GS 750 Cafe Project I think...

[Beaver]

I am embarking on a project. I thought it was going to be a cafe racer to begin with but then I found out that would require making seating for just one, and I think the misses would be a bit put out by that. SoI have dropped thinking of it as a pure cafe racer, but that is in that style it will be moulded in. The reason I have started this thread is also so that I can accumulate my mod questions here in one place as they cover everything from carbs to painting, seats, handlebars, etc. There is a workshop here in Copenhagen called Wrench Monkees. I am not sure if you guys have seen their work before before but much of my thinking has been inspired by them. The irony being that owning a custom bicycle shop myself I get a little tired of people filling my day with questions about one thing and another and then running off to order the lot on ebay, so I haven't ever consulted them on my project, just admired their work from afar. Perhaps one day...

I have included some pictures of some of their bikes so you can get an idea of where I am coming from.

I am looking at going for the flat style of seat on the first couple of bikes here for example:

But partly because I think that the clubman style of cafe bars are so 'done' and that this isn't going to be a true cafe bike, I am thinking of going for fork mounted bars for something a little more aggressive. I have found them on the bay in England for a '93 GSXR 750 but have no idea if the tops of my forks are the same size. I have plans of lowering the headlight and going to just a tachometer if not just dropping it completely so mucking around with the mounts at the front isn't a problem

I'll come with some pics of my bike as it stands now as soon as it stops raining so you can see what I have to work with. But in the meantime I recommend checking out wrenchmonkees.com looking under projects, and having a look at the bike called Gorilla Punch. It is currently standing in the Danish Museum of Art and Design

 

[redsoxvw]

I gotta say I really dig the scoots on wrenchmonkees.com .....NICE

 

[Zooks]

I think if you 'pigeonhole' cafe racer into meaning this or that you lose something. If you say it's a cafe racer it is.

 

[Beaver]

I think if you 'pigeonhole' cafe racer into meaning this or that you lose something. If you say it's a cafe racer it is.

Nice, I think you are right on that one. I always thought that the important thing about a cafe racer was that it was mostly for parking outside cafes... :-\\\

 

[Beaver]

Ok. My carb o-rings came in the post today One part down, many to go.

Next on the list is get my Tank and Exhaust sandblasted and hunt down some hi-temp paint. I have been in Denmark for 9 years now but you would not believe how much longer it takes me to find obscure things, such as specialised paint, because I don't know where to start.

I will be going for a flat seat like the wrench monkee bikes and hopefully get a girl friend of mine will sew a cover for it. Two questions here. Can I use something as simple as wood as a base for the seat? I have seen it once before and from my perspective will be the easiest material to work with. Secondly, what to cover with? I was thinking leather, but is vinyl a more practical choice?

Rear shocks. I got inspired by someone writing in to yaddy's thread that had mounted Harley shocks on his bike. Is it so simple that if I find a shock with 13" eye to eye measurement I can mount it on my bike?

I am also taking Cafe Kid's advice on starting with Clubman bars and deciding if I like the riding position before I go to something more extreme.

Can anyone recommend a good shop for a chrome tachometer?

Cheers

Angus

 

[beergood]

Nice, I think you are right on that one. I always thought that the important thing about a cafe racer was that it was mostly for parking outside cafes... :-\\\

I don't drink coffee or particularly care for cafes, which is probably why I always feel a little weird calling mine a 'cafe racer'. Perhaps I should start calling it a Happy Hour Racer, or perhaps Beer and BBQing with Friends Racer.

 

[Rein]

Ok. My carb o-rings came in the post today One part down, many to go.

Next on the list is get my Tank and Exhaust sandblasted and hunt down some hi-temp paint. I have been in Denmark for 9 years now but you would not believe how much longer it takes me to find obscure things, such as specialised paint, because I don't know where to start.

I will be going for a flat seat like the wrench monkee bikes and hopefully get a girl friend of mine will sew a cover for it. Two questions here. Can I use something as simple as wood as a base for the seat? I have seen it once before and from my perspective will be the easiest material to work with. Secondly, what to cover with? I was thinking leather, but is vinyl a more practical choice?

Rear shocks. I got inspired by someone writing in to yaddy's thread that had mounted Harley shocks on his bike. Is it so simple that if I find a shock with 13" eye to eye measurement I can mount it on my bike?

I am also taking Cafe Kid's advice on starting with Clubman bars and deciding if I like the riding position before I go to something more extreme.

Can anyone recommend a good shop for a chrome tachometer?

Cheers

Angus

Regarding your single/two seater dilemma, you could always fabricate a removable cowl/seat fairing for the passenger.

As for engine paint, they don't carry it in your local automotive shop? If you just want black, then you could always use appliance epoxy or bbq grill paint.

I'm not sure, but I think it was Beedgood's bike that I remember the seat being made out of wood for the base, then covered in fiberglass.

 

[TheCafeKid]

ACtually...the term Cafe Racer came from a derrogatory remark coined stating they were only good for running from one cafe to another...A cafe is actually a truck stop..

 

[Beaver]

ACtually...the term Cafe Racer came from a derrogatory remark coined stating they were only good for running from one cafe to another...A cafe is actually a truck stop..

Brilliant, I just hope that it isn't true in this case

Regarding your single/two seater dilemma, you could always fabricate a removable cowl/seat fairing for the passenger.

I had considered that, I just wasn't sure if it was beyond my skill to make something that will hold. But it would definately be cool as it will be just me on the bike 95% of the time anyway

As for engine paint, they don't carry it in your local automotive shop? If you just want black, then you could always use appliance epoxy or bbq grill paint.

