Please help me identify my vintage caferacer (i think) - 56k beware

Hello all I'm new to the forum here and new to dotheton, but not new to motorcycles in general. I acquired the bike in the picture just the other day from my mom who had it sitting up in a barn loft (it's been there since before she bought the house 8 years ago and she just mentions it now!!!!!) Anyways, I pulled it down, shined it up a bit, looked for frame stamps or something to tell me what bike this is or was but nothing. The only writing on the whole bike was on the old cracked 4-ply racing yokohama "racing" tires. The bike didnt have an engine or anything when I found it just what you see here. Please help me in identifying this bike I want to restore it and make it see the road once more, I wanna do the ton (on a cafe-racer that is). Any and all input appreciated, thankyou ;D

Dude, that is an awesome find. Whole lotta work ahead of you but it is nice.

There isn't any stamping on the front of the neck? I'm just guessing and somebody else will nail it right away but I wanna say something like a CL125 from the skinny & high muffler and the springs on the outside of the forks. But if there isn't any kind of vin number than what you have there is a "parts bike"

Good luck man!

Wow! Neat find!
What it looks like to me is an early 70's Kawasaki single, maybe 100cc (looks like the same frame as my G3's).
From a cursury look at the photos:
- the pipe is a stamped 2-stroke motocross expansion chamber from the late 60's / early '70's, probably Kaw,
may even be a Green Streak factory pipe,
- fork stops have been welded on the lower frame neck to reduce turning radius, so a (full?) fairing was fitted at some time,
- what looks to be a front fairing stay has been welded onto the front of the frame and then cut off again for some reason,
- under the seat at the end of the frame, you can see where the removable rear fender hoop slides into your frame and gets retained by pinch bolts, another indication of it being a G3-style frame,
- the tank is one I've never seen - can you email or post a picture of the underside? It looks like fiberglass - is it?
Unless there is a sticker or something under the tank, it could be homemade...
- the seat could be any one of a dozen or more available at the time and may even be a real Kawasaki race seat,
- the front forks look to be Kawasaki, but measure the fork tube diameter where the clipons are to be sure. The stock G3's were only 28 mm in diameter and yours look a bit bigger, so maybe from another small Kaw? The upper triple tree isn't stock kaw either.
- front brake is from a street bike, double leading shoe, from the look of it a Yamaha that has been adapted to your bike but possibly from a Kaw 250 twin or early 350 triple (I'm not that familiar with them). If you take the wheel off the bike and the backing plate off, you may find Yamaha or some other markings.
- if you take your tank off and look at the steering neck on the eft hand side, you should see numbers stamped into the neck. G2 and G3 would be for the Kaw 90's and 100's of the area. If you find any other id, post it or email me and we talk further. I'd love to see the bike - where are you located?
If it seems funny that people would build a road racer out of a little bike, there was a pretty vibrant 100cc road racing class up into the early '70's and companies such as Yamaha even built a GYT Kit for their 100cc twin to go road racing...
Great Find!
Keep checking the attic for more parts.
Pat Cowan,
Pacomotorstuff
pacomotorstuff@cogeco.ca

Welcome to the forum. Lots of cool fellas and gals here without all the typical ego BS found elsewhere. I'm afraid I can't help but I'm sure someone here can. There is a very good knowledge base here and they are always willing to help.
Awesome find. I'm sure you are already on top of it but I'd be tempted to do a major search of the barn and anyother buildings on the property.
Once you get some parts gathered please come back and give us an update. A build thread would be even better ;D

Not sure what it is but if you want to flip the rear wheel around I've got a Benelli 125 you can have to stuff in there.

Scruffy said:

Not sure what it is but if you want to flip the rear wheel around I've got a Benelli 125 you can have to stuff in there.

Click to expand...

Im looking for a small displacement motor for a racer. If your looking to get rid of that 125, let me know. Thanks, Mike.

