Topic: Who is building a Cafe?

[Swede]

Thanks, I found the tank for cheap on ebay and figured I would use it as my test subject.  Unless it looks perfect on the bike I will probably just get rid of it.  I just like the looks of the 750SS tanks on these 550's.

ProTeal great work on your bike, I've followed your posts and you have done one hell of a nice job.

[Lumbee]

750SS tanks on these 550's

...and just exactly how does one go about doing that?  I have thought about putting a 750 tank on a 550, but the mounting point up at the neck seems to small for the 550, at least the 78k tank I have is to small.  Any info on this appreciated...

[edosm]

I'm working on a 1975 CB750F ...
In the Rough Stages now,  But so far Gas Tank and Seat are replaced with Fiberglass pieces. Also reworked all wiring and placed the dummy lights in Cafe Seat inorder to hide it. In the process of Replacing Oil Bag. I Attached ClipOn Bars and Just about cut off any piece of metal not in use inorder to save on weight.   

[Jinxracing]

Edosm, I really like your tank/seat combo. What kind of tank is that? Is that tailsection the Vesco "Big Butt" from Airtech or another one?

Looking good!

Jim

[Geeto67]

Edosm, I really like your tank/seat combo. What kind of tank is that? Is that tailsection the Vesco "Big Butt" from Airtech or another one?

Looking good!

Jim

The tank is a DOHC cb750/900/1100F Supersport style tank. The more important question is Where did he find it in fiberglass? I have seen plenty of drag tanks but that looks like a stock tank.

[DarkRider]

Wound up changing some of the ideas planned for my K but these changes were after talking with Proteal and El Cheepo.

New plan as follows..

GL1000 Front end
Drag style handle bars
Rearsets either mounted on the pass rear peg location or in that general area depending on what i determine for a comfortable riding position.
Airtech or BCR Cafe seat
Aluminum DID rims front and rear along with the Dual disks gained with the GL swap.
fuse box replaced with more modern blade style fuses for ease of replacement under Cafe seat hump.
Custom headlight set up (Pro Teal and El Cheepo know what i have planned here)
and the list goes on...

[Dougy Dougy Dune Buggy]

I'm restoring a previous Cafe Build!! found it on craigslist for one dollar-No Lie! and he lived 3 miles from my Dads house
just got 1976 400F bars..super low and a nice recoverd seat, top end is coming off next for re-ring..i got a line on tires also
but i have to go 19" front and rear so Dunlop TT's , 2.75 front and 4.10 rear is what i'm going for
Thanks for listening
DWYJ
p.s. sorry, photobucket won't let me access my albums, tomorrow i'll post pix!!

[paulages]

i love my 750, but i think the 400, 500, and 550 have much more graceful lines, which lend themselves well to the cafe style. the 750 was certainly the forerunner to the modern superbike, but ain't exactly nimble or light. that said, i'll probably rebuild my 750 K3 along the lines of a track racer. here's my 550F:

[edosm]

The Gas Tank is for a DOHC Honda CB..(Fiberglass) company is F.R.P..they build fiberglass Tanks for race bikes.. Can't give ya to many details..because I got it off a guy who was parting out a Bike.
As for the Fiberglass Seat..no markings listed..A swap meet special that just happen to fit in the measurments I needed in order to put in the Electronics and Battery in.
I'm thinking it's for an old vintage Kawasaki.

With the Seat and Gas Tank..by themselves is about 10 pounds if that...a real light setup.

[Dougy Dougy Dune Buggy]

Hey Paulages, very inspirational & i agree with you on the Cafe-ness of the smaller CB's
Here's mine, slow but worth it because it had all these Cafe pieces already by the previous
owner
Here's pix of mine...last one is before it goes on the lift and motor comes out
DWYJ
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[paxtonpony]

Rhonda750f - Very cool.  That's exactly what I've been planning on doing with my seat.  My bike came with a nice paint job already so I wanted to use the stock tail section.  Seeing your bike confirmed my thoughts on it looking good.  Down the road project though, still got lots of engine gremlins to hammer out for now.

