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Cafe Racers (C/N Bike Contest!)

Post only two (2) pics and some info about your build. Good luck.

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Corrupt26 on July 5, 2009 at 4:44pm

This is my 1981 xj 550. I bought it for $150 after my neighbor set the bike on fire when he did a half assed job rebuilding the carbs. He almost caught his wifes brand new SUV on fire in the process. After stamping out the embers, the first thing i did was remove the old flap style gas cap cover and opted for a flush mount pop up one mainly because we had no key for gas cap and the ignition was turned by a baby screwdriver. The handle bars were bent using a torch and a lont section of pipe for leverage, it took a little while but they fit just right now. The seat is wraped in black deer skin the padding was my wifes yoga matt all draped over a 16 gauge sheet metal. The rear cowl section is actually the rear of a gass tank from my xs 650 chop. I recessed a 3.5" L.E.D brake and running light, took me many tries to find a light that would work. The bike had no side pannels se I hammered them out of 16 gauge steel, I am in the process of finding a oval number plate to put on the side pannels. The fire had destroyed most of the stock wiring which had to all be redone with out a diagram it was a very time cosuming under taking that my neighbor took care of for me. The fire had damaged most of the paint so it was all stripped off and panted in my garage using rattle cans I went with dupli color candy apple red and linnen white the whole project took me about 6 months, think I could have gotten done sooner if I had a shop around me that sold anything for this bike I was tearing up ebay trying to find parts.
This is the first time I have messed with a cafe style I built and painted it in my garage.
Its a fun bike to ride I hope you like what I created from the ashes of nighbors garage

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Permalink Reply by so ca750 on July 5, 2009 at 7:03pm

Here’s what you might be thinking…”another cb750 café themed bike? Euuugggh" But can you blame us? Honda turned out how many of these boring looking single overhead cams? What else are we supposed to do but take it upon ourselves and mold them into something that’s meaningful. Craigslist craps out at least ten of these a week with a half ass chop job or with so many cobwebs that the headlamp lights up looking more like the bat signal.

But alas, here she is. My 1978 cb750K model. I picked up this gem in a trade for my Xbox 360 last summer and haven’t looked back since. One of the best decisions in my life thus far. I quickly removed the highway bars and four into four exhaust and exchanged them for a four into one with reverse rev cone. The handlebars were banished to my Honda 50 and replaced with clubmans and more vintage looking mirrors held in with masonry anchors. The seat was riveted together with no regard towards comfort and number plates attached with zip ties because I find stock side covers kinda boring.

She ain’t built for show, but instead for the love and necessity of a daily ride in the perpetual sunshine of Southern California. You’re most likely to see this bike dodging squirrels and mini-vans on the Cajalco Expressway rather than in a climate controlled garage with framed posters of Peter Fonda …but that’s how I like it.

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Permalink Reply by Zack on July 6, 2009 at 8:21am

OK GUYS, THAT"S IT! THIS ROUND IS CLOSED. WE'RE LEAVING THE DISCUSSION OPEN SO PEOPLE CAN STILL DISCUSS THE BIKES.

THANKS TO EVERYONE. TIME TO CONFER WITH THE JUDGES...

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Permalink Reply by steve the tritonman on July 18, 2009 at 9:24am

when will the results be announced zack
back from hospital now after a big spinal operation so have been itching to get back to my laptop regards steve