Hey thanks everyone for the warm and friendly welcome. Unfortunately there are no more party lying around, I have allready scoured the property and surrounding buildings, so if there was anything else it was junked many years ago Theres nothing on the neck or headset, I did see the numbers 5 , and 8 close to each other on the lower tipple tree

Pacomotorstuf- Thanks for all the info, The Gas tank is Fiberglass, and there is no stamp on the neck, Ill measure the fork soon here, and I can take another picture of the gas tank but it's just all fibreglassy underneath. It looks like the previous owner had to repair the underside of the tank as there a fibreglass job I can tell someone did themselves. Ill take a pic to show u guys tho. I'm going to go outside now and pull the wheel off to see if theres anything under there. I'm in British Columbia, Canada. I Live on Vancouver island but im just up on vacation at my moms place in 100 Mile House, (northern BC) its bloody cold here haha.

Scruffy - Thanks that'd be great! Where are you located?

mom needs on her computer, ill be back soon with more info

Hi,
Looking at your photos again, it looks like the front brake is from a CB160 or CB175 Honda, not Yam or Kaw like I thought earlier. I still think the forks are modified Kaw, but without more photos, I can't be certain.
The chamber, though it looks like a factory Kaw part, isn't a Greenstreak part (damn!).
What is left of the frame VIN number will be on the left side of the frame neck and is probably partly obscured by the welds. The stamps weren't very deep and if paint will obscure them, the welding may have messed them up completely.
The Kaw frame is a street bike or enduro model, small single, as it has provisions for a side stand and main stand, neither of which were on the 100cc race frame (as far as I know) and the peg position on the swingarm uses the threaded bushings that were on the street bike swingarm but not the race bike.
I didn't see any lights or provisions for any, so I assume that the bike was intended for just road racing. If you search for more parts and find any engine parts, it may be that the original builder had put in a Greenstreak Centurian motor. For its day, it put out awesome power and had an aluminum cylinder versus the street bike's cast iron one, a far larger carb, magneto ignition and different transmission ratios. I rode one briefly at a scrambles / motocross club event around 1972; zero bottom end, serious horsepower, handled like a gutshot grizzly. I went back to riding my friend's 250 Bultaco Six Days Replica for the rest of the event. The Centurian engine would bolt up to the stock street bike's engine mounts, so keep looking for stuff - there may by a neat engine in a box in an attic near you.
Pat

Thanks again man, I was looking at classic motorcycles from this era at http://motorbike-search-engine.co.uk/Vintage_Bikes.php and theres like 98% of every motorcycle company listed there, furthermore the Honda's did resemble tthis bike quite a bit, especially the brakes and frame, hrmm, im going to google some of the suggestions from people here and see if I can dig anything up. Heres the pics of under the seat and tank and a few more detail pics I took.

my BEST guess......honda MT125......

I'm about an hour south of Seattle. Picked up 1 1/2 Benelli 125 2-smokes a couple years back to go with a Rickman Zundapp chassis that was given to me. Not a one has papers, but if you want them come get them. I don't ship big stuff.

Oh, the engines were originally in Montgomery Wards Riversides, parts are still available, I might still have Cosmotor's catalog around here. Do have a service manual.

Two strokes give me hives, I won't even fix my chainsaws...

Thanks for the offer, transportation might be an issue for me tho. Do you have pictures you could send me and I might be more inclined to bribe someone for a ride?

I'm starting to think I may never know what model/brand this bike is, so I guess I'll just be making a kinda custom cafe-racer. Will you all be able to help me a bit with info on custom parts, tires, carbs, pipes, etc,etc ?

i really think you should look at pictures of honda mt125's and figure out with the bike right there if thats what you have. it was a common bike to turn into a racer and its 2 stroke.

I looked through the MT's and none had same forks/frame or brake... but there is this yamaha ta125 that looks very close in alot of ways (exhaust, brakes, wheels, seat, tank) the frames got that funky bend there, but maybe it was an older or a ta100 or something....

I found a serial number but Im not sure if it's for the bike or not because it's not on the frame its on the bottom of the rear struts/suspension on each side and it's stamped: º4034937AAH/ I punched it into google and nothing. I'm sure there is no serial number on the head stock anywhere, unless it was only 2 numbers long in which case it may have been welded over for the fairing bracket which it looks like there was..

I just pulled the rear tire off the rim today and they are tubed tires...duno if that was obvious, but they are. Brakes (or at least the rear brake) is made in Japan. Yokohama tires n tubes, the rim tube liner reads in big yellow bold writing OHTSU 19-25.

That is TOO cool. Whatever you do, don't over-restore it. Use period correct parts and such. Check with some Vintage MC clubs and vintage racing groups. I bet there's a class for it, whatever it is.

