Seca/Cafe

Figure I'll share this...

My XJ650R Cafe racer







Still a long way to go till it's finished, but I'm having fun with it.
I wanted to go with larger shocks in the back, but couldn't because of the U-joint binding, so I made a new subfram, lifting the seat a few inches higher. Creates the illusion of the rear end being raised without messing with the shaft drive... it's still on the center stand, in the picture with a few planks underneath the wheel from when I was mocking up the new subframe.

 

is that tank off an XS?

 

Great looking bike!

 

Looking sweet, have you removed the TCI?
Al

 

No, it's an original 1982 Yamaha XJ650R gas tank


This is the bike when I first got it.

I'm not sure what TCI stands for, but I haven't removed any engine or electrical components. Some of them have been modified or remounted, but it's all there.

 

Where did you find the seatpan/tail piece?

 

yes do tell!!
may do a simular build!!

 

Nice. You're beating me to it!
Getting the seat pan on this weekend.
Here is a pic of the clip ons, mini speedo and lowered head light. ( I built the ears).
Is that a Legendary Motorcycles seat pan?
Again, looks great!

 

I kind of wish I would have gone with clip-ons too, I would have been able to lower the front a little more. With Clubman bars, all I can do is 1"


Its call PHAT TAIL. I got if on eBay
They go for about $120-150 shipped.
It's the widest one I could find, but it was still a little narrow at the front.
When I was redoing my subframe, I made it more than an inch narrower, so now it's a snug fit.

 

NICE! Lots of cafe styled bikes lately...

skillet

 

http://legendary-motorcycles.com/index.html
here is the website for the company that makes that seat in case you want to spring for one of their gas tanks. LOL>

 

When you talk about the sub frame, mounting new shocks, what exactly are you talking about?

I am also thinking about placing larger shocks on my xj 650 for that lift in the back. I know when I took the shocks off one shock(left) is attached to the shaft and the other to the frame. Is that what your talking about?

 

When you talk about the sub frame, mounting new shocks, what exactly are you talking about?

I am also thinking about placing larger shocks on my xj 650 for that lift in the back. I know when I took the shocks off one shock(left) is attached to the shaft and the other to the frame. Is that what your talking about?

 

The part of the frame that's underneath the seat.

If you just put larger shocks in, you'll kink the driveshaft at such an angle, that the u-joint will bind and you won't even be able to spin the wheel... or shift gears.

There is no real way to lift the back on these bikes, you can just make it look like you did by making the back of the frame a little taller, so that the seat mounts a little higher, and then lower the front a little by sliding the forks through the tripple tree.

The rear mod should not affect the handling at all, however lowering the front will make it less stable.

 

Okay I understand know, thanks for the info. What size shocks did you use and brand?

 

Okay I understand know, thanks for the info. What size shocks did you use and brand?

 

1974 Harley Sportster 14.5" shocks... mine are an aftermarket overload replacement set, which are a lot stiffer.

 

Thanks for the info Bro!

Here is a link of the shocks I am looking at on ebay. I love the look but hate the price.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/_W0QQcmd ... 2714wt_941

 

Thanks for the info Bro!

Here is a link of the shocks I am looking at on ebay. I love the look but hate the price.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/_W0QQcmd ... 2714wt_941

 

those do look nice, but you need ones with eyes on both ends, and the ones on the yamaha are kind of narrow.

The ones I got were right around $100 as well.

 

Yeah, I know. I'll have to keep search flebay. I have my rear tire off from painting the rim and rebuilding the drum brakes so I thought why not place new shocks on the rear. I am going for a moto, cafe, and street fighter look. The best example would be one of those moto guzzi(sweet)!

 

those are nice shocks. i picked up a set of burly slammers and am gonna modify the eyelet for the rear. i think they're for a sportster though

 

No major changes...
-Went with clip-ons
-Lowered the front end by 3"
-Raised the back of the gas tank by 1"
-Got a Seca Turbo front fender and trimmed it to my liking



Other than that, no real progress
I've also ordered original CBR929 mirrors, and a replacement ingition cut-off from an xs650 since it looked identical to my original one, and I had hell of a time finding one from a seca.

