Cafe Racer dreams..............rusting wreck rescued from the spiders???

[lchris21]

You have to forgive him, he's a Dr! It do look good. Is the tank GRP?

No, the tank is good ole steel.....................well i think it is judging by the rust inside it!!! Its a an Indian ebay special replica. Bit rough around the edges, but its better than making one from scratch I suppose. looks like its been made from old ambassador taxi body panels, so will need a bit of TLC come paint time. The tanks are based on a 70's?? dirt bike, off a Benelli Mojave. But since they are quite popular for this type of project, original ones if you can track one down fetch stupid money !!!

 

[darren.a.roberts]

Looking good.....

 

[lchris21]

been making a bit of progress........

fabricated a seat hoop and rear subframe

Made the brackets for the front calipers out of Aluminium. Not a CNC machine in sight !!! Both made on a bog standard Bridgeport.....should be a bit stronger than the plastic mock-up?

 

[Woody.v8]

Nice I like it

 

[norlander]

Thats coming along nicely-good work mate

 

[darren.a.roberts]

Love the work on the rear subframe....

 

[lchris21]

got the rear light/number plate holder welded on and fully welded the sub-frame up. all these little jobs just suck out loads of time during the weekends, progress is slow, but still moving forward. cable tied the exhaust bits into place for first mock-up. picked it up off ebay last year, off a Suzuki GSXR 750 if I recall??? Was going to go for mandrel bends but quite like to carry on the theme of "lobster-backing" the pipework.......................on-wards !!!

 

[eSCHEn]

Beautiful mate, really really nice.

 

[pete23]

really liking this, keeps the pics coming, great work.

 

[lchris21]

Been busy getting the rear brake master cylinder mounted and linked up. Used the master cylinder off an R1 superbike. knocked up a small offset linkage to do away with a dog-leg push rod. The rear sets are italiano made by Tarozzi. the brackets are off the original Tr1 cruiser in the days when ali castings were made to last !!! I'll probably machine them a bit with a few holes here and there to get rid of the bulky look.....

had a few electrical bits turn up from the Czech republic. A tune-able ignition and shiny new reg/rectifier. The old ones were looking a bit worse for wear after those 5 years under a tarp.....

 

[gasman28]

Lets see MORE lookin good.

 

[lchris21]

progressing the gear change side. made up a few tie rods and some linkages. used an old gear pedal off a yam offroad bike and cut it down and welded a new lug on..

have been trawling the web for some exhaust hangers the right size, but was not having much luck. stumbled across the rubber extrusion that they use, so decided to make my own. made up a little fixture to drill the holes in the stainless strip. will shorten them and bend them when I decide where on the silencer I'm mounting them....

Swapped the front tyre over to the section I'm going to be using. Its got a "fatter" look to it which I prefer for this cafe style bike

 

[gasman28]

Thats going to be smart as feck. Top marks that man.

 

[lchris21]

quite like the look of the "lobsterbacked" silencer, so have decided to carry on the theme with the front header........bit more welding, but good practice. just got to keep a steady hand

 

[gasman28]

If your welds are mint it will be a fantastic display of your skill, plus it will l00k the dogs doodarr's.

 

[Wallace]

You don't need this project, I'll swap it for the ETZ 250 bits I have in the garden just to help you out of a hole.

 

[lchris21]

If your welds are mint it will be a fantastic display of your skill, plus it will l00k the dogs doodarr's.

aha, thats where my shakey hands let me down.......... i've been very fussy with fit up, so will probably have to go at it all autogenous with a back purge.......???? love to get the old "stack o dimes" look, but have only got 10m of tube to practice with
the silencer has been done in the same way, the welds really neat and are about 2mm wide

 

[lchris21]

made a couple of stainless flanges for the headers ready to tack up the exhaust system.

before that I need to fit the starter motor out of my spare engine. as a reminder this is what the original motor looked like...........

so at the end of last year I decided to keep an eye out for a less rusty example, and luckily one came up at a decent price (supposedly a runner!!!), but it was missing some bits............those bits I had on the rusty lump. To get the starter off I needed to remove the generator on the rusty lump. Think I made the right decision not to rebuild it judging by the amount of mayonnaise that oozed out of it !!! There was about a litre of water sitting in there.......

bit of a clean up and the generator looks fine??

 

[Wallace]

How did you fabricate those neat flanges?

 

[gasman28]

Ouch the motors a mess, Im building a special myself.

Its a 79 husqvarna cr frame with an xt600 motor shoe horned in. Hence the reason for the need of a welder, frame needed to meet mr hacksaw. Now need to meat mr welder. Was going to braze but gas set up to much out lay for the amount I would use.

Your build is looking mega though, will be keeping my eye on it thanks.