Ok guys, a short summary of each modification. The below are the major stuff that were fabricated on the bike.
Rear Mudguard :
The original rear mudguard which comes is a bucket-type. Obviously this would not suit the cafe look, so it was replaced with a round mudguard. Now the round mudguard had to be cut short since its too long. Sounds easy, but it isnt. If you notice the rear mudguard on a Bullet, theres more gap bbetween the tyres on the top rather than at the back. So when we cut the mudguard, it looked a bit wierd. Inorder to get the mudguard lower, we had to cut one inch of the frame and drill extra holes for the mudguard mounts. Also we wanted the mudguard to be a little different, and not just a short one. So we tried with the idea of having a pilot light fitted at the bottom. And obviously, a BSA brake light to complete the setup.
The next cafe racer seat would be a very different and unique design.
Front Mudguard : The front mudguard that you see over here is nothing new. Its available on another Bullet model which is then cut short. We were looking for a small mudguard to replace the existing long flowing mudguard. My mechanic informed me that he had one in stock with him which is in a pretty bad shape. Looking at the state of the mudguard, we decided it best to just cut it and paint it black. So off we went to the guy and asked him to cut the mudguard short. Work done, we fitted it and it worked fine. More to come....
The major problem with this mudguard came up when we fitted the Duro tyre up front. We still regret this decision, not because of the brand, but the size. The 100/90-19 tyre is too wide for the front and results in heavy steering. Also, our new mudguard would not fit into it due to the mudguard mounts. So we had to remove the brackets and weld them outside the mudguard. And this would mean that the mudguard surface would be spoilt. We had no other choice since a new mudguard would cost 1000 bucks. The top surface of the mudguard was quite even and it was possible to chrome it. The place where the brackets were mounted had lot of welding marks and could nnot be chromed. So we painted this black and put a golden stripe on it.
Seat : At one point of time, when we ran out of ideas and almost overshot the budget, we decided to give the bike the look of a classic british bike. We were thinking of a single seat, but it would not be practical. Getting 2 seats done too was not in our budget. So we went along with the Goldstar seat. Once the GS seat was ready, we tried exploring the possibilities of having a removable cowl fitted onto it. So we got one done and tried mounting it on this seat. We almost succeeded but the problem was that the cowl did not match the shape of the GS seat. The cowl had to be mounted on a straight seat. So, what do we do now?? We thought more, got ideas and extended our budget a bit. And the result is in front of you now. One of the best cafe-racer seats i've ever seen.
Handlebar : No cafe racer is complete without clip-ons or clubman bars. Initially we had decided to keep the original handlebar and get it to its lowest position. But this too wouldnt give us the look and seating position required for a cafe racer. So we decided to fabricate one. The guy who made the handlebar got it done with a single iron rod and its perfect. The only problem is too rounded at the bends (unlike the original clubman bars).
Exhaust : Thump........We weren't at all impressed with the sound of the original silencer. A stock 100-200cc daily bike would sound louder than my Enfield. My mechanic advised me to change to the short bottle silencer and it would sound good. So thats what we did and LO.....................there was a very marginal increase in the sound. The sound was the same but marginally loud and we weren't impressed at all. The reson was that the bend pipe had to be changed to get a better note. Again this would be a problem since our budget for an exhaust was low. And the main question was, "After doing all this it would sound just like a STD350 or an Electra (other older Enfield models), right". The answer was right. So we told him to leave it at the short silencer and started thinking. Things started looking good when my mechanic told me he's got hold of a Goldstar silencer which is in good condition. We saw the exhaust and fitted it on a trial basis for 2 days. And I must say, the sound that we had always wanetd, the thump that should come out of a Bullet.... the Goldstar exhaust made it possible. The only thing was too now make it sweeping upwards. So we cut it at the start and bent it upwards. Thats the story of the Goldie now....
Other finishing touches :
Seat cover over the cowl
Single Left RVM
At least not on this bike. Hopefully will do that for the next project. The current seat and the new seat both can be fastened to the bike with just four bolts. So its easily removable and interchangeable. So it'll be very convinient when I decide to ride with a pillion.
