What's your favorite cafe racer that isn't a Monster?

[angler]

There are some damn fine specimens in this thread. 


Here's one of my faves. Gonna do up an old CB like this in the next year or two...

Nice CB cafe.  I'm currently (slowly) building a cafe CB 175 (1972) for my girlfriend.  The motor is in great shape and it is a runner.  So far all I have done is got her road worthy by rebuilding the carbs, replacing the entire ignition, replacing the tach cable, and general lube and maintenance.  It has shorty pipes with a "cherry bomb" style silencer and boy are they loud.  I just bought a set of new old aftermarket cafe style shocks made by the Redwing Company.  First I've got to figure out a fueling issue on the right cylinder as it is running real lean.  Next is a tear down for paint, getting the rust off all the chrome, buying some pods, getting some clip-ons, building a seat cowl, finding some disc brake front forks etc. etc.

[Super T.I.B]

Nice CB cafe.  I'm currently (slowly) building a cafe CB 175 (1972) for my girlfriend.  The motor is in great shape and it is a runner.  So far all I have done is got her road worthy by rebuilding the carbs, replacing the entire ignition, replacing the tach cable, and general lube and maintenance.  It has shorty pipes with a "cherry bomb" style silencer and boy are they loud.  I just bought a set of new old aftermarket cafe style shocks made by the Redwing Company.  First I've got to figure out a fueling issue on the right cylinder as it is running real lean.  Next is a tear down for paint, getting the rust off all the chrome, buying some pods, getting some clip-ons, building a seat cowl, finding some disc brake front forks etc. etc.

I have just bought a 71 CB175 off a mate. $100. 

Will be doing the same thing as you are doing and changing the seat as well. I've heard the drum front is fine if you adjust it properly.

[Travman]

There are some damn fine specimens in this thread. 

Here's one of my faves. Gonna do up an old CB like this in the next year or two...

The CB500 makes a great cafe racer.  They make enough power to have fun with and their engine is not as wide as the CB750.  I've seen a lot of CB750 cafe racers that look great, but there is always a certain angle that really shows how wide the 750 engine truly is.  I like my cafe racers a little beat up with a few tank dings and scuffs all over the exhaust. 

Travman that is the best Cafe racer ever, I have been looking for a T3 doner bike to make something similar for a long time, I think that guzzi is called ob1 and Ewan McGregor had the owner of this bike create ob2 for him.
Don

Don, good luck with your future T3 project.  Keep your options open.  SP1000s & Lemans make good cafe projects too. 

OB1 with some funny pink exhaust additions

[angler]

I have just bought a 71 CB175 off a mate. $100. 

Will be doing the same thing as you are doing and changing the seat as well. I've heard the drum front is fine if you adjust it properly.

I'm sure it is fine for the weight of the bike and it is kinda hard to find a disk brake front for the 175's.  They made a 125 sport that had a disk and I have heard that some of the forks from later model 350's with a disk front will fit.  I have it adjusted right but it still leaves a lot to be desired in panic stop situations. I have never worked it very hard, so I have no idea if it will fade or not.   I guess it is great to learn on, as it is almost impossible to loose traction on the front when braking hard   [moto]

[Super T.I.B]

I'm sure it is fine for the weight of the bike and it is kinda hard to find a disk brake front for the 175's.  They made a 125 sport that had a disk and I have heard that some of the forks from later model 350's with a disk front will fit.  I have it adjusted right but it still leaves a lot to be desired in panic stop situations. I have never worked it very hard, so I have no idea if it will fade or not.   I guess it is great to learn on, as it is almost impossible to loose traction on the front when braking hard   [moto]

Where are you getting most of your parts from?

Is there a website for where you got your shocks?

[Speeddog]

Bookmark. 

[Super T.I.B]

Bookmark. 

Dammit Nick!

Here I am looking for a website called "Bookmark" that sells m/c spares! 

[Travman]

We can't forget Ducati's SuperSport Cafe Racer

[Travman]

[Travman]

[jweave]

And then, technically, this isn't a Monster but I still love it, so...

How bout this version? 

[angler]

Where are you getting most of your parts from?

Is there a website for where you got your shocks?

Ebay is where I have been finding a lot of stuff, including the shocks, which were still new in the box.  I just passed up a 1969 high side 175 tank that was just a little too beat up.  I found that most folks that convert the smaller Honda CL/CB's to cafe style put forks and shocks from larger bikes on them. A good source for ideas/tech tips is http://www.ohiocaferacers.com/. The Redwing shocks I bought off Ebay were for a larger bike, but as long as they are pin/fork style and are 12.5" from center to center they will work.  Progressive suspension supposedly makes a pin/fork style shock of the correct length, but I couldn't find a dealer that knew what I was talking about.  You would also be surprised how many parts you can get from any Honda parts dealer.  I got a speedo and tach cable, points, and condenser from a Honda dealer.  Here is a handy part number reference http://www.powersportspro.com/pages/parts/viewbybrand/7/Honda.aspx  The dealership didn't have the coil, which I thought was weird, but I bought a hi-po Accel unit and the bike loves it, although the fit was a bit tight.  The bike is stored in NH and as luck would have it the neighbor two doors down restores CB's and works at the Honda dealership, so I get home delivery of parts .  For used stuff, you can't beat Cooper's http://www.mcsalvage.com/index.html.  I don't know if he delivers, but he has a huge barn full of Honda parts and knows everything about those bikes.  In fact, the guy I bought the bike from had just installed a set of carbs from him and they were in great condition.  I actually traded in the cables I bought from the dealer, which were black, for a gray ones which matched the other cables.

[Markus]

www.johnmosseyrestorations.com in the UK makes brand new versions of these two gorgeous classic cafe racers:

Egli-Vincent


Norvin

[Markus]

French-made Voxan Cafe Racer (c.1999):


www.voxan.com

[Speeddog]

Dammit Nick!

Here I am looking for a website called "Bookmark" that sells m/c spares! 

Sorry, man. 
<Dang, now I can't pull T.I.B's leg with bogus website names>

I had no good cafe pics, but didn't want to lose this thread.

Carry on with the strong work, folks!