Hello Everyone, my name is Ashwin.
Just to start I'm very new to cafe racer scene. Last June I purchased a 1985 Honda Shadow VT700 with the expectation of riding it in the summer and working on it in the winter. There have been some delays and I'm really trying my best to have this completed by the summer months. Very recently I began to notice that this bike is a pain to attempt to cafe and when one problem has been solved I run into another one. Overall, I'm very confident that I will be able to get this completed with what I know it will look like in the very end. However, it's the unexpected complications like have a brand new front axle created which needs to be a combination of both the diameters of an 04' ZX-6R and that of the 85' VT700 because I'm keeping the same rims but changing the front end completely.
My inspirations for purchasing this bike came from the only other 2 VT700s I've seen to have been turned into a cafe. One came from a builder in Florida and the other was made by the guys at Dime City Cycles called "The Payback". Links below:
http://tinyurl.com/ka5bkvr
http://tinyurl.com/k6p2x7w
The the end of this epic journey, I hope to have a truly unique bike and a rare one because I don't think many people do attempt to cafe Shadows very much. During the time I was riding the bike it was just raw power with the 700cc engine and I can only hope that its even faster and sounds even better once its back to life again as a different beast. I won't be a stranger to these forms as I will need a ton of help and even suggestions on resources in my local Philadelphia area who would be great for me to reach out to for help if it comes to that. I'll leave you guys with a few progress pictures, and please any comments, suggestions and help is welcome. Thank you!!
Here's what she looked like:
http://imgur.com/gu5TXlv
Just to start I'm very new to cafe racer scene. Last June I purchased a 1985 Honda Shadow VT700 with the expectation of riding it in the summer and working on it in the winter. There have been some delays and I'm really trying my best to have this completed by the summer months. Very recently I began to notice that this bike is a pain to attempt to cafe and when one problem has been solved I run into another one. Overall, I'm very confident that I will be able to get this completed with what I know it will look like in the very end. However, it's the unexpected complications like have a brand new front axle created which needs to be a combination of both the diameters of an 04' ZX-6R and that of the 85' VT700 because I'm keeping the same rims but changing the front end completely.
My inspirations for purchasing this bike came from the only other 2 VT700s I've seen to have been turned into a cafe. One came from a builder in Florida and the other was made by the guys at Dime City Cycles called "The Payback". Links below:
http://tinyurl.com/ka5bkvr
http://tinyurl.com/k6p2x7w
The the end of this epic journey, I hope to have a truly unique bike and a rare one because I don't think many people do attempt to cafe Shadows very much. During the time I was riding the bike it was just raw power with the 700cc engine and I can only hope that its even faster and sounds even better once its back to life again as a different beast. I won't be a stranger to these forms as I will need a ton of help and even suggestions on resources in my local Philadelphia area who would be great for me to reach out to for help if it comes to that. I'll leave you guys with a few progress pictures, and please any comments, suggestions and help is welcome. Thank you!!
Here's what she looked like:
http://imgur.com/gu5TXlv
