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Cafe Project


scheetz31

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Picked this cb500twin up earlier this week...will be my first build, but have big plans for it. wish me luck.

This is only a few hours into it...

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Got it moved into the basement workshop...so no excuses for being too cold to work in the garage now

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Pulling the engine is quite simple...only weights bout 80ish lbs

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Edited by scheetz31
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Plan on totally replacing everything minus frame and engine, those will get rebuilt and painted. The big idea that i have been tossing around is to put inverted forks on the front...might be more than i can handle, but well see when i get there.

Inspiration for that idea

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Edited by scheetz31
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I've had a cafe project brewing for several years now and between laziness and a POS garage it's been delayed. I think this winter I'm finally going to move all the stuff to my friend's garage and get rolling on it. I've already chopped the frame and had it, the swing arm, and the rims powder-coated as well as the getting the wheels freshly laced up.

Oh, it's a Yamaha TX500 BTW so, no good access to Honda parts. lol

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if you need any info pm me i'm going to be building a cb750 cafe over the winter. i have a few links for body work and stuff like that. not sure if they are the same for the 500 but it would be worth looking at.

Some stuff will work between the two, but Honda didn't like to share cross-platform like Kawasaki did.

Keep the photos coming!

id really like to see this thread or some thread of yours turn into a build thread, i've really grown fond of cafe racers and would like to see more about them especially if you get into that level of custom.

I vote for this as well! We should have a whole build section!

Edited by dorifto240
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good luck :)

I'd love to mess with an old bike, but I am afraid of anything without a front disk brake. So your bike makes the cut, but doing a fork conversion is an interesting idea... It would certainly free up some options.

It's fairly easy to upgrade to disc brakes. On some bikes it's basically bolt-on.

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Stem fits fine...just have to get some custom bearings, which maybe a challenge

Cut a seat shape outta some scrap wood to see how long i want the seat to be. Next im going to get some foam and shape a cowl. still not sure if i want to just make a fiberglass seat and cowl, or try my hand at forming some metal.

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I like where your going with this. I have done some thing similar, 02 gsxr K on a Motto Guzzi and a 2000 gsxr600 on a 79 honda xl 500 flattacker. The odd bearings might be impossible or expensive. What i did was to use the steering stem that came with the frame and make bushings to fit the stem to the new triples.Of coarse the bottom one needs to be a press fit. Have fun.

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Got some 1" steel tube to bend the seat rail out of.

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Also started playing with some form...

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Threw some paint on it and took a little more off the top...

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Not sure if im going to use this tank yet...if i dont, i might have to redo the cowl...but i like the idea for now

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