** WELCOME to DTT**

[Rocker]

howdy, i'm shoe, i own hotshoe customs. i'll be attending the kickstart classic wtt to barber ride next week with the folks from AI and RB on my 78 cb750 stocker.

Hey Shoe, how goes it? Welcome to the group

 

[Fuser]

Hey everybody,

I'm a 21-year-old college student in New York State, work part-time as a carpenter's assistant and moonlight as a graphic designer of sorts. I bought my first bike back in August of '10. I was working on a farm that summer and simply needed a cheap mode of transportation for the 80 minute round trip. Needless to say I immediately fell in love with motorcycling, and have since become interested in custom bikes, vintage gear, motorbike movies, etc.

I enjoy drawing, camping, boating & shooting. Favorite book is Moby Dick, favorite film, tie between Alphaville and There Will Be Blood.

Bike is a 1974 Honda CB550 Four. The picture is old, I've since made some changes (new clubmans, grips, headlight, tail light, signals, chain, sprockets, battery, controls. Did away with the dummy light unit, front fender, side cover decals. Slowly swapping out small parts). She is about to be put away for the winter, and I've got to decide whether I'm going to drop the coin on a cafe tank and seat, or sell her and buy an old T120 or Airhead. Decisions, decisions.

 

[Rocker]

Hey everybody,

I'm a 21-year-old college student in New York State, work part-time as a carpenter's assistant and moonlight as a graphic designer of sorts. I bought my first bike back in August of '10. I was working on a farm that summer and simply needed a cheap mode of transportation for the 80 minute round trip. Needless to say I immediately fell in love with motorcycling, and have since become interested in custom bikes, vintage gear, motorbike movies, etc.

I enjoy drawing, camping, boating & shooting. Favorite book is Moby Dick, favorite film, tie between Alphaville and There Will Be Blood.

Bike is a 1974 Honda CB550 Four. The picture is old, I've since made some changes (new clubmans, grips, headlight, tail light, signals, chain, sprockets, battery, controls. Did away with the dummy light unit, front fender, side cover decals. Slowly swapping out small parts). She is about to be put away for the winter, and I've got to decide whether I'm going to drop the coin on a cafe tank and seat, or sell her and buy an old T120 or Airhead. Decisions, decisions.

G'day Fuser good to have you onboard! Mate.... that bikes a beauty! I'd seriously be hanging on to it... maybe do a little cafe number... some clubman bars, a benji's tank and seat unit... some nice paint... ride her a round for a bit and when you're ready to move on, you'll get back what you paid for it and perhaps more.. there's a huge market for people wanting to buy custom cafe racers.. especially any of the Honda CB range... ESPECIALLY the 550 and 750... you'll make money on it when you sell it bro. but nice bike.. strong motor.. i say keep her, spruce her up a little.. rideher for a yr while you develop your riding skills... then by that time you'll have a better idea of what you want and the cafe racer scene will still be bringing in money.. it's practically the new "custom chopper" market... except in the current economic climate, people cant afford $60k choppers.. but those same guys will buy a $15k custom cafe

 

[Fuser]

G'day Fuser good to have you onboard! Mate.... that bikes a beauty! I'd seriously be hanging on to it... maybe do a little cafe number... some clubman bars, a benji's tank and seat unit... some nice paint... ride her a round for a bit and when you're ready to move on, you'll get back what you paid for it and perhaps more.. there's a huge market for people wanting to buy custom cafe racers.. especially any of the Honda CB range... ESPECIALLY the 550 and 750... you'll make money on it when you sell it bro. but nice bike.. strong motor.. i say keep her, spruce her up a little.. rideher for a yr while you develop your riding skills... then by that time you'll have a better idea of what you want and the cafe racer scene will still be bringing in money.. it's practically the new "custom chopper" market... except in the current economic climate, people cant afford $60k choppers.. but those same guys will buy a $15k custom cafe

Thanks for the compliments! That's pretty much my plan for the foreseeable future. I paid 1.4K for the bike and it needed a set of handlebars and a new battery/wiring right off the bat. I've since put another 1K into the bike, and it runs like a dream. Everything is cosmetic from here on out...sanding and re-painting the side covers, changing the grips, lights, rusty OEM parts, swapping out rusty nuts and bolts, etc. Not looking to sell her too soon, but I will probably throw on a Benjie's seat and tank before I do, just to complete the look (and so that I can keep the tank!).

 

[webman]

Well, I'm new here. My current bike's not really a cafe, just a '97 Seca II I rescued from a doofus who rode it off a mountain road by panicking, locking up the rear wheel, and running straight off. Noob. Oh, well, the cosmetic damage was pretty bad, but the bike ran great, and he sold it to me for $500, with only 4,000 miles on it. Like I said, noob. I've been (slowly) putting it into order; nothing too fancy, but it's been great to get another bike after a 7-year layoff. Last bike was a '97 Ducati M750 Monster, which spun a timing belt... OUCH. $$$$$$$$$.

