An Agrentina Build With Great Detail
Dino Maltoni of Mendoza, Argentina sent us this build of a Kawasaki Zephyr 550. Below he tells us in his own words about the build.
Basically it had to cut and to manufacture a subchasis to measure since originally it brings a base of chassis type delta, to be able to give a more retro aspect and at the same time to obtain lines more according to a racer cafe. Glass of artisan way conservando a.aspecto similar to the one that brings of factory but of minor dimensions. To the same one was introduced to him a double light back light. In the front we adapted a copulino somewhat modified, was placed semimanillares, the whole painting was painted with powder paint as it came from the factory. Was made tailor made escapes and stainless steel. The pinto with a combination of green trikes and a kawasaki engine was given a glossy black color. The upholstery is also handmade which combines different textures and threads.
A Build From Down Under
Our friends from down under sent us this build. Andrew Cathcart sent us this. Check out the video below, the photo, and the info.
- Chassis – Genuine 1981 900 MHR frame heavily modified with narrowed steering head angle, repositioned engine mounts, shortened seat hoop and all surplus brackets removed. Relocated lithium ion battery now sits alongside dual twin-fire coils under tank.
- Engine – Vee Two Ritorno Twin in 992cc (94 x 71.5mm) form featuring bathtub combustion chamber, 45mm inlet/40mm exhaust valves, ported and polished cylinder heads, forged billet slipper pistons, lightened and balanced crankshaft, pressure fed close ratio 5 speed gearbox, and dichromate plated magnesium covers, fueled by Keihin FCR41m flatslide racing carburettors.
- Bodywork – Vee Two Imola short circuit race tank (100mm shorter than original in length) with modified Imola replica fairing and one-off seat fabricated from three separate items.
- Paint – Genuine “Greenframe” green colour-matched to genuine ’74 750SS. Modified Mercedes silver. All custom decals supplied by Underground Designs.
- Wheels and Tyres – front: 17 x 3.5”, rear: 17 x 5.5”. Wheels are alloy rims fitted to original bevel hubs via stainless steel spokes – all made by Spoked Wheel Services. Tyres are Pirelli Phantom Sportcomp – 120/70 front, 180/55 rear.
- Suspension and Brakes – Front: Öhlins FG511 43mm forks originally supplied on the Ducati 1098S, with Brembo M4 forged radial callipers operated by Brembo RCS 19 master cylinder. Rear: Öhlins 36PL twin piggyback shocks and axially mounted P34 twin piston caliper.
- Electronics – Powered by Motogadget m-unit microprocessor controller replacing all fuses, relays and massively reducing amount of wiring. The m-unit controls the Motogadget Chronoclassic multi-function display speedometer/tachometer, JW Speaker twin project-blaze disc LED bar-end indicators. The ignition on the engine is controlled by an Elektronik Sachse digital contactless system originally developed with Brook Henry.
For more pics, visit their website.
See A Cafe Racer Build Start To Finish!
Marc Roissette sent us a time lapse video of the entire build. Below is a story behind the build, in his own words.
I bought this GSX 750 last year as the other owner had some issues with it not running well and also a fuel float / leak flooding the cylinders. I was able to negotiate a fairly good deal on the bike and this is where the project started. After picking up the bike and getting it home, I decided the first step was to sort out the carbies and get the bike running to have a sense of things I needed to change before going into the modification side. After a strip down and re-build of the carbs I found the last person to build͟d had left some parts out causing 1 of the two issues.
Watch his time lapse video to see the entire process.