Paulages - That 550 is gorgeous!  Well done dude!

[Namba1032]

Hi there, Oddly enough Im restoring an old 1980 CB 650 Custom in a cafe racer style. This is my first bike. It was sitting in a friend of mines yard for a while and he was going to get rid of it. It ran fine, just looked like hell. I figured considering it had brand new tires on it I would fix it up a bit and just ride it to save money in gas and have some fun not to mention the price was right, free. Well truth be told, Im way to anul for that and tore it down to the frame. Then one night while I was doing a little research I came across some pictures of SOHC4 Cafe Racers. From that point on it was decided.

 Check it out. Theres still a lot to be done, but hopfully over the winter I can scrape enough money together to get it done right.

Click the picture to see the build

[KB02]

1976 CB750Fwith '75k Motor (or so I beleive).
Clip-On Bars
Modern controls
Home built bump seat
Pods
Dropped stock 48 tooth sprocket for a 41
Side mount plate holder

The pics are as it sits right now. What I still have to do is:
Lower headlight and gauges (they just stick up too high).
Finish body work (knee inserts in tank? What do you all think?)
Paint
New blinkers (winkers) front and rear
Dyna Ing.
And Fork seals
Possibly rear sets.

[ProTeal55]

I know my new project isn't a SOHC bike, but it is along the lines of a Cafe, so here goes:
1973 CB450 Twin
Bike has allready been lowered 4'' in the rear, and 2 1/2'' up front.
Gonna spray the wheels black, along with some other odds and ends on the bike.
Either gonna keep the original tank thats on their (decent shape) , or run a CB200 tank I got commin from Ebay.
Other tidbits call for a completely scotch-brited motor and trans case, with black oxide bolts and hardware for contrast, cut down clip
on bars to keep an overall "tight" feel to the little bastard, Fiberglass cafe seat that will hold the battery and all electronics for that no sidecover clean look I love, clean/smoothed top triple-tree with NO gauges, modern master cylinder with a drilled rotor and stainless lines, custom made velocity stacks, etc.The exhaust is prob. gonna consist of me removing the stock mufflers (Honda part so they are going on Ebay), and prob. just run the headerpipes in black headerwrap. Gonna drill LOTS of "speedholes" , and try and make the bike as light as possibile while still having it safe to ride...

Turning out to be a fun little project...
Here's how it looked as of Thanksgiving 2006 ----->

I will keep my thread on this project in the "other bikes" forum updated as progress takes place on the build...

[Geeto67]

Well, since you asked...Here is my current cafe ride:





I must confess I didn't build her, a friend of mine did but he sold it to me a couple of months ago to buy a ducati supersport. It is a really neat looking bike but she lived outside under his ownership and has a little NYC street rash in the form of a couple of rusty brackets, the paint is peeiling off the engine cases, and the rear brake sticks when it is warmed up. Sorting her out totally and then she is going to replace my 75K as the daily rider. She is far and away the fastest cb750 I own right now but that will change as soon as I finish this:





Some of you may know I bought a whole bunch of old drag racing speed parts for cb750s. This is the frame to which I will throw a lot of crazy speed parts on. Seriously 1036ccs, a magneto, aluminum rims, magnesium FCR carbs, RC engineering drag pipe, Ohlins shocks, RC swingarm, Goldwing front end...the works. If I could find an old drouin supercharger (that I could afford) I would do that too. I am hoping for 100 hp at the crank.

[Jim F]

Well my Frankenstein is this,


836 kit with lots of head work. (178 psi cranking pressure) and porting


Yes I have to run a mix of race gas and regular gas but with the ard magneto system I might not have to anymore ( love the smell of race gas in the morning)


Heavy valve springs with bronze guides

street/race cam     great mid to upper RPM punch

CR carbs with individual foam filters that have the velocity stack on the inside of the filter

ARD magneto ignition (thanks Terry) sorry for the belt screw up

oil cooler

re bent jarden header with a race only Vance and Hines canester

 Dunstall faring kit with the tank, seat, and rear sets. and an extra CR 750 replica seat

swiss cheesed the rear brake hub

Yes I have to run a mix of race gas and regular gas but with the ard magneto system I might not have to anymore ( love the smell of race gas in the morning)

A magura radial type master cylinder for stopping power

If I ever get the time to hook up the Magneto and fire it up I will post pictures

but this is my baby .......................enjoy all

[Black Hercules]

 KC! I also have to say that you did a great job on your bike. Good Luck with it. Raul

Heres my 76 K.

