the rebirth of Beergood's 750 cafe

[Zooks]

Black and brass is however, THE fastest colour combo known to man. Just so ya all know \\/

Well then it's obvious that you are talking through your hat. Fastestness is measured by the following scale -

Black - Very fast and oh so tough *GRRRRR*
Red - Also fast but not so tough. Very 'boyracer' though.
Chrome - Superfast. It's well known that the more you chrome stuff the faster you will go. Less 'wind drag' and all that sciencey stuff. :-s

Disclaimer - The above mentioned does not work for any style of chopper or cruiser. These types of bikes are usually slowed down by one of three things. (1) The knucklehead in the frame (2) the knucklehead in the saddle or (3) the arthritic knuckles holding the handlebars. :?

(J'K folks)

Maybe I should just buy a couple of extra tanks and fab some more tail sections. That way I can dress her to however I feel that day.

If the GF can justify a whole shoe collection for those reasons, why can't I?

You wouldn't be the first. I have known guys with cruisers to have two different styles of fairings - they use one or the other depending on the trip they are about to do. Swapping saddlebags / panniers / tankbags etc. is also very common. You just need the room and the money.

 

[TheCafeKid]

Zooks, its BLACK and BRASS man! Brass is SOO fast its not even on your scale? And did i mention it has some CHROME on it too? Any faster, and it would have to be plaid.

 

[TheCafeKid]

And, BG, i have 5 tanks. One for each day of the week. LOL Seriously tho. I do have 5, but will only end up using a couple. One i left bone stock, a couple i beat... I figure i must have lost damn near half a gallon on one of beat ones. so i kept a bone stocker for LONG distance races, dontchaknow? They'll all be painted the same colour however.

 

[Zooks]

Well TCK you'll just have to get on a plane and come on down here and prove it.

This is the carpark of one of the local bike cafes -

There's always lots of guys here that would love to test out our two theories.

(Sorry for the hj BG)

 

[Smokinapankake]

So Beer,

What paint did you use on your engine? And why stop at the bottom, not go all the way to the top? With those shiney end caps man that would look super deluxe!

Lookin good as it is, however!

 

[TheCafeKid]

Well TCK you'll just have to get on a plane and come on down here and prove it.

This is the carpark of one of the local bike cafes -

There's always lots of guys here that would love to test out our two theories.

(Sorry for the hj BG)

I dont see a cafe in the lot I see a bunch of sport, supersport and streetfighters tho. Nice collection

 

[beergood]

Well, it's been over a week, and as I predicted, the blue just didn't stick with me. I think maybe had a gone with a darker shade.

Anyway, I think I hit upon something that I like. It's a gunmetal gray. I added a checker stripe, and I think I like it. In the spirit of messing with a good thing, I ended up smudging the stripe a little.

It's a bit dull now, but I just got my spray gun in the mail two days ago, and I am going to give the tins and some other parts a nice gloss finish in a week or two.

I am in the process of making a new tail section. The new one should look a lot like the current one but be of a more simple design. Once I am done with that I think I will spray it glossy.

I am pretty happy with the current look. Very classic.

Anyway, sorry about the crappy cell phone pics. My digital went AWOL. I am sure I will find it when I am packing up all my crap (at least I hope so).

 

[beergood]

On a totally unrelated note, I may have scored a newly restored Yamaha XS750 triple on Saturday night.

 

[Zooks]

Very nice. Looks very 'Post WW2'.

All you need now is a leather cap and some flying goggles.

 

[LeeGS550E]

I like it, BG!

Agree with you and zooks - very classy. Can't say why exactly, but definately bettery than the red.

Have you ever thought about spoked rims?

 

[beergood]

Have you ever thought about spoked rims?

Just about every time that I look at my wheels. However, I have other things to spend the money on first (although a new tire is on the list, so that would make rims easier to do at the same time).

After a short ride I got another burst of inspiration. I was originally going to repaint my calipers, but now I think I might keep them the deep red, and paint the knee inserts red instead. That way there is still some color on the bike without it screaming "Hey, red bike over here!"

