Honda CB650 and Yamaha SR500 Cafe Racers - photoshoot #1

Finally the x2 Cafe Racers are parked downstairs, ready and willing.
I took this opportunity to take some photos of these beauties. 
The Honda CB650 is a 1979 model belons to me and rides lekker.
The Yamaha SR500 is a 1981 model and belongs to my friend Brad, you are welcome to check out our CafeRacerSA page for more photos and details.

www.facebook.com/caferacerssa

Work that I have done on this bike:
Sprayed rims black and polished lip with new Spitfire tires.
Sprayed engine and polished fins.
Polished some bits on engine.
Spray fuel tank and restore Honda branding.
Polished rear shocks.
Sprayed exhaust.
Cut and Weld new "U-Bar" at back for seat.
Make up fiberglass seat from scratch. Fit upholstered seat.
Fit stoplight and number-plate bracket.
Make fiberglass side-covers & spray.
Fit Clubman handle bars and dropped gauges. 
Fit new headlight brackets. 
Drop headlight. Fit Xenon headlight kit and replace all globes with LEDs.
Fit new front and back indicators. 
Lowered ignition.
Fit fork boots.
Fit new foot pegs.

1979 C650 Cafe Build

It's bee a long time since I have posted anything and unfortunately there are only one of me. Trying to split myself between Blogger, Husband, Father ,Designer, Bike Mechanic is not easy. So I finally bought some parts for my bike and started to build my cafe racer. The front part anyway. 
Started last night with the Handlebars ,gauges and headlight. The re-positioning of the headlight was by far the  most difficult part. Trying to get all the cables & wiring to work in the new position was a bit tricky.
The new rider position is must different to the stock handle bars. Completely different handling of bike.

I will have to do some modifications to my cafe racer seat, and foot-pegs, because I am now sitting about 6cm more forward than where I would normally sit.

Next big work will be the fiberglassing cafe racer seat, (you can see green shape bellow).
And I have to fit the smaller indicators.

Here are some shots of yesterday's work.

After

Before

before and after

1979 Honda CB650 Project

As some of you might know by now, I have sold the 1962 Porsche Spyder and now my next project will be the 1979 CB650. I will continue to add some progress & updates on this blog for my followers.

The idea and inspiration behind this is partly Brenham's fault. 

Check it out at http://za.stylemology.com/brenham  

I've been working on the brand for about two years now, so go purchase some garments.

To me the idea of bringing an old, very old machine back to life & transforming it into a cafe racer will not only be challenging, but also (hopefully) make some people seeing it, appreciate these old motorcycles even more.

The very first part of the project is deciding on what bike to buy. 

I was leaning towards a 1978 Kawasaki KZ400.

Then it was 1982 Kawasaki KZ550

Then finally, despite all the warnings about Honda electronics....1979 CB650z

Now that I got it, first part was to check it out and fix electronics. 

I found the battery ran down and would not charge, so I checked the voltage and it was barely reaching 12v when idling, so no charging. mmm That means one thing. Stator, Rotor or Regulator/Rectifier is f...ed.

I opened the Rotor cover and checked the ohms between the rings, there it was. Not even 1.7ohms. That was shorting the whole thing out. It should be between 4.2 & 5.2 ohms. 

Needless to say that the rectifier/regulator was blown because of this. So off I went to the bike shop with my other bike's battery.

So the bike shop swoped mine with another old bike's to see if it will run, but it just blew again.

ROTOR NEED TO BE REWOUND DUDES!

Now I'm waiting for the rotor to be recoiled & a new rectifier from China.

And although these might cost me half an arm or a leg, I hope it lasts for another 30 years.

So that is the progress that I have made so far.

And some smoke coming from the 4th cylinder, but I am 90% sure it is the right hand top O-ring that is causing the oil to seep through to the 4th cylinder and right-hand side of motor. 

And then I think I might as well change the timing chain & tensioner.

That being said, there are other things I will sort out over the following weeks/months, but first things first.

What will the end product look like.

I really like the Clubman handlebars with the bar-end mirrors and for the back .... classic cafe racer seat OR

the Flat seat style with Drag handle bars?

Check out the pictures bellow and drop me some comments or email me with what you like.

Not that I'm going to do what you like.

So far all I know is I want the bike to be black with silver & a bit of chrome.

This is what it looks like at the moment.

This is what I want it to look like, only better.

And then add some colour... Black..

and a few months later ....

Done!

Check more of our bikes we built and plan on building. Like our facebook page www.facebook.com/CafeRacersSA