bitterswede
New Member
Grew up in South Africa, last century, when cafe racers ruled. Cut my teeth on a stock Yamaha YAS1 125 with factory straight bars. What a great little bike, wish I still had it!
My motocross roots left me with a yearning for an open class based street bike, but not the super-moto thing, more cafe. So I put together this little 210-LB slingshot. It's a YZ490 spliced into a Ninja 250 frame. I'm waiting for the EPA to stop emisssions-testing bikes before I go through the reconstruction title bullshit with the state of Arizona. In the meantime, a hand-full of rides shows she's impossible to start (the Ninja rear-sets limit starter travel so I'm building a pit-starter) but once running she'll do 70-mph in a blink. Just that WOOOOOOOO roar as she hits the pipe in each gear; sounds like your favorite top-gear sweeper in 1985, sweet. Hits like a sack of cement dropped from the roof.
I had a lot of fun building this bike. The YZ swing-arm bolts right into the Ninja frame, same bolt, same width, and it registers the rear engine mount too, so all alignment issues are easily settled. Just had to shim the rear sprocket about 25 thousandths and bush the YZ swingarm and trim the Ninja axle spacers... The backbone, down-tubes, and lower cradle are YZ and were spliced into the frame in a way that preserved Ninja geometry. Tank is '60's Bridgestone 175, headlight '60's Sears/Puch. This bike is more art than will perhaps be practical but fun for a ten-mile jog close to home.
For a more practical café racer, I’m collecting parts for a Suzuki Savage project. Have early ‘90’s FZR600 wheels, brakes, forks, T-clamps, swing-arm, and foot-pegs. R6 shock, ‘60’s Yamaha YCS1 tank, bigger (7”) ‘60’s Sears/Puch headlight. Want to keep the LS650 engine stock and reliable, don’t care about the horsepower battle, I’ll never win it anyway. Looking for a good used bike and doing a lot of sketching. Thanks Steel Clover for the frame jpeg!
http://www.dotheton.com/forum/index.php?PHPSESSID=76ief4ojr6cki1bnkuoj69mld4&topic=18900.0
Love this site, thanks for keeping it up. Plan to post pictures of the Suzuki build.
Cheers,
Swede
My motocross roots left me with a yearning for an open class based street bike, but not the super-moto thing, more cafe. So I put together this little 210-LB slingshot. It's a YZ490 spliced into a Ninja 250 frame. I'm waiting for the EPA to stop emisssions-testing bikes before I go through the reconstruction title bullshit with the state of Arizona. In the meantime, a hand-full of rides shows she's impossible to start (the Ninja rear-sets limit starter travel so I'm building a pit-starter) but once running she'll do 70-mph in a blink. Just that WOOOOOOOO roar as she hits the pipe in each gear; sounds like your favorite top-gear sweeper in 1985, sweet. Hits like a sack of cement dropped from the roof.
I had a lot of fun building this bike. The YZ swing-arm bolts right into the Ninja frame, same bolt, same width, and it registers the rear engine mount too, so all alignment issues are easily settled. Just had to shim the rear sprocket about 25 thousandths and bush the YZ swingarm and trim the Ninja axle spacers... The backbone, down-tubes, and lower cradle are YZ and were spliced into the frame in a way that preserved Ninja geometry. Tank is '60's Bridgestone 175, headlight '60's Sears/Puch. This bike is more art than will perhaps be practical but fun for a ten-mile jog close to home.
For a more practical café racer, I’m collecting parts for a Suzuki Savage project. Have early ‘90’s FZR600 wheels, brakes, forks, T-clamps, swing-arm, and foot-pegs. R6 shock, ‘60’s Yamaha YCS1 tank, bigger (7”) ‘60’s Sears/Puch headlight. Want to keep the LS650 engine stock and reliable, don’t care about the horsepower battle, I’ll never win it anyway. Looking for a good used bike and doing a lot of sketching. Thanks Steel Clover for the frame jpeg!
http://www.dotheton.com/forum/index.php?PHPSESSID=76ief4ojr6cki1bnkuoj69mld4&topic=18900.0
Love this site, thanks for keeping it up. Plan to post pictures of the Suzuki build.
Cheers,
Swede
