Hi All,
I've been a member of this forum since a few months and I have to say it has one of the best cafe racer forums I've come across. There's lots of information on this website which has helped me in redoing my bike too into a Cafe Racer.
The bike I currently own is a 2005 Royal Enfield Bullet. Although it cannot do the ton, I have always wanted to have a Cafe Racer look for this bike. Here in India, Royal Enfield manufacturers the Bullet with 2 engine options i.e. 350cc (18bhp) and 500cc(22bhp) which is very less compared to any Cafe Racer. Although distributors / importers across the world offer various accessories, the Indian Company only has Saddle bags and Windshields to offer. The other bikes available here are the Yamaha RD350 and other old British bikes (BSA, Norton etc), but spares are very difficult to source and very expensive. Hence the closest I could come to a British bike was the Royal Enfield which is still being manufactured.
Here are some pics of my bike which is almost complete. The only thing thats left are the front mudguard and a different brand of tyres. All your comments and suggestions are welcome.
The bike when it was first brought :
We started with the "Cafe Racer" project in Jan 07. We started off by getting a new mudguard and shortening it.
Once the mudguard was shortened and fittedm, we realised that it was too high. There was a lot of gap between the tyres and the mudguard. So the frame holding the mudguard had to be cut too. And it wasnt an easy job. At first, everyone thought that it would be an easy job to just cut the frame and lower the mudguard. But it proved to be a bit more complicated To do this first the mudguard was removed and the frame was moved further at the right place to lower the mudguard. However due to another bracket under the seat, it was not possible to just cut the frame. So there were 2 extra holes drilled into the bracket and mudguard and after a lot of hammering the mudguard was finally lowered at both ends. The only problem is that now the frame and the mudguard are not aligned in the same shape.
The bike with the lowered mudguard : The bike looks out of shape now since the seat too is now facing upwards and theres a huge gap between the seat and the tank.
Height before after lowering the mudguard :
Height after lowering the mudguard
Half inch of the frame cut and welded back :
Extra hole drilled into the bracket and mudguard : The lower hole is where the bracket was originally attached.
The frame not aligned with the mudguard :
Royal Enfield is well-known for bad quality paint jobs. Within a year, the paint started peeling off from the engine.
The guard and the exhaust have been removed inorder to get the ebgine out.
The tank is removed too.
Cables being disconnected.
The final moment.
There it sits proudly along with the chain, footrests and other nuts and bolts.
The tank and the Goldstar silencer stored safely.
The engine has been fitted back. The clutch casing is still unfinished. It would be painted matt black. Fitting / Removal of the engine from a bike is really a painful thing to watch. The complete bike is opened up and all your parts are scattered here and there. There's a huge risk of mechanics dropping nuts, bolts, spanners on these parts especially the tank when its just lying around. Looking at the mechanic hammering a nut with a huge hammer could literally really give you heart attacks. There was lot of nut-banging done, however we ensured that no parts were damaged and scratched.
The BSA light which would be fitted onto the bike.
The BSA Goldstar seat fabricated for the Enfield. It turned out that the fabricated base was longer than the original seat and would need some cutting and shaping. The shape would be very much similar to the Goldstar seat.
The fabricated base as compared to the original seat.
Taking measurements to get the base-metal into shape.
The Machismo with a proper "impractical" Cafe-Racer seat.
Pics of the brackets made for the BSA light and registration plate.
The sharp edged mudguard:
Marking and cutting for folding the edge:
Cutting a part of the curved edge so that it can be bent easily.
Beating the edge. Halfway through:
Drilling common holes for the brackets:
Fitting the taillamp and plate:
Lying around before painting:
The handlebar has been fitted. It looks good but has a few problems.
The exhaust was cut and bent upwards.
Pics of the tail-light and the handlebar.
The footpegs had to be raised a bit higher to accomodate the silencer. See the difference in the height between the original silencer and the raised one.
I've been a member of this forum since a few months and I have to say it has one of the best cafe racer forums I've come across. There's lots of information on this website which has helped me in redoing my bike too into a Cafe Racer.
