Project Sake Bomb....1978 Yamaha XS750 Cafe Racer

[midnightcafe]

just noticed mine has Special forks on it. Gotta find some standard forks to shorten the wheelbase a bit. Standards have axle centerline of the fork whereas the Special is in front of the fork. Prolly not a BIG deal on the old dino, but I think that way.. LOL

Careful with that. I can't speak for Yamaha, but Suzuki did the same thing on their GS models. With the axle offset to the front (to give it a 'chopperesque' look) they shortened the triple tree offset. You would need to replace the triple trees as well, otherwise you're gonna have a very short amount of trail in the front-and it'll handle like a sonabitch. Again, That's Suzuki business, but you could expect the same for Yamaha. I kept my 'L' model forks on my Suzuki GS750 (that's the cruiser model with the leading axle) and I don't mind the look, knowing that they perform exactly the same as the standard forks, but also because they look dirtbike-derived: offsetting the axle is one way to have more travel in the fork tube for a longer spring etc.

 

[7-fiddy]

To the top....updates, if any...

 

[westside cafe]

Updates to come soon. Waiting to get the frame back from the welder. Should have it back with frame loop and battery tray welded. In the meantime I finally got a decent render of the bike finished.

 

[cafePete]

Very nice...Great color combo!

 

[7-fiddy]

Just plain cool..... gotta get busier on mine. Think I found a 850 in a shed too :]

 

[westside cafe]

Thanks guys! Hopefully we can get it close to this look.

 

[midnightcafe]

BRO. That image is SICK. I will be watching this one closely. My pair of 850's will be as well

 

[westside cafe]

Glad you guys like it! Here are a few pics of the new shock mount/license plate holder. Also displaying why my neighbors love me hahaha. Seriously they hate me...between the t-shirt shop, the bike building and the "get togethers" my end of the street is not dull. LOL

 

[Mr.Wilde]

looking like is going to be an awesome bike. great progress. just subscribed to this thread!

 

[gmoore]

Updates to come soon. Waiting to get the frame back from the welder. Should have it back with frame loop and battery tray welded. In the meantime I finally got a decent render of the bike finished.

Great rendering man!

 

[Red Devil]

Very nice...Great color combo!

So Rad!

 

[lescoulee]

You do know there's a guy offering a chain drive conversion for those, don't you?

http://www.yamaha-triples.org/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=6258&start=1&high...

 

[yawlright]

I like the rendering of your bike, It is similar to what I am going for on my build.

 

[madmax79]

Updates to come soon. Waiting to get the frame back from the welder. Should have it back with frame loop and battery tray welded. In the meantime I finally got a decent render of the bike finished.

love the rendering, and how clean the bike looks!!

 

[7-fiddy]

Any updates or progress ?

 

[westside cafe]

Unfortunately all is on hold until I get the frame back from the shop doing my welding. Its been almost 2 weeks now so hopefully I'll be able to pick up this weekend. Tires are going to get mounted this weekend and I have some Caswell tank coating arriving next week so I'll update on how that goes.

 

[westside cafe]

Ok, so after 5 weeks it was time to get my frame back from the machine shop that deals in empty promises. Decided to tackle the light welding myself. Hopefully have pics soon of the progress. Bike week here in Phoenix is this week so busy busy.

 

[rocketman]

Killer rendering! I cant believe the welding story cause virtually the same thing happened to me. A 2 week job turned into a 2 month job and the end result was a 2 piece hoop welded on that is not centered. I guess a METAL SHOP couldnt bend that tight of a radius?

 

[westside cafe]

Thanks for all the compliments on the rendering! That part is just as much work as the actually build sometimes! Yes, the welder fiasco was the deciding factor in me purchasing whatever equipment I need to do these projects instead of taking it somewhere. Anyway, below are pics of the tires finally mounted to the now dusty wheels.

 

[Frankenfries]

I don't know if it's too late for you, but the dime city CB750 loops works perfectly on the XS750 frame. It's the same spacing and tube specs. I cut one down and my friend welded it to the frame. I then ground the welds down with a flap paddle and it looks perfect. You can see the results in my build thread.

There are a few members on this forum that make loops for less, but I couldn't track one down when I needed mine.

I'l be following your build. I love the rendering.