A café racer fan found this 1977 Honda CB750 on eBay and made it his for a couple hundred bucks. The bike was sitting in a barn for a couple of years, but it was fully functional and could be ridden for the next few months before the café racer transformation began.
First thing first, clubman bars and a tri-bar headlight were added so that the bike would lose its factory look. Also, the seat was reformed and reupholstered so that it would add a sporty look and yet offer plenty of comfort. After getting its carbs synchronized, exhaust pipes trimmed and brakes overhauled, the old CB was already transforming into a much sweater ride.
But this Honda’s Norton-like toutch was to be given during the second stage of the customization process by a new tank paintjob. In the end, this looks like a sweet and comfy café racer with plenty of years left to spend on the road. Hear it after the jump.
This 1981 Yamaha Virago 750 was transformed into a café racer in Haaksbergen in the Netherlands to pay tribute to the Zero Engineering style and it turns out that the bike manages to capture the very essence of the world’s first sportbike (the café racer) and add a little something to it, meaning fat tires.
Although details about the project are scarce, we can see that the original engine and transmission were kept, but also the Virago’s gas tank. The mag rims are also present, but unlike the standard bike, this café racer features 15-inch rims with big fat tires instead of a 17-inch one at the front. That’s what gives it that aggressive note, while the café racer rear end, clubman bars and the black paintjob complete the “don’t mess with me” state that it induces. See it for yourself.
Take a look at this radical ride and try to find any similarities with a KTM 530 EXC. Now that’s a challenge! But the comparison is justified by the fact that Roland Sands actually created this café racer out of the respective Austrian bike. The tuner actually brought in clip-ons and dual-colored KTM wheels (not seen in this picture) as well as a tank cover that is built from scratch. The reason for that is to retain the original tank and so keep the center of gravity low, which is what makes the bike so easy to live with on a daily basis.
Although it may look like a finished project, this is actually work in progress over at Roland Sands Design. But it looks great; in fact this thing looks just like a 1960s KTM café racer would have looked if the company would have ever made those.
Although it looks like a whole new British bike, this is actually LSL’s Triumph Bonneville ‘Tridays’ Limited edition café racer that the German accessories and customizing specialists have built for the three-day Triumph motorcycle reunion held in Neukirchen, Austria this year from 25-27th of June.
Starting from a 2010 Bonneville, the LSL team has painted the alloy wheels in black and brought in a Remus exhaust, YSS shocks, new instrumentation, ace bars, racer-style seat and polished alloy mudguards, just to name a few of the bike’s distinctive features.
LSL will only build twenty such units and plans on selling them for $16,445 (€12,950). The price also includes a package trip to the Tridays festival. Visit the Tridays website for more information.
When former NASA engineer Casey Stevenson was in the market for a light, economical and enjoyable motorcycle to cruise the LA streets on, he came to find that there are no such bikes being currently made. So he considered turning a Suzuki S40 into a café racer and ended up creating the Ryca CS-1, a 650cc, air-cooled, single cylinder cafe racer prototype. Later, he thought at a way of turning his idea into money, so he founded Ryca Motors, the shop where they turn any Suzuki S40 or Savage model into veritable café racers.
The production version of the Ryca CS-1 features the middleweight single-cylinder engine and a five-speed tranny and returns 60 mpg. Café racer goodies such as the custom low profile tank with integrated keyswitch / indicator panel, fiberglass seat and side covers as well as rearsets with custom mounting bracket and hardware and aluminum clip-ons give the bike its unique look.
Because the original bike’s engine and chassis don’t require significant changes, Ryca Motors also offers a custom parts and accessories kit that owners can buy and install themselves. Click past the break to read about the four different possibilities of getting yourself on one of these and also what the kit includes.
There’s little what people reproach to the standard Triumph Bonneville, but at seeing what the guys at Deus can do with it, suddenly there’s a whole lot needing to be improved. If it is to follow the Deus recipe, the Bonnie would have to be 2 inches lower and 2.5 inches longer than the original. Still, the modified rear frame section makes for a 4 inches shorter tail section.
