Topic: Best Cafe Racer candidate?

[bill440cars]

              I don't know, I like the CB350 & 400 fours but, I would kinda hate to mess with them myself.
        The 650 is alright, I've never had any dealing with them or the 750. The 750's kinda big for my
        size (5'8'') so, that just leave the 500 and/or the 550. I actually have a 73' CB500K and 2 CB550Ks   
       (a 77' & a 78'). The 500 is mostly stock and the 550s, of mine , are prime suspects. I'm not saying
       that I won't do anything to the 500, I'm saying that I'll keep it to where it could be stock, if
       desired. Later on, Bill

[skidpan]

400. Got to admit I'm biased. Check out mine at http:www.caferace.com/cafepix4.html. Two grainy pictures of a silver 400/4. I haven't worked out how to put my new pictures in the gallery.

[3 sticks]

i pick a 550 because i beleive its got the best balance between power and weight. I can say i have driven all of those bikes on the list ACCEPT for the 650. ive never even seen a 650. only until about 10 minuites ago when i looked it up on google.

cheers, will

[angeldeville]

Got to be the 750F, it is already ugly, ......

Blasphemy!

Sorry, it's unfair to say it is ugly... what I meant was, that it is not as pretty as the K.   

Ha ha.  It's OK.  Both models have their own appeal to my eyes.

he may have meant a K8, those things are an abomination and should be chopped up!

I actually like the "F"'s made mine into a semi-cafe, I like the lines of it, looks a little sleeker than a KO-K7

http://www.sohc4.us/gallery/v/members/personal/angelpena/

[seaweb11]

"he may have meant a K8, those things are an abomination and should be chopped up!"

BITE ME

[seaweb11]

"he may have meant a K8, those things are an abomination and should be chopped up!"

BITE ME

oh yah.......ride and smile

[Terry in Australia]

"he may have meant a K8, those things are an abomination and should be chopped up!"

BITE ME

Yeah mate, what's that guy talking about, the K7 is just as fugly as the K8, ha ha! Cheers, Terry.

[Pinhead]

I say go with the 650. Everyone who has ever done a CAFE bike omits this fine piece of machinery. Not only would you be different than everyone else, but you've got the best technology that Honda put into the SOHC4's. Let's face it, everyone: The CB650, being the last SOHC4 made, is the most modern and the last of our beloved SOHC4's.

[Terry in Australia]

I say go with the 650. Everyone who has ever done a CAFE bike omits this fine piece of machinery. Not only would you be different than everyone else, but you've got the best technology that Honda put into the SOHC4's. Let's face it, everyone: The CB650, being the last SOHC4 made, is the most modern and the last of our beloved SOHC4's.

Naaaaaah.................

[bill440cars]

I say go with the 650. Everyone who has ever done a CAFE bike omits this fine piece of machinery. Not only would you be different than everyone else, but you've got the best technology that Honda put into the SOHC4's. Let's face it, everyone: The CB650, being the last SOHC4 made, is the most modern and the last of our beloved SOHC4's.

Naaaaaah.................

         
                            Terry, I love how you're so open-minded and agreeable about things. Ha!Ha!Ha!
                   One thing about it, no one has to wonder where you stand on issues, huh?

                                                                           Later on, Bill

[nickjtc]

400/4. Light, dead sexy, best looking stock exhaust..... But I do think my 650 would look nice with a bum-stop seat, ace bars and a set or rear sets. Trouble is my old bod wouldn't like the riding position.

[nickjtc]

Let the cafe-ising commence!

[cbjunkie]

i would love to kafinate a 350 - just pure fun - like jr.high basketball...

[nickjtc]

i would love to kafinate a 350 - just pure fun - like jr.high basketball...

Male or female? Playing or watching?

[cbjunkie]

either. watching. or jr.high football...it doesn't really matter as long as they are doing it for the fun of it and for no other reason, and doing it right on the edge of being good at it and with lots of energy.

[nickjtc]

it doesn't really matter as long as they are doing it for the fun of it and for no other reason, and doing it right on the edge of being good at it and with lots of energy.

Good analogy as to how a 350 would be as a cafe bike....!!

[cbjunkie]

...i'm a softy - i still have a place in my heart for the little gold three five oh i totalled in October...

[Sam Green Racing]

I would choose any model except the 400……… the rest of the SOHC models need a face lift 

 

[Terry in Australia]

I agree. With the exception of the mighty CB750, none of the other SOHC's have any real race credentials, (because the factory never intended for them to be raced) so some "Cafe" mods are probably in order. Hell, if you haven't got the "go", you may as well at least have some "show", ha ha! Cheers, Terry.

