Benji's Cafe Racer
- Thread starter swellguy
- Start date
swellguy
Wear out, don't rust out.
Like I said, he seems to cut most of the sides off the tanks leaving the tunnel with tank mounts, and a center strip that contains the filler cap. The rest, including the bottom is fiberglass shaped and bonded to the metal carcass. The the whole thing is coated with green bondo to achieve the final shape. In my case, the tank didn't have a very thick layer of bond. It did have a fiberglass bottom with a piece of metal for the petcock mount laid within the fiberglass.Ringo said:
HerrDeacon
Over 1,000 Posts
For the price of those tanks I would expect no bondo at all to be used. I can understand metal used for the petcock, mounts and maybe the filler cap, but definitely no bondo. I'd expect to use body filler if it was a one off piece made by laying over foam, but they must be using a mold so not sure why they would need the body filler. You sure its not gel coat your seeing?
part of the fun of building an old bike is hunting down the parts in salvage yard and sheads and freinds houses road trips for a set of wheels with good chrome you just missed out on all of that and ordered a three grand worth of parts what ever its your money but when its done it will be like every other bike on ebay that doesnt meet it reserve looks like i just may be a dick but you cant point and click your way through building my bike there rockefellerswellguy said:
valvesprung
Over 1,000 Posts
just because you don't have his budget and have to get creative, that makes you a superior bike builder? Are you for real? I agree your way sounds entertaining...for a time. Who's to say these guys haven't built others just liek yours and now have moved on to bigger things. Scavenging for bike parts does not a cafe make. In fact very little of what hits this site is even in the original cafe spirit, but who the fuck cares?
We build what makes us happy, some bobber, some cruisers, some cafes, some damn near enduros. If you like it build it, if not deal with it.
We build what makes us happy, some bobber, some cruisers, some cafes, some damn near enduros. If you like it build it, if not deal with it.
Hey guys, I would like to make a comment about this stuff.
The tank I have is very poorly built, the top is 3/4" thick which is ridiculous for composites. The tank weighs 12 lbs, the gas cap lock does not align with the pivot and it is all made from chop strand mat, with some areas having over 1/4" of bondo in it.
Here are photos of mine that I had to make modifications to to fix their problems.
I added 3/4" to fix the gap in between the seat and gas tank.
I will get photos of the gas cap.
The tank I have is very poorly built, the top is 3/4" thick which is ridiculous for composites. The tank weighs 12 lbs, the gas cap lock does not align with the pivot and it is all made from chop strand mat, with some areas having over 1/4" of bondo in it.
Here are photos of mine that I had to make modifications to to fix their problems.
I added 3/4" to fix the gap in between the seat and gas tank.
I will get photos of the gas cap.
I have to agree. I have seen a few finished out, granted they aren't raw so I couldn't really get a good feel of what was going on, but they are HEAVY!!!!
The one I handled was made for a cb750 and on the scale, it was around 12.5 lbs. This in comparison to the fiberglass tank I have made by legacy motorcycles that is a manx replica tank that weighs 4.4 lbs. That's a huge tank too. Not sure how they're making them over at benjies, but my guess is that its an "over mold" glass tank. The correct way is to use a negative mold system where you gel coat the inside and lay the glass into it. This is odd to me that any bondo is used since they are mass producing these things. A simple negative mold would make thugs so much easier. Just my $.02.
The one I handled was made for a cb750 and on the scale, it was around 12.5 lbs. This in comparison to the fiberglass tank I have made by legacy motorcycles that is a manx replica tank that weighs 4.4 lbs. That's a huge tank too. Not sure how they're making them over at benjies, but my guess is that its an "over mold" glass tank. The correct way is to use a negative mold system where you gel coat the inside and lay the glass into it. This is odd to me that any bondo is used since they are mass producing these things. A simple negative mold would make thugs so much easier. Just my $.02.
Swapmeet Louie
Put some metal in yer eye....
I wouldnt buy any thing Glass from anyone except from Bret @ GFTP. Period. I'm capable of producing the quality of whats described above. If I'm paying for parts. They better be beyond my abilities...
Whitey80
You're all idiots.
Swapmeet Louie said:
After having bought a couple of pieces from him (Glass From the Past) last year, I definitely wont deal with him again either. Told would take 2-3 weeks....took 2 months. When my seat and belly pan arrived, it took a massive amount of body filler to make that belly pan come close to resembling a rounded shape, and the cuts on the bottom of the seat were extremely asymmetrical. The gel coating had air bubbles throughout the entirety of both parts.
Took an absolute ton of body work to get it right. Really glad I didn't buy the full fairing I was considering, I'd probably still be working on it to this day!
Swapmeet Louie
Put some metal in yer eye....
TheOneTrueGreg said:
Bummer! I've always had great quality from him.
They are probably strong because they are woven fabric, and have a good resin to fiber ratio. The Benji's wouldn't be bad for 100-150$ but when some one shells out 850$ for this type of quality, it just isn't fair. This should be know to everyone before purchasing these kits.
Here is the gas cap you can see the lock is off to the right,
And no one part on this tank is symmetrical, the knee cut outs are different, and on the front one part is longer than the other. My guess to why there is bondo is because it is just layed up wet with no vacuum because when I sanded through the bondo there are a lot of air pockets.
it is built like a tank, in the composite world "Thick is stiffer" and this thing is plenty thick.
Here is the gas cap you can see the lock is off to the right,
And no one part on this tank is symmetrical, the knee cut outs are different, and on the front one part is longer than the other. My guess to why there is bondo is because it is just layed up wet with no vacuum because when I sanded through the bondo there are a lot of air pockets.
it is built like a tank, in the composite world "Thick is stiffer" and this thing is plenty thick.
Here's my CB350 tank. Fuel cap is wonky just like yours GoingsMoto. Maybe Benjie makes them all like this?!? What did you do to fix yours?
I also bought a seat subframe loop. It is solid, well made and symmetrical. It has a reduction in diameter in the loop tubing at each end so the tube can be inserted into frame tubing and easily welded. The only problem is the CB350 has rectangular section framing not tube section so the tube of the seat subframe doesn't slide into the main frame. The round tubing had to be modified to fit into the square hole!
The end result for a novice welder like me is not too attractive
I also bought a seat subframe loop. It is solid, well made and symmetrical. It has a reduction in diameter in the loop tubing at each end so the tube can be inserted into frame tubing and easily welded. The only problem is the CB350 has rectangular section framing not tube section so the tube of the seat subframe doesn't slide into the main frame. The round tubing had to be modified to fit into the square hole!
The end result for a novice welder like me is not too attractive
MJPriceisright
Coast to Coast
great info and i appreciate the post because i believe ill be running that tank seat combo. but i was wondering, i dont want to buy the 300 rear frame loop and battery box, id rather just buy one off the forum and make my own setup.. but i dont have the rear tail section so i dont know where to cut and put the new loop, cause id like to do that before i have the frame powdercoated.. do you remember how big the loop was and where youd had to cut the frame? any returned info would be greatly appreciated.
MJPriceisright
Coast to Coast
i see, alright well i will keep that noted. any thoughts on the rear loop? i messaged benji asking if he sold a simple loop instead of the whole ordeal he sells, and if he could pass along the instructions and measurements to make the cuts, hoping to hear back sooner than later. thanks
