Hello all.
I thought I'd take a few minutes to share with you my build.
It's been a dream of mine for a few years to build a cafe racer, despite not having my motorbike license. Last year I finally took the plunge, did my test, and 2 weeks later I picked up a '78 F2. The bike was in fairly good shape, but the price was very good also, Im sure some people would probably rather have seen her restored to standard (including the guy that I bought her from).
I work in motorsport, which means I don't really have a huge amount of spare time to actually build or pencil ideas down, so a lot of my inspiration came from builds on this forum (namely Tweakin, and a build I saw on YouTube).
My plan was to build a 'year 1' bike, with some tried and tested ideas borrowed from other builders, and then take some time to ride her. After that, once I have a good feeling for the bike, and have had more time to think about how I would like the bike to evolve, then I will begin to make changes.
The seat was a pre made item, by Bedlam Werks. I bought it to save me the time of making one now, plus with a pre upholstered seat pad, it's a pretty easy solution for starters. But already I think it's too long, and slightly too tall, so 'year 2' will see me making something of my own.
I decided to directly take the plunge and convert her to a GL1000 front end, mainly because I felt that spoked wheels was what I would always want on the bike. Sourcing an F1 rear hub for this was difficult, but eventually I found one through this forum.
The engine hasn't had any work, just a few coats of Wrinkle Finish paint to try and tidy it up a little. The plan will be to eventually fit an 836 kit, and overhaul the gearbox etc at the same time.
And eventually I will come up with a more striking colour scheme for her. I went with black for now, just so that it looks clean.
Thanks for looking, any suggestions will be gratefully received!
Stuart.