Running aluminum DID rims
'98 Katana master cylinder with braided stainless line plumbed direct to caliper
KZ 900 tailight on self made light/plate bracket
Seat pod off of ebay

 I STILL need to get my seat covered     I did fab up a pad out of some foam and leather(not pictured)....just to keep everybody from asking where my seat was. Now all I hear is.......Not much padding there 

Will probally do a repaint on it over the winter. I thought I wanted the green but it has lost its appeal.
Wanting to get a chrome Kerker 4-1
Rear sets
New shocks for the back
Polish the front fork lowers
Rebuild front caliper and powder coat
etc,etc.......



This is what I started with.......

[mlinder]

I am as well.
Sorry for the #$%*ty pic:


Planned work:
New seat
Cutouts on the stock tank
New wheels (these are a bit rusty)
Opening up the exhaust, painting it.
GL front end
paint tank
change out oil tank (to fit beneath carbs)
clean up electric and battery (going under seat)
Shocks (1" longer to lift backend up and decrease rake and change turn in characteristics)
different brake light

I'll be buying another 750 engine.
Plan on sending the head to MRiek.
Cam
836 or bigger
Bigger vlaves

Drop built engine in this frame.
retro half fairing (http://www.airtech-streamlining.com/vintage/vintagefairingshalf.htm the ric3)
paint fairing

/edit actually, going to go with this fairing. 400 bucks with windshield and nose cone! Cheap!


starting pic


Yes, I know it looks clean in the photo. It wasn't.

[riktaboy]

Here's my 400F, it's in the process of getting the engine built up and put back together right now.
But Hondaman redid the rear swingarm bushings for me and did an excellent job and was great to work with.
I put bigger pistons in it and a hotter cam from Kevin at Eaglescall, who has been great also, along with getting the head flowed.
I have the carbs left to modify and the front end, I would like to add dual brakes...

[riktaboy]

workiing on

[riktaboy]

maybe the pics will work this time

[riktaboy]

and a 76 KZ900 in the process

[Black Hercules]

 Hey Geeto67 killer cb! I saw this bike on NYCVINMOTO in the pic gallery, but now that I see it again it's incredible. 

Well, since you asked...Here is my current cafe ride:





I must confess I didn't build her, a friend of mine did but he sold it to me a couple of months ago to buy a ducati supersport. It is a really neat looking bike but she lived outside under his ownership and has a little NYC street rash in the form of a couple of rusty brackets, the paint is peeiling off the engine cases, and the rear brake sticks when it is warmed up. Sorting her out totally and then she is going to replace my 75K as the daily rider. She is far and away the fastest cb750 I own right now but that will change as soon as I finish this:





Some of you may know I bought a whole bunch of old drag racing speed parts for cb750s. This is the frame to which I will throw a lot of crazy speed parts on. Seriously 1036ccs, a magneto, aluminum rims, magnesium FCR carbs, RC engineering drag pipe, Ohlins shocks, RC swingarm, Goldwing front end...the works. If I could find an old drouin supercharger (that I could afford) I would do that too. I am hoping for 100 hp at the crank.

[Black Hercules]

 DME very nice!

Will do some engine work on my cafe. Porting is on the menu 
Will also do some cosmetic work when the engine is out (polishing and zinkplating).

Just had the first snowfall last night so I guess the riding season is over
Time to bring out the snowmobile

Cheers
Dan

[chung]

1976 CB750A frame w/RC 970cc engine and a 1975 Companion sidecar (Bingham) w/Rickman bodywork. About 8 years into this project, although I put it together once a year and take it for a ride