The bike I currently own is a 2005 Royal Enfield Bullet. Although it cannot do the ton, I have always wanted to have a Cafe Racer look for this bike. Here in India, Royal Enfield manufacturers the Bullet with 2 engine options i.e. 350cc (18bhp) and 500cc(22bhp) which is very less compared to any Cafe Racer. Although distributors / importers across the world offer various accessories, the Indian Company only has Saddle bags and Windshields to offer. The other bikes available here are the Yamaha RD350 and other old British bikes (BSA, Norton etc), but spares are very difficult to source and very expensive. Hence the closest I could come to a British bike was the Royal Enfield which is still being manufactured.
Here are some pics of my bike which is almost complete. The only thing thats left are the front mudguard and a different brand of tyres. All your comments and suggestions are welcome.
The bike when it was first brought :
We started with the "Cafe Racer" project in Jan 07. We started off by getting a new mudguard and shortening it.
Once the mudguard was shortened and fittedm, we realised that it was too high. There was a lot of gap between the tyres and the mudguard. So the frame holding the mudguard had to be cut too. And it wasnt an easy job. At first, everyone thought that it would be an easy job to just cut the frame and lower the mudguard. But it proved to be a bit more complicated To do this first the mudguard was removed and the frame was moved further at the right place to lower the mudguard. However due to another bracket under the seat, it was not possible to just cut the frame. So there were 2 extra holes drilled into the bracket and mudguard and after a lot of hammering the mudguard was finally lowered at both ends. The only problem is that now the frame and the mudguard are not aligned in the same shape.
The bike with the lowered mudguard : The bike looks out of shape now since the seat too is now facing upwards and theres a huge gap between the seat and the tank.
![](http://"http://img45.imageshack.us/my.php?image=bulletmw3.jpg")
Height before after lowering the mudguard :
![](http://"http://img455.imageshack.us/my.php?image=beforeyq3.jpg")
Height after lowering the mudguard
![](http://"http://img409.imageshack.us/my.php?image=afteref9.jpg")
Half inch of the frame cut and welded back :
![](http://"http://img129.imageshack.us/my.php?image=frameyk6.jpg")
Extra hole drilled into the bracket and mudguard : The lower hole is where the bracket was originally attached.
![](http://"http://img102.imageshack.us/my.php?image=bracketmk6.jpg")
The frame not aligned with the mudguard :
![](http://"http://img19.imageshack.us/my.php?image=frameit2.jpg")
Royal Enfield is well-known for bad quality paint jobs. Within a year, the paint started peeling off from the engine.
![](http://"http://img95.imageshack.us/img95/9693/paintyz0.jpg")
The guard and the exhaust have been removed inorder to get the ebgine out.
The tank is removed too.
Cables being disconnected.
The final moment.
There it sits proudly along with the chain, footrests and other nuts and bolts.
The tank and the Goldstar silencer stored safely.
The engine has been fitted back. The clutch casing is still unfinished. It would be painted matt black. Fitting / Removal of the engine from a bike is really a painful thing to watch. The complete bike is opened up and all your parts are scattered here and there. There's a huge risk of mechanics dropping nuts, bolts, spanners on these parts especially the tank when its just lying around. Looking at the mechanic hammering a nut with a huge hammer could literally really give you heart attacks. There was lot of nut-banging done, however we ensured that no parts were damaged and scratched.
The BSA light which would be fitted onto the bike.
The BSA Goldstar seat fabricated for the Enfield. It turned out that the fabricated base was longer than the original seat and would need some cutting and shaping. The shape would be very much similar to the Goldstar seat.
The fabricated base as compared to the original seat.
Taking measurements to get the base-metal into shape.
The Machismo with a proper "impractical" Cafe-Racer seat.
Pics of the brackets made for the BSA light and registration plate.
The sharp edged mudguard:
Marking and cutting for folding the edge:
Cutting a part of the curved edge so that it can be bent easily.
Beating the edge. Halfway through:
Drilling common holes for the brackets:
Fitting the taillamp and plate:
Lying around before painting:
The handlebar has been fitted. It looks good but has a few problems.
- On full turn, the decompression switch touches the tank.
- The reach is quite far and u-turn's are somewhat difficult. A lot of load comes on the wrist currently and its very uncomfortable in traffic. Navigation through traffic is also not very easy. The handlebar needs to be pulled back an inch or two and raised.
The exhaust was cut and bent upwards.
Pics of the tail-light and the handlebar.
The footpegs had to be raised a bit higher to accomodate the silencer. See the difference in the height between the original silencer and the raised one.
