My Cafe Racer Build (and Re-Build)

Awesome, that's who built my old cb550 seat. I was going to say that metal work looked a lot like his. Ian does amazing work and I will be going to him when I get to that point on my xs too
 
Yep his work is good, you get way more than what you pay for. My only regret is not having his people do my seat cushion. About to try getting the sewing machine running and have a go at it myself
 
Man that's funny you say that, I was in the same boat and ended up with a very uncomfortable seat pad that I made. Ian was willing to still make me one after I had it and it was painted, he just wanted me to ship it back. I didn't like the idea of shipping it back since it was already painted though, we've all seen how mail services treat some packaging.
 
How comfortable are your rearsets mounted on your passanger peg brackets?

I was considering making a plate to weld I between that passanger peg mount but after sitting on my bike last night, the passanger foot peg location actailly felt pretty good to me. Was just wanting to get your feedback since it Looks like you ran that set up on version 1 of your bike.
 
They were slightly too far back in the stock passenger peg location. And by slightly I mean about an inch and a half. They were usable there but I had to put the bars lower to compensate which killed my wrists.

On this go around I chopped up the rear peg mount and got it right were they should be
 
Working on the exhaust. The headers will follow the frame rails, go underneath by the bottom motor mounts, and meet a Y by the oil screen cover. I'll then run a pipe out the right behind the rearset and the muffler will run next to the swingarm.

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Looking pretty frickin great! :thumbsup:

What was the design process? Any special reference material?
 
My goodness I love your build! I got an '80 XS400 from a buddy in a million pieces. Every nut, bolt, washer, screw and everything disassemled. The one thing he did do was cut the frame just behind the shock mounts. That being said whats your frame look like back there. Also what brackets did you keep and what ones did you remove? I'm wanting to move on it pretty soon. Are you looking to off load your old rearsets? Lastly, may be too invasive but do you have a spreadsheet on your expenses?
 
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Nice work wolfe! I love building exhausts (for myself).

Hoffmanj, it's usually best to not dwell on expenses. It can ruin the enjoyment and process by knowing. And if you figure it out and your significant other sees it, it can REALLY ruin your enjoyment.
 
Probably above 3k by now. Shipping costs for all the small things adds up, about a third of that figure. When all is said and done its still a 500 dollar bike. So as was said, best not to look into the cost too much.

For the rear, it was originally cut right past the double wall area behind the shock mounts, slugged, and had a hoop. I've since cut the hoop off, leaving about 3 inch stubs past the shock mounts. Added a 16 gauge flat stock brace at the rear, and another further up right past the stock 'curved' brace. After welding the curved part was tamped down flat with the frame height.

Any stock brackets/tabs were removed.

I do still have the torozzi rearsets, but the right one is slightly bent. It's fixable but would need to be heated and straightened, and after that I don't know how brittle it would be
 
Got my garbage picked upholstery machine up and running, and started work on my seat cover. First time sewing, and first time trying to use this clutch motor machine. Came out OK, just had one error on about 2 inches of stitch in the middle, held the fabric too tight and didn't let the machine do its feeding so it shortened the stitch length a little. If I would have used black thread no one would even notice. But I'm fine with it, I can always make another anytime.

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Yep, totally screwed up that sewing. Better to send it to me for disposal and start again from scratch. Nice work there! Also what's that big bolt on the headers for underneath the frame? What supports the muffler? Why is the sky blue?

You should be able to heat soften the bent rear set and gently tweak it back in line. I've used the trick with oxy-acetylene where you soot the aluminum with acetylene only and then heat the work up with the mix. When the soot burns off the aluminum it's close to melt point and annealed then the (hot)tweaking begins! After something like a month the aluminum will age harden again. Worked a treat for me several times.
 
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