Re: CM400C Cafe Garage Build - Seat complete - New Photos

Re: CM400C Cafe Garage Build - Ready for Leather

This is coming out great. I love what you did with the seat.

Re: CM400C Cafe Garage Build - Seat Complete!!

The seat is finally done. While I'm not a professional upholsterer, I'm pretty happy with the results, (and the cost! $20 for an old leather jacket, $30 for foam, thread, glue and supplies)

Here are some photos of the bike in its current state, with rebuilt engine, painted frame, and physical chops done.















Still to do:

Lower Gauges
Rear sets
Upgrade suspension
fine-tune carb jetting/adjustments
a few other tidy-up things.

nice work on the seat, does the zipper open to a storage compartment? or is it just decorative?

Maritime said:

nice work on the seat, does the zipper open to a storage compartment? or is it just decorative?

Click to expand...

Yep, just opens to a little pocket to keep my paperwork. I really wanted to use the brass zipper from the vintage jacket I used for the leather. A bit unique, and practical for a photocopy of my insurance papers (in a Ziploc bag!)

That's a cool way to incorporate the zipper and your documents.

Thank you for having such good taste and for documenting it so well. This build has been a HUGE inspiration for my project.

Thanks for the compliments! This bike got a few more goodies last summer. Now has rear sets from Dime City, The clubmans got swapped out for clip-ons to make the riding position more comfortable. I replaced the pod filters with 4" aluminum velocity stacks, which look awesome, and improved the top-end performance at WOT a ton. It also got a new chain and sprockets, with an extra tooth on the front which made a significant difference at high way speeds.
This bike is not a rocket, but it is quick and nimble and a blast to ride. It's currently crammed in the corner of a shed otherwise I would snap a few photos of the improvements.

I have recently taken on a much more humongous project, so spare time for tinkering will be in short supply. I have moved again and don't have a garage anymore, but there is a 3 car carriage house in the plans about a year from now that will contain a dream work-space and studio/gallery.

Also, I live considerably more in the boonies now and there is endless logging road access to the mountain tops around here, so it looks like there will have to be a scrambler in my future too.

June 2023. Re-Linked the photos in this thread that have been missing for a long time, in case anyone was interested.

This bike is currently in a state of undress, and I am trying to find time for a few new upgrades and to get it back on the road. Having a 3-year-old is interfering with time finding quite a bit!

I just got done flipping through the pages and you really went a long way from your original thoughts on what it should look like!