Seca/Cafe

I dind of wish the seat was darker, but it'll do for now...

 

Looks great.

 

looking good, I'm hoping to do a similar build. I like the wheel color. I am just starting to collect pieces.

What kind of clip-ons did you get that fit the stock brake MC? I thought i read that most are too short and it doesn't fit.

I'll attach a terrible MS paint photo of what I'm thinking for a paint scheme and seat. The green will be darker and more metallic. The pic is also at a slight angle so hopefully the tank should level out a little bit.

 

After looking at these seats (and they look good.)
A serious question is about coping with a long ride?

I put a gel cover over the standard seat on long rides, but the amount of padding and hard radius edges on these looks scary.

 

Love the wheel color! What kind of prep did you do before you painted them? Just clean them up a bit or did you strip off the black?

 

They're just a generic ebay set that goes for less than $100 shipped.
Just have to make sure they fit 36mm forks and are 7/8" thick.
Everything mounted up properly, I didn't even realize some might be too short

I like the green color.
My gas tank was on an angle too, it's just he way it's set up.
One of the things I did was lower the front end a little,
the other was making a riser for the rear mount of the tank, here's couple of pics...





It's one inch square aluminum tubing.

Most cafe racer seats are about 1/4" thick. The company I bought the fome from also has 1/2" thick padding for enduro, or something like that.
They also have an "old fart" option that's 1" thick, which is what I went with
It's still very firm... and flat, but I guess I'll find out how comfy it really is in a month or two.

First I cleaned the wheels with some engine cleaner/degreeser.
Then I washed them with soap while scrubbing with steel-wool.
Then just primered them, and sprayed with paint (burnt copper)
I used engine paint since it's heat and chemical resistant.

 

Good info, thanks. I wonder if 3 inches is too much, I'll have to run a search

Are those the stock shocks in the back, comparing them to mine they look much longer. Mine measure 12" eye to eye I believe. I'm gonna need more room in the rear when I get the new seat fab'd up.

 

They are longer. My shocks are meant for a 1974 Harley, which measure roughly 14”.
Normally you can’t put them on a shafty because it kings the u-joint start to bind because of the extreme angle of the drive shaft. I cut my original part of the rear frame (sub-frame) off and welded a new one with new shock mounting bolts some 2” higher, creating the “illusion” of the rear being raised, while actually keeping it at pretty much stock height.
My front end is lowered right around 3”, and with a 4-1 exhaust (which has a bulky collector), it is pretty low to the grown, but still not as low as some of by buddies bikes

 

from my view it looks like youll be scrapeing...


are you just about done? looks great again.. side covers? something custom?

 

Shouldn't scrape unless I go head-on over a large speed bump. It is low, but the angle of the picture, and the shadows make it look lower than it really is.

I'm not planning on any side covers, but thre's still a few things that need to be finished.
I just finished the exhaust hanger, and installed the foot pegs, but I still have to fninish the brake pedal, battery tray and battery, and wire in the taillights.

 

I didn't know that Fast Orange made a kick stand. LOL
Diamond plate side covers painted the same color as the wheels.

 

That it does, lol.
I just finished the exhaust hanger, and got new front foot pegs, as well as reatatched the rear brake pedal.
I'll post new pictures onces I get the battery in there and take it outside

 

Here’s a few little updates:
-picked up a set of aftermarked CBR footpegs and modified them to fit the XJ.
-installed the battery tray… the battery itself is apparently dead , so I’ll need a new one.



I rolled it outside to take a few pictures while I was cleaning up the garage.
There’s still a lot of little stuff that needs to be finished up before its road ready,
but I’m going in for a heart surgery on Monday, so all of that will have to wait a bit.

 

very cool bro....and very low!!!

 

What front fender did you use?

 

Picked up a broken 1982 Seca Turbo front fender, and trimmed it down a bit.

 

Sure lookin' NICE!!! GOOD LUCK with the surgery and let us know how it went when ya' feel like it!!!

skillet

 

thanks, surgery was a success... the only thing that sucks is that they had to crack my ribcage open, so I won't be riding for up ton 3 months

 

Glad to hear you're ok, sounds like a good time to finish and detail that beast.

 

LOVE it. I would love to "cafe" either my 700 or try and pick one up cheap to do it with.

 

Love it. GREAT color choices and i like the brown seat.

Well done man.

 

Nice Cafe Racer. I'm well on with my XJ650 Cafe Racer project and will post pictures when complete.

 

Very cool !!

 

Thanks guys

Just did a few little additions... brown barrel grips and "Napoleon" style mirrors and a 140mph speedometer from an XS750.

 

You walk-away from a plane-crash, ... it's called a safe landing.

You get to tell people you HAD heart surgery, ... same deal.

Be well.

Glad you made it!