Cutting up the frame

M

Mossy21

Active Member
I'd like to start off and say, I love the Café Racer scene. The projects you guys are building are great...... but one thing. Why does everyone cut off the rear of the frame and all the little tabs. I know, the short frame looks cool, but you just ruin a motorcycle from being anything else but a café racer.

Time will pass and the Café scene will die off (like everything) and those bikes will be heading for the junk yard. They can't be converted back with out lots of time and money. :'(

Even the little mounting tabs are cut off..... Why, to save weight ? Take a dump before you go for a ride. Clean up the look ? I don't think anyone would notice three or four little inch long tabs.

Back in the earliy 1980's my first road bike was a CB750k (1978). I rode the crap out of it and then sold the old worn out machine, not thinking all these years later I would want another more then anything. I did buy one that was stock. If all the old bikes in my area where cut up, my dream would not have come true.

So in closing.... I didn't want to start a war. (Sorry) I just want to say, all those wonderful vintage motorcycles; I so dearly loved them better natural without a boob job.
 
Not to be a jerk... But they made plenty of bikes. Most of the ones being cut up are about as far from rare as possible. If stock bikes are your thing, there are thousands more to buy.
 
Anyone can restore one...........and no -one is holding a gun to anyone's head not to cut one up.
My Kawasaki cafe was a totally stuffed bike and there was no way in hell I was restoring it.
Parts for a 32 year old bike aren't exactly thick on the ground and even sourcing parts to fix what I had was a nightmare.
Each to their own but one thing I know is no-one would ever pay big dollars for a restored version of my bike and it would cost a small fortune to do so
 
If someone can remove the back of the frame and weld on a hoop, then they can weld the back of the frame back on. It is also easy to put tabs back on. A modified frame is not useless for anything but a CR, it just takes some more work.
 
What about "collectors"? People that have literally hundreds of bikes stashed in a warehouse where they sit for decades, just rotting and not doing anyone any good.
At any rate, like it's already been said, most of these bikes were high volume production bikes and there are more than plenty go around.
 
Mossy21 said:
Time will pass and the Café seen will die off (like everything) and those bikes will be heading for the junk yard. They can't be converted back with out lots of time and money. :'(
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I've loved the café racer style of bike for 20 years - long before this wave of popularity or "scene". When the popularity of the style dies off, I'll still love my bike and I'll spend all the time and money it takes to keep it running like new and looking the way I intended it to when I customized it - not to convert it back to stock - that would be a waste of time and money.

The idea that you'd take a bike to the junkyard simply because it's gone out of style seems silly to me. Are you making it a café racer for other people; so that other people will think the bike is cool, because its fashionable right now? Seems like the wrong reason to customize a bike in the first place.

That said, I've got a CB550 Super Sport thats bone stock and always will be. I'm now customizing another CB550 Super Sport in the café racer style. I've never gone on this site to ask the community what rear sets I should use or what turn signals they think look better and I never will - I'm the one building the bike, I'm the one riding the bike and I don't give a shit if it's fashionable or if anyone else likes it.
 
Careful, now. Don't wanna end up like this guy, but with a 1969 CB750 neck sawed off in your bed...

Horsehead.png
 
So coming from the hot rod world I have heard this argument for years and years and it still is stupid. People say why would you take a beautiful '49 Merc or caddy and cut the roof to chop it and put a different grill in it or why would you want it so low that it scrapes when you pull into parking lots or blah blah blah. Cutting off tabs to clean up the look does matter to a lot of people. Like cars why would you shave the door handles and emblems and chrome and what not? Because it looks good to the builder and they like it. And as for the it can't be converted back without lots of time and money. Nothing in the building and modifying world gets done with out time, money, and effort. It takes a lot of each to modify it and it will take a lot of each if someone chooses to change it back. Its something you accept as a builder. Very few of us are in this to make money.

Its called doing something that makes you happy and you like and doing something different or innovative and stretching your skills as a builder and learning.

As for the argument that they will become scarce there is a little validity to that. Just try buying a steel model A body in any condition for under $2000. However that doesn't mean they aren't out there. They are just more expensive now. Also once something is modified it can absolutely be reborn as something else. There are many examples on here of bikes having 2 or 3 lives in different configurations. Will you be able to put them back to stock form...probably not but that's not really the point now is it.
 
Mossy is right. Most of the bikes that are chopped up and detabbed and otherwise butchered do not end well - just check the Craigslist horror thread for examples. People chop parts up because it's the fashion and they have seen it here and on Cafe Racer freekin TV, so they think it's the cool thing to do, to join the scene.

We were not a whole lot better back in the sixties and turned a lot of otherwise uninspiring stock bikes into junk. How many were exceptional - maybe 1 in a thousand. The difference now is that people don't care what they destroy and have no fear of turning a 1,2,3 thousand dollar bike into junk. Back then we were so broke none of us dared to do anything as stupid as cutting bits off a perfectly good and potentially saleable bike.

So not a lot changed apart from the financial status and willingness of people to potentially trash the investment.

One big difference though was the pace of life. Back in the day, there was no internet and we got our ideas and style clues from the bikes we saw around, and magazines. So we had a lot more thinking time and planning time and less access to welders and "ankle grinders". STuff was expensive so we had to think and save.

That didn't make us any better but a consequence may have been more foresight and a little more care. Bottom line was we have all ben ruining bikes since they were invented and that makes for a shrinking pool of original bikes. That's sad but it's life.

