Going more "cafe racer" style - now my progress thread!

So I'm going a little more "cafe" style with my 1980 Maxim. Lowered the front about an inch, ordered clubman bars, in the process of lowering gauges and headlight, along with removing pretty much everything not needed for the bike to run. My only problem with the cafe if I keep going is no rear seat, and I have a wife that loves to ride.

I guess the question is would it be totally lame to either modify the stock seat to still be a 2-seater, or to make a cafe seat with a removable fairing (like on the Hyabusa) to reveal the passenger seat? Or with clubmans will I be laying too far forward to even want her to ride with me?

*EDIT* I'll just use this thread as my progress updates.

 

Re: Going more "cafe racer" style, lame to stay 2-seater?

with clubman's you'll be riding just like a crotch rocket or maybe a bit more depending of what angle you place the bars at etc. if people on street bikes can give people rides then so can a cafe style.

If you're interested in making a two up seat (it has been done) check out
dotheton.com for ideas.

 

Re: Going more "cafe racer" style, lame to stay 2-seater?

be careful you don't modify yourself into a bike that's too uncomfortable to ride for more than 10 miles at a time...

 

Re: Going more "cafe racer" style, lame to stay 2-seater?

Lame would be not doing what you want, because you're afraid of what people think.
Clubman bars are higher and more comfortable than sport bikes with clip-ons, but you may need risers to fit them on your Maxim. :?:
A removable hump over the passenger seat would be very cool, because it's going to take some talent to make one. 8)
Bill

 

Re: Going more "cafe racer" style, lame to stay 2-seater?

It should definitely be comfortable. It rides great right now, all I really am going to do is change the bars and lights, and chop/remove the rear fender. Will keep the stock seat and such until probably next year at least, and just work on a few things at a time until I get a new bike to be my daily.

I totally get what you mean about doing what I want. I've ridden sport bikes a little bit, they weren't bad but I never had a long stretch. Right now I ride about 100 miles a day when I commute to school and work. Sitting so straight up is uncomfortable to me, and I really don't like the "mini ape hanger" style bars on the Maxim.

And I'll definitely take lots of pics whenever I get to making a rear seat.

 

Re: Going more "cafe racer" style, lame to stay 2-seater?

Anything with Clubmans (Drops) is fine by me! The last bike I had with these on was a 1978 RD250 2 stroke. The standard seat was flat and the bike looked good.

See here for my cartoon hero, Ogri http://www.grinfactor.com/OCUImages/Pic93.jpg

I was a bit younger then, but the balance of the wind pressure from naked riding - the bike, not me - and the riding position was about right.

Just wish I could find the photos!

 

Re: Going more "cafe racer" style, lame to stay 2-seater?

I'm planning also making my XJ kinda cafeish next winter, but keeping it 2 seated... Clubmans or clip-ons, narrow flat seat, chop off all unnecessary things... I really like style of this bike, for example. Riding with low bars could be unconfortable when you ride long time slow speeds, but riding fast with high bars and naked bike is unconfortable too... And fairings usually look butt ugly :mrgreen:

 

Re: Going more "cafe racer" style, lame to stay 2-seater?

Well the project has begun! Ordered my clubmans last night, should be arriving at my door within a week. In the meantime, due to the rain the bike is in the garage so I'm messing with the rear fender, and going to finish lowering the headlight and gauges. I'll toss some pics up later of how it sits now and some progress pics.

 

Re: Going more "cafe racer" style, lame to stay 2-seater?

The solution is a Triumph Thruxton seat with removable cowl.

 

Took some pics as it sits this morning, pretty much all I have done is the front fender and forks. I'm off to the hardware store before work to get what I need to finish lowering the light and gauges. And tonight I'm replacing those nasty dry-rotted tires with some Dunlops I scored on Craigslist for super cheap.

And yes I know I'm leaking oil lol, the oil filter housing doesn't seat up properly and I need to replace it. Only leaks when it's cold fortunately.





You can't see it well in this picture, but the back tire is pretty bald in the center. Both are dry-rotted so they get replaced anyways.

 

That's a nice and clean looking bike Brian. Regarding the oil leak. When you buy a new filter, it should come with a new o ring for the housing. THAT should take care of the leak.

