1988 CBR600 cafe---waiting for winter tear-down--riding it now!

MotorbikeBruno

Over 1,000 Posts
Well, it's time for me to start this thread. I got this beauty for $300 last year and finally have the time to work on it now that the other bike is done and the wife is happy with it.

The cbr came to me without any plastics on the front end. It did have a seat, gauges, and the rear panels (although the mounting tabs were gone so they flapped around a bit.) I got it running within about an hour or so, with a good carburetor cleaning, new gas, and battery. Fired up, ran great, drove great other than a binding chain from the dude riding it up "north" on dirt roads and not cleaning/greasing it...ever. First pics are when I welded a little bracketry up to hold a cb360 light I had laying around to it, so I could drive it and at least look legal for the 5 minutes I was on the roads near the shop.

Enough of me blabbing about. Here are the intro pics!

BEFORE1.jpg


BEFORE2.jpg


beginning1.jpg


BEFORE3.jpg


Used a thicker plate here for some strength.
cutandbrace.jpg


tailfab1.jpg


tailfab2.jpg



And where I'm at as of today.
tailfab4.jpg
 
Re: 1988 CBR600 cafe---just the beginning.

Hell yeah man! Can't wait for more! Vive le 80"s sportbikes!
 
Re: 1988 CBR600 cafe---just the beginning.

Thanks man! I forgot to add one more pic of the tail with the left side almost finished up. This should be a fun scoot when done. Anyone know where I can find a bigger headlight than 7" I feel like I want a 9" or something to take up some more space on the front end... if they make it....haha.

tailfab5.jpg
 
Re: 1988 CBR600 cafe---just the beginning.

Count me in too. My bud had one of these and I always thought it would make an interesting modern cafe. Plus they're a blast to ride.
 
Re: 1988 CBR600 cafe---just the beginning.

Thanks for the support gents. I've got to sort out the rear shock (replace it) as I had a friend of mine come over and the first thing he said was something is wrong with your shock. (he races sportbikes so I'm going to go ahead and trust him) When you sit on it, there is the normal "give" but it is as though it is not extending back up at all. So if you were to lift the rear end by the frame, there isn't even the slightest amount of movement, you lift the frame and you are lifting the rear tire off the ground. Anyone know of any "newer" shocks that might fit? I'm wanting to keep it lower and not make it taller than stock if possible, as this is the wife's next bike. It will be better on the highway for her than the KZ550.
 
Re: 1988 CBR600 cafe---just the beginning.

A few Suzi E-models in the mid 80's had huge 9 or 10 inch headlights.


Pretty rare to find, but they exist...


These are cool little bikes! Keep it up!
 
Re: 1988 CBR600 cafe---just the beginning.

Signing up for this one, One of these is on my project bike list, only a full on resto mod more likely.
 
Re: 1988 CBR600 cafe---just the beginning.

A slow day at work...means I get to play a little more....

Coming out nicely I think.

tailfab6.jpg


tailfab7.jpg
 
Re: 1988 CBR600 cafe---just the beginning.

Swapmeet Louie said:
look'n good...

Much appreciated sir. Glad to see you back on here (DTT), I missed ya, even if I wasn't an original member/gangsta? :eek:


I decided to pull that hugger off to get a better look at the ol' gal. I think it needs to stay off...thoughts? Next up...Guages.....this ought to be fun eh? I'm thinking I want some round gauges to bring it back to the old 70's look. That GIANT squareish thing that they called gauges needed to go. So if anyone knows what guages will work with the stock speedo and tach that would be awesome. (I'm going to do some research, but if anyone knows off the top of their head...thanks.)

9guages.jpg


tailfab8.jpg
 
Re: 1988 CBR600 cafe---just the beginning.

Bruno you are one of the originals, even if you joined later thn most of us. Can you take the monster guage apart and put each of the factory components in its own seperate pod? They are round and smallish once out of the giant pkastic box.

Sent from my MB525 using Tapatalk 2
 
Re: 1988 CBR600 cafe---just the beginning.

Maritime said:
Bruno you are one of the originals, even if you joined later thn most of us. Can you take the monster guage apart and put each of the factory components in its own seperate pod? They are round and smallish once out of the giant pkastic box.

Sent from my MB525 using Tapatalk 2

That tail looks awesome! Maritime stole my suggestion. Pull those gauge's out and construct some sort of cups for them.
 
Re: 1988 CBR600 cafe---just the beginning.

Ya know, I was thinking that last night, because I kind of wanted to keep the temp gauge (it is in fact going to be the wife riding it after all... ::) )

I will see what I can do, and then I suppose make a cover,or bucket for each one. Thanks for the money-saving tips guys!!! And I appreciate the sentiment Maritime ;D

I've got to help a guy an hour away with his goldwing today...sucks that I have to ride my bike there 8) 8) 8) I'll be back in the afternoon and I'll see what can be done with the gauges!!!
 
Re: 1988 CBR600 cafe---just the beginning.

Ok, the gauges are a no-go. There is a clear case that covers ALL of the gauges, nothing individually. So I'm on to find new gauges. :-\

And was thinking about headlights...

http://www.dimecitycycles.com/vintage-cafe-racer-caferacer-bobber-brat-chopper-customer-motorcycle-lighting-parts-7-inch-chrome-british-headlight-bucket-6635-26.html

http://www.dimecitycycles.com/vintage-cafe-racer-caferacer-bobber-brat-chopper-customer-motorcycle-lighting-parts-7-inch-chrome-black-headlight-bucket-6630-26.html

eh?
 
Re: 1988 CBR600 cafe---just the beginning.

ha! I got my rearsets and front caliper off one of those... Wish I'd have thought ahead and snagged the Supertrapp before I scrapped it...
 
Re: 1988 CBR600 cafe---just the beginning.

two-smoker said:
ha! I got my rearsets and front caliper off one of those... Wish I'd have thought ahead and snagged the Supertrapp before I scrapped it...

Funny you should say that...a friend's girlfriend has an 89' F1 and has a supertrapp on it...he asked if I wanted to trade my can for his.....I was really thinking about it, and still might, but they are a tad long, and I really was thinking I wanted a "shorty" muffler on there, something I could chop up. If I do go with it, it would be a high mount I would suppose...

And I agree with you yogi, there really isn't a need for any chrome on the bike, so the second one would be better, on the first one I thought the actual light was kinda cool though.
 
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