noahdog
Been Around the Block
Ok here's my first real attempt at a cafe racer. After I picked up the KZ400 and saw the straight lines of the frame I knew it was begging to be cafe'd out. The original tank was beat to hell. It only has 2K miles but it'd had a very rough life in the garage it seems. So I picked up a better tank and left side cover off Ebay and some clubman bars from a local shop and the project begins.
Next I started on a seat and some rear sets. The seat is still in the beginning stages, being made from the rear of the old beat up tank. I'm still up in the air at this point especially since one of our fine members has a seat that would fit just about perfectly on my frame. http://www.roccitycafe.com/item.php?path=store/cbss,
While I decide on a seat I went to work on mocking up some rearsets. I picked up a pair of YAMAHA YZF-R1 rearsets from 2 different auctions for less than $50 and mounted the pegs and levers to the stock passenger peg mounts. I still need to remove the stock controls and re-bend the brake linkage since I made the second bend too close to the first but I have a functional mock up on both sides.
I'm also thinking about a small fairing for the front. I'm torn between a more traditional cafe 1/4 fairing like this... http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Viper-Sport-Cafe-Fairing-for-Motorcycles_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQhashZitem518d9445f7QQitemZ350267655671QQptZMotorcyclesQ5fPartsQ5fAccessories
or a more modern dual headlight fairing like this... http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=130339716949&viewitem=&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWAX%3AIT
I look forward to comments and tips.
Next I started on a seat and some rear sets. The seat is still in the beginning stages, being made from the rear of the old beat up tank. I'm still up in the air at this point especially since one of our fine members has a seat that would fit just about perfectly on my frame. http://www.roccitycafe.com/item.php?path=store/cbss,
While I decide on a seat I went to work on mocking up some rearsets. I picked up a pair of YAMAHA YZF-R1 rearsets from 2 different auctions for less than $50 and mounted the pegs and levers to the stock passenger peg mounts. I still need to remove the stock controls and re-bend the brake linkage since I made the second bend too close to the first but I have a functional mock up on both sides.
I'm also thinking about a small fairing for the front. I'm torn between a more traditional cafe 1/4 fairing like this... http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Viper-Sport-Cafe-Fairing-for-Motorcycles_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQhashZitem518d9445f7QQitemZ350267655671QQptZMotorcyclesQ5fPartsQ5fAccessories
or a more modern dual headlight fairing like this... http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=130339716949&viewitem=&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWAX%3AIT
I look forward to comments and tips.