tho.

[Lof8]

Off the jack!

[Brandon12V]

nice work man! I love it

[mrmckie]

dont know exactly what model this is but i found it parked outside my friends job. Do want tho.


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Harley Davidson Sportster thats been "bobbed"..thats what i want to do when i get a bike, "bobber" style is they shyt to me..

i like cafe racers as well. No crotch rockets for me..unless its a ducati or ktm 1190 rc8...hmmm