This gives ‘Dave’s Bonny’ an aggressive stance and sure makes it a greater performer at high speeds, but there’s a whole list of features that make this café racer special. While you can check those out in the list found below, we’ll just name some of the parts that make this project stand out. To begin with, the tricked out Bonnie features a Kawasaki W650 tank with the fuel injection unit tucked inside and a Deus fiberglass seat unit. At the front, Dave gets 41mm clip-ons from Australian specialist Tingate and Triumph Trophy 955 handbar controls. We also like the Deus headlight brackets.
In the end, the bike looks nice and clean with all the wiring hidden but it is the custom paint job by Dutchy that finishes it even nicer. Also note the black powdercoated engine covers and 2-pack gloss black fuel injection bodies.
Take a look at this bike and you’ll most likely have troubles recognizing it as being a Triumph Speed Triple (at least we did), much less uncover the special features that made the transformation into custom possible. The bike was customized by Austrian Triumph specialist Julian Schneider for his own use on the twisties of the Austrian Alps.
Schneider, who is actually a fan of New Zealand motorcycle racer and land speed record holder Burt Munro, has actually called his bike the Burt Munro Edition. Although it won’t set any records as it is powered by the original engine, which only got some intake modifications and a Supertrapp exhaust, this Triumph should now handle and feel much sweeter considering the great number of aftermarket parts. It features full Ohlins suspensions and a steering damper, Marchesini magnesium wheels and a Beringer brake system. Also, the LSL bars, footrests and headlight as well as the Magura brake and clutch controls together with the several other Rizoma parts contribute at turning this into a completely different ride.
Overall, the bike looks like a modern café racer and the red/black with gold stripes and rims looks just striking.
Former 250 racer Roland Sands recently finished work on his latest café racer, one that originally started life as a Harley-Davidson XR1200.
The bike looks miles away from the production version and considering the multitude of upgrades and modifications, it’s hard to find the best starting point. Probably the Ohlins forks, radial brakes and the front billet aluminum wheel from Performance Machine might represent just that, but it is a long way to the Ducati-like tubular single-sided arm and Ohlins shock at the back.
You’ll find that Roland Sands’ Harley-Davidson XR1200 cafe racer features clip-on handlebars and rearsets, a 2-1 from Vance and Hines as well as chain drive, just to mention a few of its unique features. Furthermore, the single seat behind the standard tank is what gives the bike that café racer look.
With a black-out chassis and a pentagram RSD logo and a 666 number over the matt black paint, this also qualifies as Satan’s machine. So what do you think about it?
Want to have the new kind of café racer? Do like Larry Houghton: take a 1983 6-cylinder Honda CBX and build an origami-like frame for it from a one-inch thick aluminum sheet and then bring in a pair of 17-inch Marchesini wheels from a Ducati 916. Create a radical front end, but retain the Ducati’s single-sided swingarm and the thing can go off the stand.
The engine and gearbox is pretty much all that remains from the Honda CBX and because the powerplant makes it look so wide it’s called ‘Wide Boy’. But it’s no Harley, just a custom bike trying to make it in this business. It actually came third in the Freestyle class at the latest London Ace Cafe Motorcycle & Custom Show, so it rides on the good track.
This old Moto Guzzi 850 T3 was sitting in a junkyard in Trenton, NJ for ten years when Hal Wiley saw it as a good opportunity to build himself a nice café racer. The bike had suffered a small crash in the past and the elements also helped at basically turning it into a piece of crap, but not one that couldn’t be radically transformed with a lot of work and a fair investment.
The Guzzi was entirely stripped down only for the new owner to find that the engine, which had previously powered the bike for 55,000 miles, was top notch on the inside, so it only required a new timing chain, gaskets and seals and it was bolted back to its original shape. Well, not entirely as the original 30mm Dell’Orto carbs had been at some point in time replaced by 36mm Le Mans items. Also, the V-twin now breaths out through a set of EMGO shorty mufflers.
After sandblasting and painting the Tonti frame and bead blasting most of the aluminum parts, reconstruction could begin. But the actual parts that turn the bike into a café one – gas tank and fiberglass cafe seat – had to be ordered from eBay. Also, Hal choose to mount Lester rims with Avon Venom tires for an enhanced retro look. Finally, gloss black was the color of choice.
Like most similar projects, this is still a work in progress. Hal plans to upgrade the engine to 1000 cc and bring in a lighter flywheel so that it will even rev faster. Just what the doctor ordered!