 

Small update. Lowered the headlight and gauges the other night. Bars estimated to be here Monday.



look closely and you'll see my "spacers" this is definitely a college budget build

 

Wow Brian, you and I have a lot of the same tastes. I have a 1981 Maxim with Clubmans and a custom made lower seat, and I drive a 6th gen Celica. This season I mostly concentrated on keeping my bike running and upright, I already have more plans for the winter.

 

Sweet, I think I've seen you post on 6gc.net. I'm on my 4th Celica, no matter what I own I always come back to the 6gc.

On the bike, I'm starting swapping to the new tires tonight, and the bars should arrive tomorrow afternoon. The ride to work Tuesday is gonna be great!

 

Don't forget an easy adjustment to make: move the pegs back as far as they will go on their adjustable slide.

I also think that as far as a seat goes, you can just go with a flat two-person seat and have it be fairly inline with other cafe bikes. Or, as you said, you can do a mock solo seat with a removable cowling a la the Triumph Thruxton (as stated above).

You'll want some bar-end mirrors for your Clubman bars as well, no fun dealing with stock mirrors on those things.

I originally wanted to do a cafe-thing with my Maxim but found the frame not conducive to the style because it has the upward swoop of a cruiser frame starting the front of the seat, so I instead went with a Mad Max-inspired look with simple superbike bars and a bikini fairing. However, if you can get it to work for you, more power to you!

 

Got the clubmans on today. Took a short ride this evening, then braved the cold for a ride tonight. It's like a totally different machine with these bars. Now I need some useful mirrors lol

Snapped a few pics, and yes I know I need to finish re-routing the cables and lines lol. Unfortunately during the process my turn signal switch broke, took the unit apart and most of the solder points have detached so I need to re-solder them.

 

Looking really good man. Nice job.

 

very nice!

 

If your ging to go cafe u might want to look at handle bar end mirrors 3 inch that is what I have on mine, they work great.

 

so do the clubman bars hit the tank at all? Did you use all the stoc cables and master cyclinder?

I am dyeing to swap my bars, the bike feels like it can handle better, i just dont feel comfortable with the bars coming from dirtbikes and crotch rockets and im working with a tight budget so i can appriciate the "college budget"

 

Re: Going more "cafe racer" style, lame to stay 2-seater?

How exactly would something like that go together? I'm having the same issues with wanting a flat two seater over my current situation...

 

They can go lock to lock, the choke lever hits the tank just a little. Used my stock master cylinder and everything, had to adjust the clutch and throttle cables a little though. The bike handles MUCH better than with the stock bars. Definitely can be done on a budget.

Thanks for the compliments guys. I've got a few other things that require my financial attention now that winter is approaching, but I'm going to be getting some bar-end mirrors and probably new gauges from Mikesxs before riding season next year.

 

Looking good, I'm hoping to go the same route with mine. Curious as to how comfortable the riding stance is with the stock footpegs? I'm thinking of doing rearsets, but I won't be doing them for a while.

Keep us updated!

 

wow i'm suprised that you could keep the 1" drop with the clubmans. On my bike i dropped it so the fork caps touched the bars and i only got a half inch.
I would highly recommend the barend mirrors simple and effective.

What mufflers are you running, all looks very nice.

 

Thanks for the compliments!

Yeah, I had to move the forks back a bit for the clubmans. Definitely want some bar end mirrors, just need some $$$ first.

The mufflers are from a Sportster. The originals had the baffles removed by the previous owner, and they were just ridiculously loud. Eventually I want to do a 4-1 setup, either a full system or just the collector and put my own muffler or turndown on it.

 

4-1 would be cool but i tend to like my center stand to much for that. I have a set of honda cx500 mufflers i'm going to install, they look similar to yours just smaller.

 

Bottlecape: I have 4 to 1 WITH a center stand no problem. Maybe is the make, but i don't have any issues at all. Mine is a supetrapp set up.

 

FYI: I also have no problems with center stand and 4-1

 

yah-looks great
i change my '80xs1100 bars to a similar set up and the differance was
amazing! handled like a race bike.

 

good to know the 4-1 works with the center stand. I have a new item to save up for.