XV750 "Twisted Cafe" project. An ever evolving vision.

man this is such a sick bike, and build! so you used an r6 mono shock for the rear, but what is the rear swing arm?

Stock SA. The rear wheel was a straight bolt on as the spline drives are the same for the XJ and XV, and I suspect other Yamy shaft drives. My worries about the front is the clearance between the front wheel and the exhaust pipe. Had to work early this morning, so I didn't have time to take pics last night. I think the bike is starting to look really interesting!

man that is so awesome. guess i need to finish my first project before i can start a new one!!!! haha

Yeah, my biggest mistake. Never again. One at a time from now on!

for sure! man im such a noob to the whole cafe racer scene, i rode my first street bike on a early 80's xv750, i was 13! haha dad let me ride it around the back lawn.. anyways, probably would have picked up one of these for my project instead of the 450! cool build man i will be following.

one more thing, what year is this bike?

'83 Virago XV750

R1 forks with GSXR 750 SRAD triple tree and clip-ons with XV750 stem pressed in. New Allballs tapered bearings pressed in.

Close up of newly detailed engine, rebuilt carbs with intake boot turned out. It would normally fit into the tube coming out of the frame just above the carb. The backbone/frame serves as an airbox on the Virago. If it's do-able, I'll just lop off the tube to clean up the line of the backbone.

very cool man I like this Immensely!

Thanks. I'm really glad I changed my mind and decided not to build an Englebert/Zero chopper bike. Even though I borrowed ideas from Johnny Ryland, Sepp Koch, and a couple of other builders, I think this will stand apart a bit.

That stance is freakin' awesome.......

One of the most badass bikes I have ever seen! woo!

LOVE this bike!

A new subframe will have to be fabricated. I plan on using a Ducati Paul Smart replica seat cowl made by Airtech. Still, I think it could be either a wicked cafe or a wicked bobber.

Friends don't let friends ride bobbers :-X

dude, very nice work is going on here.. i'm watching, congrats.

Keep it up, sir.

Still working on the front end, measured for spacers and seeing if my master cylinder is still good (draining it right now). One thing I didn't think of when going with the R1 front end is how to mount the headlight. It's not like I can just buy some headlight ears. I seriously doubt anyone makes them in 500mm. Ha! A bracket will have to be made and I'm thinking about the ignition lock mounting points on the GSXR top clamp as the new mounting point? Looked at an old Suzuki tank to swap in, but the tunnel was too narrow. The XV backbone is substantial, to say the least. Thought about buying an RD 250 tank off fleabay, but it was heavily rusted inside and had big dents. Seller still asking almost $100 for it plus shipping and I don't know if it would fit. Too big a gamble. Beat up and rusty XS ('76) tanks are going for $150 or higher, as well. WTF? Guess I'll have to settle for the stock XV tank for now... I just am not crazy about the shape.

Finally got all the old gasket material off the case covers. Man, was that a tedious job! Covers painted with Rustoleum high heat primer and high heat gloss black. I decided to use the hub cover that came with the rear wheel to front conversion. I was just going to leave it open. Anyway, I started drilling out the cover and will screw it to the hub with either small polished Allen head screws, or black Allen head screws.

Fitted the cleaned and rebuilt carbs. Engine looks amazing and I didn't polish a thing on it!

Got my wheel spacers back from the machine shop. OMG, I was not expecting something like these gorgeous machined pieces! They threw in the caliper spacers fo free. Thank you-thank you!

In the meantime, I've been working on the hub cover which I was originally going to discard. Started doing one of my favorite things - drilling holes! Of course I'll have to repaint the hub cover as its finish has been dulled by the aluminum shavings and from lots of contact with the pieces of wood I used to cushion the cover from the drill press surface. Powder coat does have its limitations after all. Doesn't like to be scratched! I'm hoping I can paint right over it. Next up, drill out my brake rotor!

I've discussed this with Sepp Koch who has been chopping XV frames for quite some time. He has built them for street and track with no issues with frame or handling. It took me a couple of years before I embarked on such a radical conversion. After owning a Buell XB12R and assembling another Buell XB out of parts, the configuration is basically the same as the XV. I think I've read everything on the ViragoTech forum and have not come across anything regarding head gasket failures.

3 years now as a daily ride and no problem whatsoever with the "Sepp-ectomy" on my '83 XV920 frame. No worries. Nice work on the bike! I got tired of watching the suspension I have for my turbo XV project sit and gather dust, so am preparing to put it all on my daily ride. GSXR front, etc... very similar to your setup. I'd like to compare notes, especially on the front. I'm going to be making my headlight mount this weekend.