Topic: Want to buld a ratted out cafe. What should I start with.

[ratrods rule]

Hey all! So I gave up stock car racing after winning the track championship last year and am now going through go fast and break stuff withdrawl. Not only are there quite a few dirt tracks close to me, but  there is a road course track within about thirty minutes of my house as well. I had been thinking about how I could swing putting together a street/track car that I could go play with on the weekends, but after working on my little cb 550 and checking out this site, I just realized how cool it would be to have a bike that I could take over there and beat the crap out of. Of course, neither my HD nor the 550 are really great candidates for this, so what would be?

I hate to sound like an idiot, but I'm not really very familiar with the old jap street bikes, so I need a liitle guidance. I want to build an old rat rod style cafe that not only looks old, but is old. I need to find something reasonbly priced that I can still get parts for. Of course, needs to end up uber-fast, or what's the point? Also, I don't want to get #$%*-slapped by some purist for hacking up a bike that should have been restored to original. I'm thinking about the old Mad Max like bikes. I am a very experienced rider. Never been without a bike since I got my Honda 50 for Christmas when I was 6. I have raced moto-cross and have had newer crotch rockets as well as my Harleys. Any advice would be appreciated.

[Tim.]

What's wrong with your 550 being a ratted out cafe bike?  On a more classic note, any of the twins would be excellent candidates, such as the Honda 350 twin or (gasp) the Yamaha xs650.  The 650 has a HUGE following, and lends itself to many many interpretations.

http://www.650motorcycles.com/xs650links.html

[ratrods rule]

I guess I didn't want to use the 550 'cause that is what my wife rides when we ride together and I'm thinking I'd rather have her on something a bit more tame than what I want to do for my next bike. Plus, having a third bike would give me something to ride when I break the other two!

Also, I was thinking I wanted something with more displacement. After my many years of hair-brained antics, my adrenaline takes a bit of a jump start to get flowing.

I've never ridden a Honda 750. How do they handle? I want something I can really flick around in the curves, but I realize you can only do so much with 30+ year old technology. Would that be a good platform?

Am I high? Should I just find a newer sportbike? I'm really wanting to bulid something old if possible, but I don't want to end up having tons of hours into something if I'm not going to be happy with it when I'm done. It's scary because I have no experience around the older bikes exept for the few weeks I've had the 550.

[Ernie]

my choice would be a 750,i have the 550 and its not as powerfull as i would like.also it seems to me parts for the 750 arent as hard to find as the 5.good luck and do let us know as it progresses

[Tim.]

I wouldn't equate a 750 with flicking around.  Of course, I've really only regularly ridden my 500 and 550, but have occassionally ridden the 750 and always found it to be quite laborious to handle.

Personally I like the mid-sized bikes.

[Uncle Ernie]

The lighter, the more flickable.  It is WAY fun to wring a smaller bike out like a wet dishrag.  Anyfool can go fast in a straight line. ( OK- drags are a different concept)  The 160s have been getting a ot of attentin lately.  Personally, I think a Yami SR500 is the way to go. With an aftermarket header, those things scream. Damn fast.  Suzuki Bandit 400- a freakin missile. Baby Duc.  Yamaha 650 is so versatile it's amazing- cafe, dirt tracker, whatever.

[pablo78cb550]

i just purchased a 1978 SR500 about 2 weeks ago. $825 and worth every penny.

[Terry in Australia]

Do you wanna go fast, or do you wanna go scary fast? Sure, the 750 is the best candidate for Cafe style bikes among the Honda SOHC4 community as it's the only CB with any real race cred, but you seem like the kinda guy who needs real speed, so why not a 20+ year old "Musclebike", like a Kawasaki Z or Suzuki GS?

These things can be easily modded to make 150+ BHP, they're a heck of a lot more robust than our bikes, and the Suzy in particular is a much better handler. Then of course there's the later oil/air cooled Suzuki GSXR's, they're lighter, faster, and superb handlers that make our poor ol' bikes seem almost, er, civilised?

[68grandprix]

Try an Rd350 or 400. Those are pretty good handlers, they can be made fast easily, and they have insane throttle response (because they're two strokes). My friend has a seriously beat-up Rd350 that is stock except for A K&N y boot and filter and expansion chambers, and it will rip third gear throttle wheelies. One of my friends rode it and flipped it over backwards in first because he didn't expect so much power from a an old 350cc streetbike(this was when it was completely stock too). Jimmy

[Terry in Australia]

Yeah, those little strokers are cool for sure, but Ratty wants to go "Uber-Fast", remember? We're not talking 50 BHP here, he wants 150!

Sure, 3rd gear wheelies are fun, but 120 MPH wheelies are what we're looking for here, ka-peesh? I reckon a 1988 Suzuki GSXR1100K "Street Fighter" is just what Ratty needs to compliment his 550 and HD fleet? Cheers, Terry.

[ratrods rule]

Thanks for all the advice and ideas guys. I guess I have alot of research to do this weekend.

[bill440cars]

               You know, I've heard a lot of good bikes mentioned here on this and all. I guess no one
        has considered the possibility of a CB450 DOHC? I'm kinda fond of them myself and when I can
        get past the other projects, I have some ideas I want to try out on mine. Later on, Bill

[dusterdude]

if you want to go fast and find parts to do it with you need a kaw or a suzi

[Ernie]

hey, Grandprix ask your freind if he wants to sell thata old rd350 i started out years ago on one and would like to get another one

[glendaler]

i'm thinking about getting an rd350 as a second bike, i've found one in the local classifieds for $400, it's been stored for 25 years. glad to hear talk of 3rd gear wheelies, thats what i'm looking for, slow speed antics. i just broke 100mph on my 650 today and a wheelie at that speed is not something i want to get into, it was scary enough doing it with two wheels on the ground.

[scunny]

I'm with Terry on the GS1000 or GSX, I had a GS1000 EC and that baby could fly, punch down a gear doing 100 and accelerate. It also handled alright in it's day, plus there are no shortage of performance options.

[tsflstb]

Don't know what you're looking to spend, but the best bang for your buck would probably come from buying a wrecked late-model sportbike.  If you're just using it for a track tool, a salvage titled bike would be really cheap.  Take off the busted plastic, strip it down to the bare minimum and have fun.  You'd get modern brakes, handling, and reliable power along with it.  Here's an '05 CBR1000 that's been stripped down to the bare minimum.  There's about 30 lbs of plastic on most sportbikes.  If you go back a few years, you can probably find a beat up GSXR, R1, etc... for around 2-3K.  Once you strip them bare, these bikes kind of resemble the cafe bikes from years ago (if you squint).

[bill440cars]

                   That's not too bad of an idea there. I've known for sometime that you could "total a
           sportbike and never touch the basic bike. I read an article in Cycle (discontinued), Cycle World
           or Motorcyclist several years ago telling about that. Shame a person couldn't make a connection
           with some insurance companies, pick up on some deals, strip them down and sell at a profit.
           In fact, I've seen a V-twin cruiser (don't remember what it was. about 1100cc) that was
           considered totalled and there wasn't that much damage. A smalltime cycle shop, that I
           frequent, got it for very low price (didn't tell me exactly how much. Later on. Bill

[the_genrl]

i would go with a 750.  i think they are solid bikes and easy to get parts for.  i had a cb360 as well and can say i enjoy the heavier bike much more as i feel it is more stable and just...all around better!