The second problem to solve before getting it running right was tank pet cock not closing when shut off causing constant fuel drain into the engine. I installed an inline fuel tap to solve this issue in the short term. Taking it down to a track day in stock form and cutting a few laps I decided the whole front end needed replacing as the front suspension was like a trampoline and the brakes were wooden and just did not stop in the way I wanted, the rear sets were rubber and had no feel and the exhaust did not have the note or look I wanted, it was also time to re-jet the carbs and get some nice K&N filters. The bike went home and was stripped back to just the frame, engine out, carbs off and front end off to the shelf. The frame was then taken to with a grinder to remove all the old and un-used tabs to clean up the look of the bike, a new rear hoop welded onto improve rigidity and sent off to be powder coated. After searching around for a GSXR front end locally I was unable to get the parts required which would have made for a nice easy front end bearing conversion. I was though lucky enough to get a Ducati 996 front end off a good friend at Vendetta Racing which then needed some more work to the frame to get it attached due to the 35mm head stem.
Whilst all this work was going on a tail piece was ordered from Norway and I manufactured seat pan and tail plate to store all the wiring, battery etc and have a seat pad made up. Once completed the tank and tail piece were sent off for paint in a scheme I had designed in photoshop.More parts were ordered for the bike such as new chain, sprockets, rears sets, levers, gauge cluster, filters, short throttle and others to get the look and feel I wanted for the bike.
The wiring harness was stripped back to bare and re-run causing some minor headaches as finding a workshop manual for a GSXF 750 was near impossible! Once the freshly powder coated frame was back the install of parts could start once again. First the engine was re-installed after a good degrease and clean then the wiring harness fed through the bike before the rear swing arm was re-attached. Getting the new front end on the bike was difficult without the required hoist to lift the bike up but I was able to use a step ladder and some bike tie downs to get the job done. With front end on the bike was stable and rest of the work for re-assembly could be completed. Once the wiring harness was all re-connected to controls it was time to balance the carbs. Now this is tricky, being my first time working with in line carbs I was a little clueless as to how to go about the task, after much time spent looking through a manual for a Bandit 600 and youtube videos I got the basics sorted out and balancing tool on the carbs to complete the job. After about 3 hours of work on and off the balance and pilots were adjusted a level that worked and the rest of the parts could be installed!
A Father and Son Building Together
Spencer Ashburn wrote to us about a project that he and his dad started together. The two watched all our Cafe Racer TV videos and from that experience they were inspired to start building café racers.
“We loved the idea of taking everything off the bike and making it go as fast as it could for starters, but then to add to the style of the bike to make it our own design. To go along with that we made the bike with whatever we had laying around the shop. We embodied this idea about two years ago,” said Spencer.
What started out as a father and son bike build turned into a father and son bike collection.
“We both found that we enjoyed working on bikes and creating our own design but we also loved working together and adding to each others ideas and visions. We loved it so much that we ended up having Friday bike nights, where we would spend the remainder of Friday evenings working on the bikes and grilling out. My dad, Troy, started as a mechanic and is now a painter. So we do have some tools to work with, but we don’t have this big elaborate shop with all the tools in the world.
We made this bike with a couple of hammers, a torch, a welder, and some hair brained idea that we could make a bike of our own. Although this bike isn’t completely finished. It still needs to be pulled apart and properly cleaned and painted,” said Spencer.
That didn’t stop the two from showing it off at the Slimmey Crud Run in Wisconsin, where it drew a lot of attention. Net, they took it to Rockerbox in Wisconsin and put it in the show, and successfully cameg away with a win.
“This bike may not be the simple café racer that you may very well know, but the café racer isn’t just about the bike itself, it’s the history behind the bike in how you made it your own. It’s how you took the bike and made it faster and better then the next guy. And if you were to ask me, I think this bike embodies that to the fullest”, Spencer told us.
See all the steps they took in making the bike the way it is at www.trash-works.com
Watch the videos of their bike “Evolution”.
Cafe Racer Build – Lotta Work, Not a lotta money
This build comes to us from Cosmin Andrei. Below he talks about the build in his own words.
