'82 cafe XV750

[biker_reject]

What would be the effect of mounting an 18" wheel in the rear and a 16" up front?

[kman]

man that looks so awesome! i am so temped to build a bike around this kit!

Heres another with cafes fat tire mod, i'm pretty happy with it great quality.
KMAN

[Swagger]

What would be the effect of mounting an 18" wheel in the rear and a 16" up front?

With good suspension it'd quicken the steering up. With OEM mushy I imagine the front wheel would tuck in and pitch you off

[miob]

I 'inherited' a 1982 Yamaha Virago XV750 from my Dad - he just lost interest in it and decided he didn't want it anymore and didn't want to go thru the hastle of selling it.  In the 10 years he owned it, he only put 700 miles on it ... so it sat a lot.  I'm not much into the cruiser style so I decided to cafe it.

First off, this is my inspiration - Cafe Zero ... a heavily modded XV750 cafe'd by Zero Engineering (Japanese customizer).  The bike now resides in the Netherlands I think.  Not many cafe'd Viragos out there ...

Since many of you are so interested in the bike on this photo: I found more photo's and: It's for sale!

http://www.speurders.nl/overzicht/motoren-en-scooters/motoren-oldtimers/te-koop-aangeboden-2x-yamaha-caferacer-blikvangers-60303088.html

It says bidding starts at 2000,- euros (somewhere in between 2500 to 3000 Us$). + shipping from europe ofcourse

[Cafe-XV750]

Looks like a copy bike is for sale ... not Cafe Zero - it is shown next to Cafe Zero in one of the pics.  The bike for sale has a dual brake front wheel and lots of drillings all over it.

[miob]

Looks like a copy bike is for sale ... not Cafe Zero - it is shown next to Cafe Zero in one of the pics.  The bike for sale has a dual brake front wheel and lots of drillings all over it.

No, it says:

"Te koop aangeboden
cafe racer
1985 dus belastingvrij
uiterlijk 27-2 moet hij verkocht zijn
graag mailen naar
svendehoop1987@Hotmail.com
onzin biedingen worden verwijderd
richtprijs 2000 /stuk"
for sale
caferacer
1985, so tax free (over here you don't have to pay tax for oldtimers/vehikels over 25 years old)
Must be sold before februari 27
please mail to
.....
biddings that are too low will be removed
the aim is 2000 euro's per bike





So both the zero and the copy are for sale. Pretty cheap actually. I had my BMW cafe racer for sale for about a week or two with a broken alternator and biddings were much higher than that. He must be pretty desperate.



But time to go back on topic . I really admire your build.

[Cafe-XV750]

Think she's too low?

Finally had it warm up enough around here to venture out to the garage and get the 3.5" lowered forks and front conversion on my bike.  Also had the rear wheel off for painting and put it back on.  Been cleaning/polishing and painting stuff too.

Here is the first pic of her on the ground with the tires aired up ... about 3.5-3.75" of ground clearance at the oil sump drain.


What do you think?  I think it's badass, but it is REALLY low (and my weight isn't on it)!  Even if a little higher I think I'll fab up a 1/8" thick steel mini-skidplate to protect the sump.

Rear of the tank is about 1.5" higher than stock in this pic - might push it to 2".

Going to shorten the front of the seatpan a bit (to pull it forward - have the back of the seat closer to the rear wheel center) and graft in part of the XV seat (the part that covers the back of the tank).  Will eventually be painted black and have some covered padding.

Trying to decide if I want to do gunmetal grey or Yamaha blue tank & seat stripes and a tank forks logo - might add a wheel pinstripe in the same color too.

Need to bend up the new rear subframe tubes and start welding too.

Hard to see with all the crap in the background, but the OE gauges are lowered about 1" (headlight will be lower the same) ... might drop them and just go with a simple single round speedo that would sit a little lower.

Eventually I'll pull of the centerstand and shorten the kickstand.

Lots more to do ...

Any comments?

[kadavenport]

Looking good, hope u dont live near speed bumps. I'm with ya on shortening the seat pan a lil (need to do the same on my bike), and like you said somewhere near the middle of the hub should look right. Where are planning on routing the exhaust?

[biker_reject]

Well, you're way ahead of me on my project, Matt.  I like what I'm seeing.  When you chopped the backbone, did you box it in?  I am thinking of using a modern monoshock off a late model sport bike. That stock shock is shockingly heavy, ain't it?  I also plan on reconfiguring the original subframe and fitting an R1 seat I had laying around and building a fiberglass hump behind it.  I hope it flows with the gas tank.  Or, I like to know if other more conventionally shaped tanks could fit the VX frame.  BTW, how did you address the gas tank issue (the open end and mounting)?  Did you box that in, too?

[verboten1]

wow, dont try to lean it over~!!  I drag peg and exhaust @ stock height

[miob]

I think it's way too low. That zero bike has about the same clearance and there's a pic of it making a slow turn an even that is almost enough to make it hit the ground. I'd try to get at least 2 more inches of clearance, at least.

Agree with you on the seat pan: shorter looks better. Bike's already starting to look really nice though!!

[Cafe-XV750]

Yeah speed bumps and abrupt driveway entrances are worrying me!

Exhaust - planning on running front down the RH (an extension) and rear down the LH (a cut/weld flipover).  Need to mount up the front/RH pipe to see how low its going to be.

biker - I think your ('84-up XV or ?) is different than mine ... I didn't have to chop any of the backbone - just removed the OE rear seat tubular subframe and I'll make up a new one.  There are plenty of brackets/tabs I could cut/grind off the frame, but its in really good shape right now and doesn't need any painting - we'll see.  The rear shock is heavy, but I'm not planning on replacing yet.  The front of the tank just pivots around the OE side pucks and the rear will have a raised mount (off the backbone frame) with a weld nut that I can bolt the tank down to ... that is why I decided to graft in the front of the original seat pan to cover the bolt.  IMO Cafe Zero used a XV tank that had the back smoothed (welded/filled) and likely had a stud underneath that points down thru a raised mount.

Changing over to rearsets too off the OE pass peg locations - a little higher and plan on making them foldable.

[biker_reject]

Yeah, I like the rear sets that Sep Koch fabbed up over the stockers.  I just can't think of a way to make those look more streamlined?  I have an '82 XV but am planning to chop off the back of the frame just like the Koch build (to expose the shock much like a modern sport bike).  I worried that it would compromise the strength of the frame, but the engine is a stressed member.  The engine mounts are placed similarly to that of my Buells.  Also, Koch has built several XVs this way, so I think I'm OK.  I don't plan on riding it like I would a sport bike anyway.  I also have a friend who is hyped about building me some custom headers.  I just haven't decided on the configuration.  I'm leaning towards scrambler style or underseat with reverse cone cans.  As for the ground clearance, that is one of the reasons I was contemplating using 18" wheels.  I would certainly have to have a special hub cover fabbed.  Otherwise, it's a bolt on (drive spline and axle) like the stock 16"er.  

[miob]

Curbs and speed bumps are not yourt only worry, this is the pic I mean:



A clearance this low (and yours might be less, since it's standing on a wooden block?) will seriously spoil the fun.

(look how close the engine is to the ground and he's obviously not cornering 'at speed')

[biker_reject]

Whoa!  That's a seriously cool pic of Englebert's ride!  Yeah, it would surely suck levering a bike off the pavement!  OK, if the shocks were beefed up internally and 18" wheels used, do you all think it would reduce the problem of clearance???