[Terry in Australia]

Yeah, I seem to remember you pitching the same argument a year or so back about how nothing but the 750 has any race cred.

That's cool though. To quote the dude from the Big Lebowski: "That's just like, your opinion, man"

This classic bikes mag from the UK I read at the bookstore today stated that the 550 is inherently better than the 750 since it almost keeps pace with it in a straight line,  is lighter, etc.

I dunno if I buy that arguement either. But it's obvious you're biased in favor of the big CB.

To me, just because some guys back in 1973 raced 750's instead of 550's doesn't really mean #$%* in the year 2006.

I say cafe what you like. Maybe cafe what other people aren't running. Be different.

If you lined up a cafe CB750 next to a cafe sportster, or a cafe indian, I'd be inspecting the the american bikes, simply because you don't see many of those in that style. Cafe CB750 models are, whether you like it or not, becoming commonplace. This is to their credit of course.

Naaaaah................ The 750's are the only sohc's with any race cred because their smaller siblings were only ever intended as a cheaper 4 cylinder option to the 750's, for the less financially endowed of the time.

If any of the other SOHC's time were seriously considered more competetive, then Honda would have dropped the 750 in a flash, rather than make it their main racing focus for all those years, while the smaller fours' main focus was mostly commuter duties.

If you're an American and you have to drag out a British magazine to back up your argument, then I don't really need to state the obvious, you only have to look at some of Britain's automotive disasters to know that the average Briton's tasts buds are firmly planted in their collective asses, ha ha! Now where did I leave my flak jacket? Cheers, Terry.

[Terry in Australia]

Pffffft!

[cmorgan47]

Yeah, I seem to remember you pitching the same argument a year or so back about how nothing but the 750 has any race cred.

That's cool though. To quote the dude from the Big Lebowski: "That's just like, your opinion, man"

This classic bikes mag from the UK I read at the bookstore today stated that the 550 is inherently better than the 750 since it almost keeps pace with it in a straight line,  is lighter, etc.

I dunno if I buy that arguement either. But it's obvious you're biased in favor of the big CB.

To me, just because some guys back in 1973 raced 750's instead of 550's doesn't really mean #$%* in the year 2006.

I say cafe what you like. Maybe cafe what other people aren't running. Be different.

If you lined up a cafe CB750 next to a cafe sportster, or a cafe indian, I'd be inspecting the the american bikes, simply because you don't see many of those in that style. Cafe CB750 models are, whether you like it or not, becoming commonplace. This is to their credit of course.

Naaaaah................ The 750's are the only sohc's with any race cred because their smaller siblings were only ever intended as a cheaper 4 cylinder option to the 750's, for the less financially endowed of the time.

If any of the other SOHC's time were seriously considered more competetive, then Honda would have dropped the 750 in a flash, rather than make it their main racing focus for all those years, while the smaller fours' main focus was mostly commuter duties.

If you're an American and you have to drag out a British magazine to back up your argument, then I don't really need to state the obvious, you only have to look at some of Britain's automotive disasters to know that the average Briton's tasts buds are firmly planted in their collective asses, ha ha! Now where did I leave my flak jacket? Cheers, Terry.

if i remember correctly, yoshima did pretty well on a bored out 400

[cbjunkie]

what's the big deal? racing 350s against other 350s is just as valid as racing 750s against other 750s...
the 750 is a beast, but not nearly as much fun to drive as some of the smaller displacement bikes, IMO.

i seem to remember burt monro doing not too badly with a puny little old bike.

[nickjtc]

If you're an American and you have to drag out a British magazine to back up your argument, then I don't really need to state the obvious, you only have to look at some of Britain's automotive disasters to know that the average Briton's tasts buds are firmly planted in their collective asses, ha ha! Now where did I leave my flak jacket? Cheers, Terry.

I would rise to the bait, but of course being of English extraction I am also a gentleman, and that would be beneath my dignity!

Seriously though, you are absolutely right about British automotive disasters, and motorcycling ones too. However I think we could point our fingers at pretty much any car/bike manufacturing company in the world and say that they had at least one dud. Suzuki RE-5 anyone? Ford Edsel? That of  course does not mean that they had their taste buds in their collective asses, as you so delicately put it, just that they produced models that were inappropriate for their time, or just plain ugly, or perhaps not as mechanically well thought out as they should have been.

My 44 cents worth. (4 cents + inflation.)

[Pinhead]

I still say go with the 650. IMO you can get good horsepower with less work than would be needed to increase power in the 750. Finding parts, on the other hand..........