I have found paint. I spoke to the sandblaster, he had never heard of 2000 degree paint, 800 maybe but not 2000. I had forgotten that you were talking F and we talk C. So I have just ordered a couple of cans of VHT Flame proof. It had never occurred to me that at the pipes on the bike would probably melt at 2000 degrees celcius

 

[beergood]

Indeed I did use a piece of weather treated wood for the base of my first seat, and then I sandwiched it between a couple layers of fiberglass. I only used it for one season, but I still have it. It has held up well.

I imagine that 2000 C paint would be pretty durable. It would come in handy if you ever wanted to paint graffiti on the space shuttle or something.

 

[TheCafeKid]

Indeed I did use a piece of weather treated wood for the base of my first seat, and then I sandwiched it between a couple layers of fiberglass. I only used it for one season, but I still have it. It has held up well.

I imagine that 2000 C paint would be pretty durable. It would come in handy if you ever wanted to paint graffiti on the space shuttle or something.

I do believe you were gonna sell that sucker to me... How ya been brother? Havent seen ya in a while

 

[Beaver]

Indeed I did use a piece of weather treated wood for the base of my first seat, and then I sandwiched it between a couple layers of fiberglass. I only used it for one season, but I still have it. It has held up well.

I imagine that 2000 C paint would be pretty durable. It would come in handy if you ever wanted to paint graffiti on the space shuttle or something.

Any chance of a picture or two? Did you have any problems, or did you just move o to something else cause you could?

 

[beergood]

Hey Cafekid, I've been good. Between working on the house, business and other misc crap I've been fairly busy. I've been checking in on the forum periodically, but not commenting as much. Now that I am back on the bike pretty much daily I will be around more.

Beaver, if you check the link in my sig it will take you to the first thread in my build. There is a lot of crap to wade through, but somewhere early in there I document the build of my tail. I have another thread somewhere the chronicles the rebuild of my build, where I make a different seat.

I would recommend doing the first one in wood/glass. Cheap, easy to work with and a great learning tool. I ended up scrapping it because up close it was on obvious first effort, and it was a little bulkier than I wanted for a finished product (not that anything is ever finished).

*second thread:

http://www.thegsresources.com/_forum/showthread.php?t=122525

 

[Beaver]

Sweet, cheers! That is just what i was looking for But you are right, 32 pages is a lot to wade through...

 

[Beaver]

Hey Beergood,

I haven't gotten all the way through your first project yet, but I must say I think it is inspirational. I feel some of the projects here can be a little intimidating in their perfectness. Even though I really like yours I can see a couple of the flaws that you mentioned earlier. I like that though as it is much more like my own style. I try to aim for perfection, but have neither the patience, time nor the facilities for it. I have a window of about 2 hours tomorrow while my son sleeps to try and solve my leaky head gasket problem, and lay the foundation for my project, get some measurements, figure out what to do with the tail end, and try seeing what riding without dials or mirrors is like

Had to laugh at you being a roadie. Everyone in here seems to have a whole stable of motorcycles and i have just the one so I had contemplated putting a list of my bicycles in my signature instead to try and fill it out a little but wasn't sure if it was kosher or not

Thanks again for the link!

 

[beergood]

Thanks for the compliment.

I am someone that prefers to polish/change things over time rather than strive for perfection out of the gate. I like my projects to evolve. If you make it through both threads you will see the bike change countless times (as cafekid and zooks can attest).

Feel free to PM or post here with any specific questions if you have them. I will try to be as helpful as I can.

 

[salty_monk]

http://www.ace-cafe-london.com/

They used to race the ring road round London...

 

[Beaver]

I had started to write about what a fantastic day I had stopping my bike from spewing oil, but then this piece of sh*t pc ate the whole page and I can't start all over again. I do have some questions though and promise I will come with more details of my day and some pics later...

I am contemplating clipons again, does anyone have any experience with putting clipons on a pre '80 GS750?

What about using my existing seat as a base instead of fabricating a new one? It has a hole in the side and is a bit rusty so it isn't like I need to preserve it. One argument I can think of for say building a wooden base like beergood's is that I think it creates a good platform to work from in terms of creating a new tail, especially if I want to be able to take my tail on and off.

p.s. is it possible to do a reasonable plug chop with existing plugs? When I took them out today two were oily and two sooty so I would like to just have an idea of how things are looking in there for now with a bit more of a serious run tomorrow.

My jets and gaskets came in the mail the other day so now all I am missing is my pods and some new plugs for my carb mod.

I am soooo looking forward to beginning to change my bike, it is going to be a good summer, I can feel it!

 

[beergood]

Before you shell out the cash for clip-ons try clubmans. Personally I think they have a classic look to them, and they are only around $20. You might find that you hate that riding position, and $20 out is much better than $100+.

I've seen people use their existing seat pan to begin a mod. It's a good place to start, I just had too nice a seat to cut up, so I sold it to another member and used the cash to finance future work.

Don't even worry about plug chopping till you get the carbs put back together with the pods and new jets/orings. Then I would start with clean plugs. Or better yet, if you have a compressor, buy a plug cleaner. Mine cost less than $20 and has paid for itself a few times over.

 

[TheCafeKid]

Beaver, If you plan on selling that seat, let me know. I would love to have a seat like that. I even have a stock seat in excellent condition i would be willing to trade if you want to use it for your mods..