 

Looks good Samson. How did you lower the front end? Does it make a big difference?

 

I haven't ridden it yet, but from my previous experiance, lowering the front, or raising the rear end makes it more nimble at low speeds, and less stable at high speeds... normally not a very good tradeoff, but this particular bike isn't very fast, according to specs, it toped out at 122mph when new, and the speedo doesn't even go that fast, which I don't plan on maxing out. (but I'm still getting a steering damper to compensate a little for this).

I just released the forks through the tripple tree. This is almost imposible to do with regular handle bars because the bar gets in the way, but clip-on handle bars mount directly on the forks, giving you more freedom as far as the stance.

I'm considering getting stiffer springs for the front since I'll have to redo the seals anyway.

 

looks great! i think it'l have a real nice stance when you have it done! the rear tail piece looks nice too, how heavy is it/what is it made of?

 

It's made out of ABS plastic.
You can pick it up on eBay for about $125 shipped.

Its light, haven't really weighed it... a couple pounds maybe ...if that.

It's the widest one I could find, but still a little narrow for original XJ frame.
In the add they say it fits Yamaha SX650... but we all know that if you want something bad enough, you can make it all work

 

What did you do to raise the back of the gas tank? I have been considering doing the same thing...

 

Could the swing arm fit a 130 or 140 if you had the rims to do it?

Great project man... keep it coming.

 

I made a 1” spacer out of square aluminum tubing. I’ll take a picture of it next time I take the tank off.

As far as a fatter tire, I really don’t think there’s an easy way of doing so. A skinny tire does look a little goofy in relation to the fat tail section, but it has an 18” rear wheel, and it looks like anything wider than 120 would rub on the shaft side of the swing arm… not to mention my current rear tire is mint

 

Looks almost like a step backwards, but it's not



decided it could use a bit of color... wheels and valve using VHT "Burnt Copper" engine paint


and a mount for a GPS

 

Started work on the undertail...

 

The heater in the garage broke down... not as fun working on the bike when you can't feel your fingers... so I did some little stuff I could do indoors.

The chrome caps on the carbs were rusting and pitting, so I wirebrushed them and painted them with wrinkle black paint... seams like it should go well with the rest of the bike.
Added so stainless steel bolts too.



Also picked up new for seals and oil, but it'll have to wait till its a little warmer outside.

 

A little more work massaging the tail...

 

looks nice :wink:

 

Thanks.

I got the rear wheel back on

 

Man i like gold rims. Ill do it to mine one of these days.

 

Every time I get a day off, it dips below freezing, but I still managed to do a little.
Changed out the fork oil, looks like seals are still good, oil was very dirty, but almost all there. I'll check it again in the fall to see if there's any real loss.

Also painted my Flux-Capacitor cover and the GPS mount...

 

What kind of paint did you use? I like te finish of it!

 

it's KRYLON wrinkle finish spray paint.
If you let it cure naturally, you get big wrinkles, if you use a heat-gun to speed up the process, you get fine wrinkles, like the ones on my parts.

Since I'm rhino-lining the gas tank, tail section and front fender, I thought wrinkle finish on other parts would tie in nicely.

 

NICE job on that tail section!!!

skillet

 

Thanks,
bike is back on two wheels

Put a set of new brake pads on it, too.

 

Looking really good. Great work!

 

love it!

looks to me like the rear shocks stick out a bit, maybe if you polish out the forks? it might even it out

 

Yeah, I wish I could have gotten them in something other than chrome, but oh well.
I might polish the front forks later, but that probably won't be till next winter.

 

Looks clean!!!

 

Put a valve cover on, painted the clutch cover, and made a new license plate holder.

 

Looking good.

 

Looks like a bike again, but still needs a lot of little stuff... foot pegs, exhaust, battery, seat, and a lot of bolts tightened.

 

Wow-lookin very, very nice! Good work there.