Friday, April 27, 2012

Front Brake Bracket II



Got the bracket welded up, then drilled the cable hole and slot. This is what it looks like with the cable installed. Need to now find a front brake cable that is long enough, probably from an early to mid-eighties motocrosser, more ebay questions? Easier just to go down to the local wrecker and find one that will fit!

Friday, April 20, 2012

Front brake bracket



Front brake bracket (in red) half done. Plate needs to be welded to the round bar and hole drilled thru for brake cable...

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Vintage bars and grips


Arrived in the post today. Steel flat track bars and brown grips.

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Cost up-to-date


Today I ordered some new flat-track style bars, vintage grips and levers. The total cost spreadsheet is pictured above.

Monday, April 2, 2012

The ultimate cafe racer


I have not yet featured any one else's custom work, but as refering to my previous post and me trying to find a suitable 'next bike' for me. Trust Roland Sands of RSD (Roland Sands Design) to come up with almost exactly what I was thinking of just this morning. Take one road registerable enduro motorcycle such as a KTM 525 EXC or a Yamaha WR450, add a super single 450 kit which transforms it to a road-carving road racer and then add some cafe touches and I think you have the ultimate scratching machine. Nice one Roland! Eleven out of ten!

Changing my motorcycle - but which one?


The time has come to trade my old motorcycle (currently a ZX12) for something different.
But which one? At first i wanted a supermoto or motard, but seeing as how i am building one, I was thinking about going the cafe route. I have also set myself a budget of $8000 all up. I do not want to spend more time buying something that requires a lot of modifications. The retro bikes such as Kawasaki W650 & 800 ,Triumph twins and Honda CB1100 are a bit too expensive. I want a bike that is fairly new (so I don't have to rebuild it) but has more up-to-date cycle parts. That only leaves bikes like the Yamaha XJR1200/1300 and Kawasaki ZRX1100/1200. Its a shame smaller capacities such as 750 or 900 are available. The Honda Hornet 900 is another possibility but requires too much modification to get to cafe spec. The XJR has some of the essential cafe elements such as an air-cooled engine and twin shock rear end.
I did this mock-up in photoshop to see how a modification such as changing the seat and tail combo can completely change the style. The bike is a basic black and grey, but just add a coloured cafe tail and seat with an imola style tail light and voila, instant cafe!
Still requires the subframe to be cut shorter and relocation of the battery and I also shortened the muffler as well.