Hi, New member building FZR cafe racer !!

[Tigweld4u]

Hi guys, just wanted to join the club and say hi, I'll probably be looking for help and advice on my FZR cafe racer project. My background with bikes is a bit odd, at present I have no licence but I've always loved bikes and working on them, seeing what makes them tick often working on other peoples, fixing cars you name it, I guess it all started from my younger days playing around with Honda cubs (placcies).

My previous work includes: building from scratch a mini chopper using a late 60's/early 70's C90zz engine, and a GS1000 restoration, i'll have to dig a picture out. Anyway a couple of years back I was given a 1989 FZR600 to breathe some life back into, again I'll have to dig out a pic but it was a bit neglected. I stripped it down 2 years ago with the intention of restoring it, possible fitting R1 fairings and a solo seat, then work stopped. Recently I picked things up again and my plans have now changed to turning it into a cafe racer, I'm a welder and fabricator and do a lot of work with ali and stainless, I also have my own little business making custom parts for Mitsubishi Delica's, but now Im turning my skills back to my bike.

I hope to get it finished in the coming months and get my licence so I can enjoy riding it when its all done, hopefully along the way I'll be able to pick some brains when it comes to getting it running again, and any advice or suggestions are welcome.

The plan is to chop and fab a new rear end, get rid of the mono shock, lower and refit twin shocks, make new ali tank in the cafe style, make cafe tail section and seat pan, make stainless 2 into 2 exhaust, make custom ali radiator, fit single 7" chrome headlamp, etc. This will also include getting rid of un-necessary brackets and filling un-necessary holes in the frame, the finish frame will be blasted and black powder coated. The tail section, tank and custom side panels will be painted in a vintage looking cream, and the wheels will be polished ali rims with black centres, I hoped to fit spoked wheels but don't know if there are any out there that would fit?

Heres some pics of my plans and work so far:

The plans




The chop




The re-build












Im currently working on supports to the rear end and fitting the new shocks, i'll post some more pics soon.

Heres the mini chopper,

[Genesis]

Your a very talented person, looks really good.

Sent from my C771 using Tapatalk 2

[JohnBoy69]

Very impressive- look forward to seeing the progress.

There's a UK company doing kits to convert the Honda CX500 into a cafe racer. It uses the original tank and actually transforms the bike into something half decent looking. I think the demo bike has wire wheels which look great.

As long as you're over 24 years old it's still possible to get a full licence with direct access-( http://www.bikelicence.co.uk ).

Good luck

John

[Tigweld4u]

Hi,

Thanks for the comments guys, believe it or not I'm 38 and have no bike license and doin stuff like this. Thanks for the advice I will look into that direct access.

I think I've seen a couple of conversion kits while trawling the net looking for parts, hope fully have some more pics later.

Lee

[~JM~]

I like your plans except for converting to dual rear shocks. You will be adding weight & most likely the bike will lose some of its fine handling characteristics. This is opposed to the usual goals & the spirit of building a CAFE Bike. A CAFE Bike was stripped down to its essentials to lose weight, size & bulk. The suspension was modified to improve the handling the best they could. You are very fortunate to have aluminum & stainless steel fabrication skills. I like both metals & enjoy seeing them left in the raw with nothing more than a brushed or polished finish.

I like your mini-chopper. The exhaust is pretty cool & I bet it sounds very throaty for a small engine. Have you considered doing a dual exhaust on your FZR CAFE Bike? I would build it like a Tri "Y" dual exhaust with reversed megaphones at the ends. Tie the #1 & #3 primary tubes together & run them down one side. Then tie the #2 & #4 primaries together & run down the opposite side. Done properly, I think that would look very cool & unique. Should sound real good also.

