Start getting ready for the new wave of "cafe" bikes... I was just at the "artistry in Iron" motorcycle show in Vegas a while back - (it's a builder's invite only show 25 people - winner take all - 25k, builders vote nobody else) It was during the middle of bike week. Never seen that many bikes and bikers in my life....
Anyway, my buddy showed up with an old Kawasaki that had no more than $7500 dollars in it TOTAL - 5k was in the wheels alone, so the majority of it was done with old parts, fabricated parts and a bunch of elbow grease. After talking to all the other builders about pricing and the costs associated with the flooded custom motorcycle market, they were astounded at how little his cost to make. BTW, his bike got the 2nd most votes from the builders and it was built in about 5 weeks time... Needless to say, the topic of CB750 and cafe style came up several times by several builders who normally will have 20k - 30k in parts etc. (not even counting all of the labor) as a way to actually make a profitable bike that could be sold to somebody who wasn't made of cash. The late 60's early 70's vintage style is very hot with the premier builders now and for the last 5 years or so....don't think it's going away anytime soon. It harkens back to the old hot rod days of the 50's and 60's where nobody had any money, or shiney new mail-order catalog parts to work with. You made it faster and more unique (style-wise) with your own brain and ingenuity. Just in the last year and a half I've noticed - at least in the Dallas-Ft Worth area of Texas that CB750s just don't come up for sale very often anymore..... I'm on craigslist almost everyday and I check the papers about half the time as well. They are getting bought up and becoming more scarce. Buy 'em while you can....the secret is out.
As for Carpy and his style, he wasn't there back in the day, but he was at the right place at the right time for bringing them back....southern california. Not all his bikes are built at the same level of craftsmanship etc....it just isn't profitable to do that for him. I think he even had a spot and won something with one of his cafe styled bikes at the Oakland roadster show (that's a BIG deal) a while back.... He's not exactly my style, but I like most of what he does.... I've looked at his site more than once....
Anyway that's enough rambling.... here's my latest project - I'll have less than 800 bucks in it by the time I'm done...labor is free and so is elbow grease..
Cafe style - who knows? Still need to resolve rearsets & bars. This one is a cafe/bar bike..... The racier style will be my next project. Don't you wish you had a time machine to go back and buy up some 750's ?
