About two years ago I was approached by a young woman who wanted me to restore a very ratty 1973 CB350 Honda. Over the course of that winter I did as requested and put her on the road in the spring with what looks and runs like a new machine; all the while doing my best to keep a tight budget. She was very pleased with it and the only I asked of her when she took it home was that she keep it in good condition and actually ride it, which she certainly does. Anyhow, she called me again a few months ago to ask if I would be willing to take on the bike she learned to ride with...a TC100 Suzuki.
This one she wanted done up as something custom and was for the most part willing to let me loose to do with it what I liked with it. I did up a few modified photos and drawings for her and she seemed to be 'all about' the cafe racer idea. The only thing she really seemed to want was a paint scheme that involved black, gold and white. Well, I have been doing cafe racers since 1976 and was very excited about taking on the little bike as the latest project.
A couple of emails later she mentioned that she still wanted to be able to go off road with it once in a while...well, this threw me for a loop...In my books cafe racer and dirt bike are two things that don't really go together, so I suggested she might want to try to make it into a little flat track machine. No. She still wanted it to look like a racer. Then I got to thinking "What the heck, lots of people are building bikes with dual sport tires and I could just leave the foot pegs in the standard position so she can still get her butt up off the seat when the going gets rough."
Anyhow the machine had progressed quite far beyond the photo, but this was what I was looking at in the early stages of the job.
This one she wanted done up as something custom and was for the most part willing to let me loose to do with it what I liked with it. I did up a few modified photos and drawings for her and she seemed to be 'all about' the cafe racer idea. The only thing she really seemed to want was a paint scheme that involved black, gold and white. Well, I have been doing cafe racers since 1976 and was very excited about taking on the little bike as the latest project.
A couple of emails later she mentioned that she still wanted to be able to go off road with it once in a while...well, this threw me for a loop...In my books cafe racer and dirt bike are two things that don't really go together, so I suggested she might want to try to make it into a little flat track machine. No. She still wanted it to look like a racer. Then I got to thinking "What the heck, lots of people are building bikes with dual sport tires and I could just leave the foot pegs in the standard position so she can still get her butt up off the seat when the going gets rough."
Anyhow the machine had progressed quite far beyond the photo, but this was what I was looking at in the early stages of the job.