Good luck & keep up the good work. Please consider doing a build thread with the details & pics. I would enjoy following along with your progress very much.
~JM~

[Tigweld4u]

Hi JM,

Thanks for the comments, yes I like your idea for the exhaust, I was planning on doing a 2 into 2, but not x-over like you say 1-3 & 2-4 that does sound unique and worth trying, seeing as I will be building it from scratch. As for the shocks I will weigh the mono shock assembly with its brackets when I remove it all hopefully tomorrow, and compare it to the weight of the chrome shocks.

This lot looks heavier compared to the 2 chrome shocks I am fitting:


Yes the in the spirit of the cafe racer weight reduction is main aim, but for me its also about the looks, and mono shocks weren't around in the 60's so it has to go, but somethings must remain like the box section frame which I have chopped back as far as possible. I will only be re-fitting the bare essentials and weight will also be reduced by replacing the steel tank with an all ali tank, ali radiator in place of copper and no air box, I'll fit k&n's.

Anyway here are some pics of todays progress, I can only work on it in my breaks for now. Keep the comments coming, I also have some questions to ask soon.

Lee

[~JM~]

I have to admit, that does look cool with the dual rear shocks.

Not so much "open space" in the rear section. Makes it look more like a... Motorcycle.

~JM~

[Tigweld4u]

Cool glad you like it Its starting to get that, looks like its doing 100mph while standing still look I hope

Anyway couple of questions while im thinking on, if I switch to K&N's do I need to swap the needles?

What would be the best way to mount the tank, should I hinge it? Either at the front or on one side, to give access to the carbs for balancing etc?

Lee

[Genesis]

Looking good, so what are you doing for clocks?

Sent from my C771 using Tapatalk 2

[Tigweld4u]

I quite like this, when the time comes ill fab a stainless bracket for it, i know its modern but you cant hide the fact that its an 89 bike with a 60's look. Its clean simple and I guess thats what cafe racers are all about, ill be happy doing 30/40mph with a big grin on my face.

[Tigweld4u]

Ignore the advertising, i pulled that of eBad.

[~JM~]

Cool glad you like it Its starting to get that, looks like its doing 100mph while standing still look I hope

Anyway couple of questions while im thinking on, if I switch to K&N's do I need to swap the needles?

What would be the best way to mount the tank, should I hinge it? Either at the front or on one side, to give access to the carbs for balancing etc?

Lee

You will most likely need to re-jet the carbs. They are probably lean to begin with. Once you change the filters & the exhaust it will probably be even more lean & need more fuel. I'm afraid I'm not much help on that aspect as I only know the very basics.

A hinged Tank would be very cool! I'm thinking it will probably have to hinge on the left side so you can run a short fuel line from the petcock on the left to the carbs. If it hinged forward it might hit the triple clamps, gauges, etc, and would need a long fuel line or quick disconnect fitting in the line.

Have you seen the various speedometer computers that are now available? They are not as attractive as one or two round gauges, but they can be mounted real easy & discreetly, plus they offer much more information like temperature, tachometer, etc. I'm looking at one that offers either dual cylinder head temperatures, or exhaust gas temperature read outs that I'd like to use on my 2-cylinder, 2-stroke engine.

Keep posting up the pics. Everyone likes pics.
~JM~

[Tigweld4u]

Today it finally stood on its new springs, and just sitting on it felt great. The height is about an 1 1/4" lower and the new springs feel perfect, i must say sometimes i measure and measure, but if something looks right and feels right, it is right even if the measures are 1 or 2mm out. What would people recommend the best method for fixing the lower mount would be, the mild steel brackets I've made need fully welding and cleaning, but do they need a rubber bush, at the moment its just bolted, ill get nice chrome bolts at the finish but should i open the hole in the bracket and fit a sleeve for the bolt?

Ill, finalise the fitting before blasting and coating, the ali tank is next.

Lee

[Tigweld4u]

If ya wanna see the mini chopper build, heres the pics. Im the guy with the glasses riding it in the video, and please excuse the language we are common as muck, this was an afternoon break in work.

http://s1124.photobucket.com/user/tig_w ... t=4&page=1

[pefrey]

I don't think I've ever seen this level of FZR build before. Nice work.