Okay. I bought Dolores in pretty stock trim from my wife's cousin. Then I found cafe racers and DoTheTon. I immediately knew that DTT was THE place for me to learn about cafe racers and build mine. I started modifying her slowly, just building parts and trying stuff out. My buddy Brandon (Twisted) got involved somewhere around here. I wanted to tear the bike down and build her in a whirlwind of nights spent wrenching and cussing! Brandon and I grew up together and we've always worked on stuff together. We even lived together for a while in the bachelor days and owned a flooring business together for a few years. Anyway we built the bike pretty quickly. Brandon and I built the boat motor seat during this time. This was her orange period. Truth be told I prefer it to the green that she's wearing currently.
I went into another rebuild a few months ago. This is when I did the knee dents, the tach elimination, the ignition relocation, the guage bracket, and the shaved top triple clamp. I was rushing to get her done for a show and ending up painting her with Rustoleum pea green. Twisted laid the paint beautifully. She took second in her class behind a museum quality restored triumph cub.
This bike is a product of DoTheTon. Without this forum this bike wouldn't have been built. I've made lots of friends here and I've tried to give back experience and help to the forum. Dolores is back up and running as of this afternoon. She'll get painted again before Barber and a few other things done to her.
Hand built parts:
Seat and cowl from outboard motor, some fiberglass, some steel, an old sea-doo seat, and some vinyl
Tag bracket made from stainless steel scrap and speed drilled.
Guage bracket made of 1/4 plate aluminum.
Ignition plate also made of 1/4 plate aluminum.
Headlight ears made out of a piece of aluminum C-chanel (Stole the design from Twisted)
Modified stock parts:
The top triple clamp is a stock unit that I shaved down with a grinder and file.
The levers are stock units with the ends ground off and holes drilled throughout.
The shifter is also drilled.
Everything has been repainted and/or modified in some way
The shocks are cb900f units that I scored for $20.00 shipped and repainted.
Big thanks to everyone here on the dotheton who motivated me and contributed to this build in whatever way. This is my first project bike. Including purchase price I've got just over $1500 in her. She's my baby and I'll never sell her. If I get tired of her I'll just follow Troy's example and rebuild her into something new.