Anyway, I'm digging this site; lots of great stuff here.

 

[Rocker]

Greetings and welcome Webman! Nice bike... doesn't matter if it's a Seca I guess ;D I won't hold that against you LOL... You really scored with that purchase mate. Anyway, just wanted to say hi and good to have another one join our little corner of the world

 

[Ryanh]

Not so new, but yet to really begin my build, Im Ryan, 19yo from Northern NSW in AUS, currently building an XS 250, planned to build a bobber to begin with but after much research and conversations with engineers here it seem this is not an option (not with my budget anyway) but I will one day build a bobber when I get a bike with a larger engine capacity.

Anyway the 250 is going to be going down the path of the Cafe Racer!
Can't wait to start building and I will be posting a thread once the build (instead of all tear-down) begins

Hope to meet some of you one day too, for those who I can't I hope to learn as much as possible off you and one day pass the knowledge on.

This is my bike, 1981 XS 250S
Picked it up for $450.00

When I bought her.

As it sits.

Cheers,
Ryanh

 

[Sirtoby]

Hey guys,

just want to say hello also in this thread to everyone. Here are already some words on me and my bike. http://www.dotheton.com/forum/index.php?topic=31240.0

Maybe some words to add: I'm studying renewable energies and work part time at a company which finances solar power plants. All my freetime is spent into my dad's BMW and my CB 550...and girlfriend, of course Sometimes I ask myself what is most: driving or working on the bikes

I love cafe racers, custom, self made things and old school stuff. Hope to find a lot of motivation in this forum. Good custom forums, notably cafe stuff, are quite rare in the "German speaking area" :-\

Maybe I`m able to meet some guys from here one day.

Cheers from Aschaffenburg

Tobi

 

[Rocker]

Not so new, but yet to really begin my build, Im Ryan, 19yo from Northern NSW in AUS, currently building an XS 250, planned to build a bobber to begin with but after much research and conversations with engineers here it seem this is not an option (not with my budget anyway) but I will one day build a bobber when I get a bike with a larger engine capacity.

Anyway the 250 is going to be going down the path of the Cafe Racer!
Can't wait to start building and I will be posting a thread once the build (instead of all tear-down) begins

Hope to meet some of you one day too, for those who I can't I hope to learn as much as possible off you and one day pass the knowledge on.

This is my bike, 1981 XS 250S
Picked it up for $450.00

When I bought her.

As it sits.

Cheers,
Ryanh

hi Ryan! Another Aussie! LOL.. I remember chatting with you briefly about our gripes here in oz regarding modifications LOL and it's not getting any easier LOL.. You're right though, about what you said that day, it's okay to change fenders and handlebars and such.. but that's about it LOL.. It's so retarded that if you go for a roadworthy and the indicators don't have stuff stamped on them then they classify it as a modification ??? I mean... really! Come on g'ment!... an indicator! If it flashers and it's orange right? Whats the harm? LOL... I guess we're just still catching up to the rest of the world :-\

In the meantime... you're doing an XS250 also? They must be a dime a dozen here at the moment coz you're the 5th person I know to do a XS250 cafe! There are a few aussies on here doing them as cafe's, and I know another 2 outside of here too! Crazy! My first cafe was an XS250...
from this:

To this:

for about $1200... including the bike.
My 2nd cafe which is called Codename: "Rasputin" is still in the works and is an XS250 but with a 400 top end on it... and it's hopefully going to be rad. I'll be posting a build thread on it soon.. I've been busy building my 3rd cafe racer for the Deus Ex Machina "budget biker build-off"... which is a 76 model XS750 tripple... and that too, when I've caught up on my work, shall have it's own build thread
Anyway... it's kinda weird how there's so many Aussies building XS250/400 cafes.. I like them personally, because they're the ugly duckling.. They have shit brakes, shit handling, and look dorky.. Everyone says, "why would you want to waste your time on that piece of crap?"... and that's why. Coz no-one does! (or at least used to!) LOL.
I consider it a privellege to work on making them look as sexy as they could've been in the beginning
Anyway, good to see you being social Ryan... looking forward to doing a stop in on my way when I ride my Deus build-off bike down to Sydney sometime early next year for the comp... Perhaps we'll catch up for a beer and a ride?

Herr Tobi! Willkommen! Schön, Sie kennenzulernen!... es tut mir leid... Mein Deutsch ist scheisse ;D
Nice to see more people from around the world coming to join us! Cheers!