 

[TheCafeKid]

It looks fantastic BG As usual! I like the new colour. Very vintage looking. Spokies would set that thing off like no ones business, especially if you did the rim in the gunmetal and the spokes themselves in RED! I am back to debating on my seat set up. I was happy with the one i made, then started looking at the one i bought on the bike, and like the lines better, i think. Then i went back to thinking about that H2R seat, now i dunno wtf i wanna do..LOL

 

[beergood]

Gotta say, I am loving this thing this season. It is running better than ever.

Today I ordered a few shims to replace those that were getting close to being out of tolerance. I also ordered some capacitors to make my own battery eliminator. My battery has been in sad shape, and I have been kicking it to start it since early summer last year. The thing is, I have gotten used to it, actually I kind of like it. So, sayonara battery. I'll keep everyone posted on how that works out for me. I think I will boyscout a solution so that I can still jump start the starter if I ever need to.

I also started planning my new tail section. I am looking forward to starting that.

Here are some pics of it out in the sun. I am really starting to like this paint scheme.

I also redid the body filler on the inserts to give it a finer edge. I am pretty happy with the results:

 

[beergood]

Some more:

 

[TheCafeKid]

Hey dont forget who absoulutely LOVES that tail section and would be interested in BUYING it from you :-D BTW Header wrap...tasty I did the same.

 

[beergood]

BTW Header wrap...tasty I did the same.

Where do you think I got the idea from? Actually, I had always kind of thought about it, but your pics put me over the edge.

As for the tail section, it looks good in pics, but it is definitely a flawed first effort. Wait till I finish the new one. Then we can talk.

 

[Zooks]

I love it BG. The grey reminds me off a WW2 Cossack or Zundapp or similar Russian bike.

 

[gerwintown]

Looks good man, very thorough and clean. BUT man! I loved that red and black...super sporty and just stunning. I had saved pictures of your bike in my very exclusive "inspirational motorcycle pictures" folder. Loved the blue too although I think you were right in that the shade could have been better. I know how you feel I guess, especially when it is so easy to change something like color and have almost a completely new bike. Its like they always say: out with the old, in with the old..jk

 

[beergood]

Bye bye battery. I ordered some capacitors from a guy on Ebay and wired them in parallel and made my own home brew battery eliminator. Since I eliminated my turn signals last year, and I got rid of the starter relay today it is looking pretty simple under my seat. All I got is the eliminator, the regulator ,rectifier and some fuses. I am going to keep my eyes open for a Honda RR, but my system seems to work fine the way it is.

I did keep my starter motor though. If for some reason I end up having to jump the bike I'll just manually hit the starter.

Tomorrow I hope to get some good work done on my new tail section.

My mother teaches textiles and other related design classes, so I approached her about making a seat cover similar to Byrdman's. I like the old skool snap look, and it would make it a lot easier to get at my toolkit. Anyway, she said she could definitely help me, and she is sitting on a whole pile of leather. So we went over some samples, and I think I found a grain that I like. So, I'm getting a custom leather seat cover. How sweet is that?

Here are some crappy phone pics (gotta find that blasted camera). I love that wide open frame look:

Oh yeah, I made a new bracket to mount the license plate on the right hand shock. Not entirely sure how I feel about it yet.

 

[beergood]

Well, I got some good progress done on the new tail section. Here is a little background:

My old tail section was an interesting learning experience, but I have never been too thrilled with the way it turned out. It's a little crooked, the fiberglass has some surface cracks. It's pretty heavy, and a lot bulkier than I wanted it to be.

So I decided to go in a whole different tack. I acquired a used tail section from ebay (for under 10 buck), and decided to gut it and make a simple metal base to attach it to. Then I will make a seat cover that snaps around everything. This whole thing will bold directly to the frame, instead of using the hinges and mounts like that old one.

I got the basic structure roughed out today, and I gotta say I am a lot happier already. It's simpler, smaller, lighter, sturdier and looks way better. This is my first attempt at doing any real welding, and that stuff is hard. I am definitely going to need a lot more practice before I consider myself to be even a novice welder.

Beginning of the pan:

Gutted ducktail attached:

A quick glazing and painting:

The tail mounts on with four SS screws, so I can remove it pretty quickly, for whatever reason: