First ever cafe build progress report

Sweet. Gonna steal your idea! I found a set of black Delrin spool/sliders for $8.00 & $4.00 shipping on fleabay.

On the topic of my spare swing arm, I was wondering whether or not to powder coat it candy red like the rest of the frame, powder it black or even silver (like the engine case) for contrast? Opinions???
 
What are your plans for paint on the rest of the bike? Tank, tail? Maybe the swing arm can be tied in somehow?
 
Haven't made up my mind about lighting. Tried an LED strip, but that didn't work out at all. You can see where I repaired my fuck up. I am probably going to attempt to French in a tail light. this may be more difficult because of the "Roman Helmet" type seat cowl. It has a peak. After the tank, the seat and upholstery, gotta get the undertail finished. Thinking about going with a Shorai lithium ion battery, fabbing up my tach mount (it's just a piece of cardboard right now), and will use the chrome headlight from my VX750 project. Huh! I'm a further from being done than I realized! Ha!
 
Pics of my newly redesigned rear sets. Scrapped the first set and had these made up by my local machine shop. These are much beefier from 1/2" stock. The rods came from the guys at Dime City. I only wish they had right and left hand threaded rods. Oh well...
newrearsets1.jpg

The foot pegs are really the only thing left over from my original design.

newrearsets3.jpg

I decided not to machine out the centers of the levers out of fear that this pair may too, flex during use. I am very tempted to have them machined all the way through.

newrearsets2.jpg

Don't ask how much this cost me! I'm in denial right at the moment.
 
Those rearsets may have cost a lot but damn they are worth it. Instead of milling them all the way through, couldn't you paint them in the centers the same color as the frame, that would look really nice and keep the structural integrity.
 
In hindsight, I should've just bought a universal set from Jim Henshaw at Fast From the Past, but what's done is done. They are pretty bad ass looking because they're so beefy. Just like the engine! At least that part of the build is behind me. Time to move on to more important stuff.
 
I am really digging the build man. Seriously, great work. The whole bike has great style and the engine is sooo clean. I'm looking forward to seeing progress on this one. May I ask where you got the shifter arm and brake arm for the rearsets?
 
Thanks. It's taking way too long to finish. Since I bought the CB, my wife and I had two kids, we both experienced job changes, we moved to a bigger house (took 12 months to sell old home) and some family issues. These things have a way of delaying projects. Early in the build thread, you'll see the first rear sets I made. The levers didn't quite work out because they flexed too much. The rear sets you see now are custom made at a local machine shop I frequent. They are 1/2" instead of the 1/4" I used in the first set. These are based on rear sets you see from a number of manufacturers. I am thinking about having them anodized black and think they will look pretty trick.
 
Decided to try a smaller front rim to lower the front end some before I went modifying my swing arm to raise the rear end. Having issues with the stance of the thing. I simply cannot have this bike with a front end sticking up in the air like that. After all, it ain't a chopper! :-D So, two nights ago, I pulled the wheel, took it apart and re-laced a SOHC CB 750 hub and rotor on to the rim. Gonna sell this sucka on fleabay. Hope to make some $$$. Holla!
IMG_3941.jpg

IMG_3942.jpg

Tonight, I took my ebay purchase 18" KZ 400 wheel, dismantled it, and polished the inner spokes and nipples. That's all I could stand to do cause that is some tedious shit, now! I laced up the CB hub with the inner spokes and will finish polishing the outer spokes tomorrow and complete lacing the wheel...
IMG_3950.jpg

IMG_3951.jpg

IMG_3952.jpg
 
You haven't see it cause of the glacial pace at which it is progressing! :-D Sometimes I don't think it will ever get done. I think it'll be pretty tight, though not as trick as many of the more talented builders here.
 
No, I plan to buy (when build is closer to completion) a mini speedo from the likes of DCC and mount it upper left of the tach. I only wish I could find one that wasn't all chrome so as to match my tach. I have always liked the tach center arrangement of gauges.
 
Very inspiring build. Especially since im working on the same bike. Are you using the stock tank? I dont like how the sides of it aren't flat. Do you know of a tank that can easily be swapped out? like a cb600 or something... Also are those stock forks?
 
I went with a stock tank from ebay cause I didn't have the heart to bash in knee dents on the original once I found it dent free after stripping many layers of paint. I figured I could get top dollar for it. This was a cheaper alternative to say, a Benjies tank, which I think are awesome looking. I couldn't really find another tank that was a direct swap. I think it has to do with the DOHC's triple tube backbone frame. The forks are stock but shortened 2". That was my first experience doing that with advice from a bike mechanic friend. I think it turned out pretty well only the front end still sat up too high. I dropped the forks through the triple to the ride height I though looked right (frame level to ground). You can see how far the forks stick out. That kind of worries me that the rake is now too radical. Don't know much about suspension geometry! :-D
 
you will be fine on the suspension... as long as you stiffened up the front with 15w+ oil you wil not get a dive out of it, problem you run into is the old tired springs so alot of guys will replace them, but most of the time you can get away doing internal drop and tree tuck to drop the front end more by going to a heavier fork oil... dig the spool idea on the swing arm... 100% doing that on my cafe!
 
What happened to the original 1/4" rearset levers - that's what I use on our CB160 race bikes. They are a bit flexy for street use, but ok on the track.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

DTT Light or Dark

  • DTT Light

    • Spread the Love

    Back
    Top Bottom