 

[webman]

Greetings and welcome Webman! Nice bike... doesn't matter if it's a Seca I guess ;D I won't hold that against you LOL... You really scored with that purchase mate. Anyway, just wanted to say hi and good to have another one join our little corner of the world

Thanks for the welcome. I think I'm going to like this place. For the new guy with the XS250; that looks like a great bike to start a cafe project with. I'd like to see how that progresses; keep everyone posted.

 

[Ryanh]

Gonna be starting a build thread soon once the cutting and buying of parts begins, ive just finished stripping the bike and I'm currently just trying to figure out what parts I'm going to be putting on (tank seat exhaust wheels ect)

This is where its at:

Stripped:

What came off it:

 

[Rocker]

Gonna be starting a build thread soon once the cutting and buying of parts begins, ive just finished stripping the bike and I'm currently just trying to figure out what parts I'm going to be putting on (tank seat exhaust wheels ect)

This is where its at:

Stripped:

What came off it:

nice one! Got to start somewhere... it won't be long until your bike lookes a little like this...

i just pulled a few things off togive it a clean ;D (and chop... and weld... LOL) :

 

[Ryanh]

Hopefully mine comes off that clean

 

[Sirtoby]

@Oily_Rag: Great German, no need to say it's "scheisse"

 

[Rocker]

Hopefully mine comes off that clean

Hey Rye Mate.. anything can be achieved if you follow therule of the three "P"s...:
Patience
Persistence
Perseverance

Yours will come out nice... since I'm now working on my third XS I've learnt a few things... so if you need any advice or guidance in regards to different ideas or mods, colours, technical stuff etc... please feel free to PM me All good.
Brothers in arms! No-one bothers with these lil olb 250/400 buckets... so when someone comes along withthe guts to give it a go... I give them instant cred Cheers!

@ Webman... yeah... these lil bikes are rubbish in stock trim.. but work the suspension, mod the engine a lil and give it re-styling... they come up a treat.. possibly one of the most under-rated retro rice-cookers with lots of cafe potential. The first time I did an XS250 cafe people told me i was nuts and that they were too rubbish of a bike to bother with... to which I always responded with "even more reason to do it" Onto my second XS250/400 racer now and i love these lil things... light and chuckable... strong lil motor... they benefit from a smaller rear sprocket though coz even at full pelt only manages 110 km/hr in top gear But a tooth up on front and a few down on the rear will give you a another 20km's an hour top speed cheap bike to buy too... The last 3 XS's i bought... none of them cost me more than $400 each....

@ Herr Toby... Danke I'm learning French and Arabic to go with my Counter-Terrorism degree.. but i did a lil Deutsche in High school thanks for the kind words.. appreciated

 

[MiltosCX]

hallo my name is Miltos , from Greece and my new project is a Honda CX500 cafe racer

yesterday's photo (remove tank and carbs)

 

[adriannarnold]

Welcome to DTT

Those CX500's can make a pretty mean looking bike. Here is one of my favorites!!! Good Luck

http://moto-mucci.blogspot.com/2011/04/feature-michael-paraisos-cx500-cafe.html

 

[imightbeflirting]

Hello everyone! I'm "imightbeflirting." I'm located out in the mid-atlantic region.

I'm a fan of smaller bikes, and I've always loved making slow things fast, even if their acceleration isn't wonderful.

The bike I'm working on as a cafe racer is an '82 Yamaha RX-50. I've hit a few stumbling blocks with my attempts to turn it into a cafe racer, namely the lack of any space on the frame to move the foot pegs back, the passenger pegs needing the rear wheel to be removed before I can remove them, and a lack of electrical knowledge.

Right now, restoring the bike (new tires, repainting, new tubes, adjusted chain, centering the headlight, etc., are all what's top of the list.

But what I'd like to know more about is airboxes (how does this improve the bike's speed), any effect reducing the muffler might have, and what other things I can do to lighten my bike. (I got really light LED turn signals, but more on them later.)

So far, I've turned the headlight's central mount "upside down" along with the horn and the mounts so that the blinkers, which mount near the headlight, would clear the handlebars. As it was, they were sort of pushed out of the way to make room. The blinkers were big fat rounded things, not aerodynamic, and very heavy, so I've ordered new ones. I've got clubman handlebars. I've got a lot of parts, but not much in the way of tools to finish this transformation.

 

[random]

Howdy Yall, Ive been a lurker for about a year now. Just realized i should probably say hello so you can stop pointing at the stranger walking around the place.

My current bike is a CB350. Trying to recapture my youth as I had a 1970 CB350 back in the 80's. Even then I wanted a cafe version although I didn't know what it was called back then. I got it last spring and plan to start restoring converting it this winter.

 

[Lid]

Hi all!
I am a Ducati-fanatic from Sweden! Are there any other Scandinavians here?

/Jesper from Gothenburg