New Member, Couple Questions about this bike? (Pics)

Hi all,

I'm interested in diving into the world of Cafe Racer customization. I'm fairly convinced over the past couple weeks that I have seen every picture, watched every video, and read every article. And I guess that's how I ended up here.

Out of all the pictures I have looked at for inspiration, I have arrived at this bike as my main interest.. It is a 1982 XJ550 with some pretty heavy modification..



Now,

Here is where you guys come in. I'm not a particularly skilled mechanic, and I'm not particularly rich. So keep that in mind.

Questions:

What type of budget would I be looking at in order to successfully match the aesthetics of this bike? (I'm not worried about performance at this point)

Would a build like this be possible for the average rider/mechanic, with this being my first project? Or is a build like this better suited for someone with more experience?

Also, What type of tank do you guys think is on this bike? Can't seem to find a match, so just wondering if any of you know..

Thanks a lot in advance for any help 8)

 

That tank could be off a Honda CB750 TANK
To change the rear set up to mono shock, is serious engineering, the other thing is that bike has no form of air filter & if you are going to dump the stock air box & fit pods it will give you tuning problems.
Having said that, we are all here to help ya.

 

Overall it doesnt look to bad. Youll need to find someone to weld for sure. The swingarm and frams shock mount dont look to hard but shouldnt be tried by a novice. The actual frame doesnt need much welding other than the shock mount and diagnal cross bar under what looks like the factory seat tubes.

 

Me personnaly, i would not cafe out a yamaha, Das just me though. I would stick with a '70-'75 Honda CB 550-750. They are just "easier" to build into ...whatever, cafe ,bobber...but, good luck to you, the heavy mods( like the mono shock mod) will be expensive. You prob wanna go through and cut all the frame tabs etc. to make the frame look like that. There is more work in that pic than you realize and more than i want to do,lol, but not impossible, a labor of luv-hate-luv-hate-luv!!

Dang, the more i look the more i see...Dang u for giving me these ideas,lol.

 

Thanks for the feedback!


I may stay away from modifying the whole rear of the bike, especially converting the dual shocks to the monoshock.. I guess I'd rather have a bike that rides and looks cool, than try and modify the rear and just be stuck with a pile of metal..

 

Do a hybrid type build. The XJ's just aren't really meant for the cafe look.

Here is a loose pic of what I have going at the moment.

 

The idea behind making a cafe racer is to improve the performance of the bike, that includes handling, braking and overall mechanical reliability. Going just for the "aesthetics" is the first mistake people make when attempting this type of project.
First, make the bike run well, really well, and make it so it's reliable. Then make it stop well, really well. Then, if you want power you have a good platform to start with. Once you have done these things, then you can get a "Vision" (not the Yammy) of how you want the bike to look. The thing is, unless you have pretty good mechanical as well as fabrication skills and the tools and equipment to do both of these things well. Then you need a ton of money to have someone else do the work.
Good luck with what ever you do, but don't go hacking up a bike and then send pictures asking how to put it back together, I think a couple of people have done that and ended up with a few hundred pounds of scrap metal and a dream that turned into a nightmare.

 

Here's the link to an old post. However, the bike is one of the nicest builds I've ever seen. Some of the regulars will remember the guy from Spain and the bike, I like to go look at it every once in a while.
http://xjbikes.com/Forums/viewtopic/t=1 ... art=0.html

 

Thanks again for the info.. all this advice is great and very helpful at this point.

 

To anybody with some advanced engineering knowledge, can you run me through what has been done to the rear of the bike's frame? Was the frame customized, or purchased from a company?