Cafe racer donors?

[Daddy-O]

Thinking about a little cafe racer to build first time and just to run around.

Good donors to build up from (if I can't weld)?

[Joe]

If the right one came along for the right price, I would like to rebuild something like an 82 GPZ... I remember when they first started selling them. I wanted one oh so bad..

[Cwood8656]

75-76 Honda CB 400F. Great bike, and part way to a cafe racer from the factory.

Chris-

[Cobra Cory]

Here is one in OHIO already started for ya.

Honda CB 750 Cafe Racer

Not really CAFE looking but it is a 750 which is a great CAFE base.

Hopefully you saw Kouros thread on his Cafe bike.

Honda CB750 FOUR K4 First Ride - YouTube

Honda CB750 FOUR K4 First Ride - YouTube

[terry251]

This is a very nice kit, won't cost you an arm and a leg, source bikes (Suzuki LS650 single) are inexpensive. The final look is vintage and awesome. Should make a great first timer experience, and NO WELDING The company is now working on a scrambler and street tracker on the same donor bike.
Ryca Motors CS-1 Cafe Racer Kit

Terry (working on mine now.)

[raceral]

A street legel Flat Track bike is super cool also.
Like the XR750 Harley

[rjjablo]

Here are some ideas

Café Racer | Silodrome

[Tim Burns]

Want something real light? 70's era RD350 or 400 2-stroke twin Wicked fast

[crash]

Two words for you if you can find an RD400...BUY IT!!!

Those things are bad-ass and pretty hard to find.

[Fasterpatrick]

Go Psycho, track down one of these. Build it right and nothing will touch it.

[Gordon Levy]

I had a 750 triple a long time ago. Great in a straight line but don't ask it to turn.

[Fasterpatrick]

I had it's baby brother 350, same thing, I could smoke 750-fours to about 100 she'd run out after that. Looks like the one in the picture had that turning thing worked out. Can't imagine what that pulls like out of the corners on the pipe.
Patrick

[Rallygorgo]

I'm hooked on the Honda XR600r. A friend of mine used to race a Honda RS600D, the flat-tracker based on the 1st gen RFVC XR600R but with some mods ("big fin" cylinder head, oil pump with a 2mm wider scavange-side gerotor, bigger clutch, 13:1 compression ratio, big cam, Ti valves, stuff like that), and I used to go to the races with him to work on the bike between races. Now I've got 2 1995 XR600Rs with street plates and a 1986 XL600R and want to turn one of them into either a street-tracker or a cafe racer. I really like the way the big thumpers sound and how they pull when hard on the gas. Check out this one, has a Ducati-esque frame, pretty darned cool!



The other thing I'd like to take a spin on some time is a Buell XB12X Ulysses. I've been going to 3 or 4 dual-sport rides a year for the last 9 years, would like to try an adventure ride, and the Ulysses looks like a nice bike to try it on (that or a Ducati MultiStrada!).

Yamaha 650 twins are good starting points for cafe bikes too. Also, check out Cafe Racer magazine, lots of cool bikes!

[Gordon Levy]

I road one of these when I was 18.
TZ750 was just unbeleivable to ride.
Soup :: Yamaha's legendary TZ750

[SRider]

Here's mine. It's a 73 Honda CB350 Four. Building it has sidetracked me from my roadster build a bit but it sure is fun. It actually won Cafe Racer Magazine's best in show at Road Atlanta a couple of weeks ago. Suprised the crap out of me.IMG_0562.jpg