I'm going to try and restore it to as original as possible. I was wondering if it might be a good idea to get newer tires and If it's possible to get radial tires or whatever that look and handle more like a modern streetbike tire than the old plain Jane 4-ply rubbers. Would they make nicer newer tires for this? 2.75 x 18.

I hope I will be able to get an engine from a bike of the period. It looks like some of the old kawi engines will be a bolt in fit. Anyone with more information on that subject speak now or forever hold your peace Or else I might just be getting an older(or newer) yz125 2stroke or something of that nature.

Besides that I am going to stick with the original gas tank and seat. I will get my gf to reupholster the seat and I will paint the tail fairing and gas tank, I might stick with the original paint scheme, just brought up to date, not sure yet.

I'll need some foot pegs, all I got for pegs are 2 bent bolts welded in place where the footpegs go. Would the footpeg just go over the bolt?

Since I can't find a VIN i doubt I'll be able to make it road legal so I wont bother with mirrors n signals, but I think I may see if I can get an old front fairing to give it that moto GP feel.

Can anyone tell what engine will fit in the frame with the mounts as is? Or if another engine would fit in there with minor changes to bracket?

Thanks again

Without knowing what motor was in it before, it's kind of a guess of what can go in now. The motor mount will probably need worked over (wider,narrower,longer,etc) and you will also have a problem with the driveline. But you would need to measure straight down the rear sprocket to line up the front sprocket for that.
The pegs can have multiple solutions as there are many different ways to mount them. Search around a little bit and you can find clamp-ons, bolt ons, and the like.

For the paint, check out VonYinzers build called the Supernaut. He has a new paint job but "weathered" it to look vintage.

Might contact the local authorities about what you can do about making it street legal. Be a shame to never be able to cruise around town on that thing when it's done, ya know?

Good luck with everything man! I know at least I'm keeping an eye on this.

Big R said:

Without knowing what motor was in it before, it's kind of a guess of what can go in now. The motor mount will probably need worked over (wider,narrower,longer,etc) and you will also have a problem with the driveline. But you would need to measure straight down the rear sprocket to line up the front sprocket for that.
The pegs can have multiple solutions as there are many different ways to mount them. Search around a little bit and you can find clamp-ons, bolt ons, and the like.

For the paint, check out VonYinzers build called the Supernaut. He has a new paint job but "weathered" it to look vintage.

Might contact the local authorities about what you can do about making it street legal. Be a shame to never be able to cruise around town on that thing when it's done, ya know?

Good luck with everything man! I know at least I'm keeping an eye on this.

Click to expand...

Thanks, I'm pretty excited about this too, I never knew I had such an interest in vintage motorcycles. I hope I'll be able to insure it, or maybe it would be possible to (not that i would or anything ) buy an older bike that looks pretty close frame wise and just stamp my frame with the VIN# from the similar bike. In theory It might work, in practice it would be dangerous. I'll cross that bridge when I get to it.

I know an old machineist who i used to be buds with his son and he has done some work for me in the past so I should have no problem getting the engine mounts fabricated and welded to the frame. Im thinking im going to need to get an engine that is rather slim or I could have too much hanging over either side. I think this bike may have had one of those old 50cc 14 gear engines that I've read about in it. Perhaps it was a slightly larger displacement which had the 14 gears but it made sence seeing as these things were tuned for high top end at the time, or so i am told. That paint idea sounds great, im going to go search for the thread, where can i find it?

I'm going to need a few other things (grips/mirrors perhaps etc) and I am wondering if there are any really good online stores you guys could recommend??

Absolutely DO NOT under any circumstances stamp a VIN onto the neck!! Swagger was just talking about how he needs a frame and as he put it "that can land you in the Butt Hut". As soon as somebody even thinks that they are stamped, your bike could be confiscated. There are other options out there, but like you said, cross that bridge later. Not trying to bust chops, just don't wanna see you lose that piece of history.

VonYinzer's build is in the "Big Arse Projects" cafe racers thread. Just scroll down through the list looking for his name, should be on the 1st or 2nd page.

And there are plenty of .com suppliers to look for the small stuff. Try out BikeBandit, Denniskirk (one of my new favs), MikesXS, and JcWhitney just to name a few