Our names are Cosmin and Paul. We are the guilty dudes that started this. My friend Paul had in his garage a Kawasaki GPZ 500s in good condition (just ugly from our point of view). We wanted to transform it and didn’t had the money to get it transformed in a professional workshop. So we started in my garage with only one thing in mind (make it a WAR ZONE CAFE RACER :P) (we love cafe racers…This made us want it) We stripped it completely, sandblasted it, and ordered parts that we needed. After sandblasting,came our biggest challenge…modify the frame to look like we want! (it came out in one week the way we wanted it)
The preassembly was also a challenge. We dropped the idea of having the original cooling fluid tank and came up with the idea of using a military Aluminum bottle instead. We tried to get some of the cafe racer/scrambler/army features on it,while hiding the cables as best as we could. A big delay was due to the construction of the seat. It was built by us, with a fiberglass base + seat spunge and leather. Favorite features: Cooling fluid tank, exhaust, seat and tires: Biggest challenge: The Frame
They did the entire build for $1,100. Good job guys!
Cafe Racer/Scrambler Build
This build comes to us from Phil Tornado of Austria. He took an ’81 Yamaha SR500 and turned it into a mix of a Cafe Racer and Scrambler. He bought the bike in Germany and did the entire build himself, cutting the tail of the frame and the fender to get the Scrambler look.
Ton Up Tuesday
It looks like a new generation of Cafe Racers, and we love it! Frank Marcus, a sports teacher in the Netherlands, led this project. He wanted get students interested in learning to build. They just presented bike at the Interclassic Show in Maastricht. This school project not only got these 16 and 17 year olds interested in the technical part but they fell in love with the nostalgia (and loved all the attention) they got showing off this Cafe Racer. They had 7 offers on the bike. But, since it wasn’t built with money in mind, they turned down the offers and preferred to enjoy it. “In short, we achieved more goals then we had in mind,” said Frank.
Below is an excerpt in Frank’s words about why they wanted to do this and why he led the project. There are so many great builders and bikes but it all starts in a shack or garage ones. I find the whole Caféracer and Scramblerscene to be very sympathetic. Here it’s not about the money but about making cool bikes, as it should be… We can not compete with a professional builder but with the funding we had (max 2000 euro all-in) we were able to make a cool bike that is worth wile showing.
I selected 5 students who were motivated to be in this project. For the built we used the knowledge of Marcel Schepers, who is owner of Schepers Motor Design. He is known for building very nice bikes and currently has some Kawasaki w800’s in his shop that he rebuild into
cool scramblers. His latest project is a flat tracker that he is building for the Glemseck meating in 2016 in Germany. For the saddle and bag we could rely on Jowi Paulissen. He is a local magician with leather, makes saddles, baggs and all kinds of upholstery. For the paint job we can thank local garage Beckers who painted our tank for free.
This project is meant to show kids that working in the technical sector can be fun. We are losing a lot of interest from our youth in thisstudy and line of work and with this project we try to show that it can be a great education and that there are a lot of jobs to be found. The two students that worked on the bike André and Floyd, have been busy grinding, measuring, bending, making brackets, painting (exhaust), brake revision and more. Fenders, metal plates on the side, saddle plate and several brackets have been hand made by these guys.
The engine itself we left untouched, we found this 34 year old XJ650 with only 8000 miles on the counter. If its reliable we don’t temper with it. Thanks Frank, keep up the good work!
Want to win cool stuff?
Hey, we are asking you for your help and yeah, we are willing to bribe you a little. Help us promote our live webcast coming up next Tuesday, Feb. 2nd. and you can win cool Cafe Racer TV merchandise. We are giving away things like t-shirts, dvds and helmets, goggles and gloves both before the event and during.
What do you have to do to be eligible? Just promote the event. We’ll pick random winners who like, comment and share the event. We’ll announce the winners during the live event. (You must be present to win).
We want to bring you these webcasts to connect Cafe Racer enthusiasts with professional builders for all kinds of topics. You tell us what you want and we’ll deliver.
#CafeRacerTVLive
Learn tips for buying a vintage bike – ask questions live
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Here are some of the prizes.
Long Sleeve Logo T-Shirt