And back to cutting and grinding - it's a fashion statement. It is done as a first step and should be almost a last resort if there is no other way to achieve a particular objective. Instead it's become a world of I can do that because I want to - It's my party and I can cry if I want to - and that's also symptomatic of a society where we hear a lot about RIGHTS and ignore the fact that all rights carry equal responsibilities.

All that means is that we should maybe be a little more thoughtful about our actions.

Now what the f*#k was this thread about again, I got lost in the rarefied air up there on my soapbox. :)
 
If you consider your project bike or any project of this ilk as an investment....your definitely in the wrong biz
 
teazer said:
People chop parts up because it's the fashion and they have seen it here and on Cafe Racer freekin TV, so they think it's the cool thing to do, to join the scene.
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You're right. But if someone is doing this because it's in fashion or there's a scene to join, then IMO they're doing it for all the wrong reasons. Sad. I stopped watching custom car tv shows because every guy ever interviewed on these shows always said they did it to get noticed. If your only source of self esteem comes from compliments from strangers who are impressed by something you've done, then there's no wonder why you'd send a bike to the junkyard once it went out of style and the compliments stopped rolling in. You'd dump it and glom onto the next big thing to feed your need for approval. I don't build or ride or maintain my bikes to impress others. I build what I think is a beautiful piece of machinery - something I can't wait to ride. Why should the way I feel about my bike fade simply because it's perceived by others to be out of style? My café will always be a café because I don't give a shit who else thinks it's cool.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
Good to see I rattled a few cages.... Thanks for not jumping all over me. 8)

I just feel like all the good old stuff I grew up with, is going away. :'(
 
teazer said:
Mossy is right. Most of the bikes that are chopped up and detabbed and otherwise butchered do not end well - just check the Craigslist horror thread for examples. People chop parts up because it's the fashion and they have seen it here and on Cafe Racer freekin TV, so they think it's the cool thing to do, to join the scene.

We were not a whole lot better back in the sixties and turned a lot of otherwise uninspiring stock bikes into junk. How many were exceptional - maybe 1 in a thousand. The difference now is that people don't care what they destroy and have no fear of turning a 1,2,3 thousand dollar bike into junk. Back then we were so broke none of us dared to do anything as stupid as cutting bits off a perfectly good and potentially saleable bike.

So not a lot changed apart from the financial status and willingness of people to potentially trash the investment.

One big difference though was the pace of life. Back in the day, there was no internet and we got our ideas and style clues from the bikes we saw around, and magazines. So we had a lot more thinking time and planning time and less access to welders and "ankle grinders". STuff was expensive so we had to think and save.

That didn't make us any better but a consequence may have been more foresight and a little more care. Bottom line was we have all ben ruining bikes since they were invented and that makes for a shrinking pool of original bikes. That's sad but it's life.

And back to cutting and grinding - it's a fashion statement. It is done as a first step and should be almost a last resort if there is no other way to achieve a particular objective. Instead it's become a world of I can do that because I want to - It's my party and I can cry if I want to - and that's also symptomatic of a society where we hear a lot about RIGHTS and ignore the fact that all rights carry equal responsibilities.

All that means is that we should maybe be a little more thoughtful about our actions.

Now what the f*#k was this thread about again, I got lost in the rarefied air up there on my soapbox. :)
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yeah but back in the day we wanted to ride our bikes and that was the first priority now the stupid fuckers want to rip the wiring harness to shreds just so they can make it run like shit with "pods" so they have that gay as fuck "open look" under the seat
there is no answer but they are just stupid fuckers and they got a motorcycle and by gawd it is gonna look cool
riding is about 27th on the list
 
I'm going weld the back of my frame back on. I don't want to be part of a scene.
 
All these damn young kids cutting up old junk bikes for the sake of their enjoyment and a ride that appeals to them.

The fucking nerve of those guys.

You guys need to get your panties out of a bunch. It's nothing more than a hunk of metal.
 
SONIC. said:
You guys need to get your panties out of a bunch.
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Angle grinder?


It's a good thing all those hot rods in the 50s worked so well, were totally returnable to stock, and were so well-cared-for during their long lives.
 
you know what pisses me off is a lot of these kids would have been able to do better with the bike building if the schools still taught shop,but we don't need shop 'cus all the crooked politicians let our industry go overseas
all we need is $15 dollers an hour at micky dees and all will be well
 
When I did my CB550, I didn't modify the frame or destroy any original parts. It went through a variety of cosmetic versions, and ended up selling in its factory form for a good price.

My XS650 was a different beast. It was a 1972 frame with a 1978 engine that had zero compression. I tore it apart, cut every tab and extra bit of steel I could find off the frame and built a cafe racer. It was never going back to stock form and I was fine with that.

Mid-late 1970's Japanese motorcycle frames are abominations of stamped steel, ugly welds and excessive brackets. I don't have issue with cutting the extra stuff off. Nobody's going to loose sleep over another 1976 CB750 being hacked up. There are more than enough of them out there and even when we're down to the last dozen or so in 200 years from now, nobody will care that there aren't 10,000's of them out there like there are now.

A 1969 early 'sandcast' model - OK, fine, I hope there are a few of those around 200 years from now. And there likely will be as there are many, many museum quality examples of that and almost every other 'important' motorcycle ever made at Barber, Wheels Through Time and other profitable museums/institutions around the world who make money off keeping bikes in original condition.

The best thing anyone can do to a motorcycle is enjoy it, in whatever way is important to that person. Hack it up, restore it, race it, jump it, stunt it, crash it - whatever - just enjoy it. Lay hands on it. That's why we're here and why motorcycles exist.
 
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