Cafe racer project.

[Son of Kradus]

Well I finally started on the bike, I reversed the headlight brackets to lift the headlight a bit, this ha moved it right up and looks way better than where it was before, its only moved about 6" but the difference is huge.

 

[Son of Kradus]

This is not the fuel tank for this bike, but im gonna make it fit, as it is it dosnt even fit but it came with the bike so I’ll perservere with it and carry on.
I made a bracket for the bolt end and I can use the mounting slots at the front , it should all work,
I used the very top of a seat stay assembly, cut it right back and welded it to the top gusset on the seating sub frame, then found a piece that had a pre drilled hole. It worked great and tomorrow I’ll start on the front fuel tank mounts

 

[Son of Kradus]

Finished the front mounts on the tank . I used the remaining bits of bmx forks I’d been chopping up, they fit and while being ugly they really are the best I could muster, tonight I’ll put a lt of fuel in and see if it leaks overnight. I was cautious to stay away from the tank itself and only welded to the doubled up join, thats why theres a small gap on the outside, to marry that could punch through it ruining everything

See how ive welded inside only, trying to stay away from the thin 1mm tank walls , anyway I did great joining 2mm to 5mm dropout, I’ve done a test placement and its all good, I’ll bush everything out with rubbers, there’s already my homemade red neoprene bush on the bolt end to stop vibration wear,

 

[Son of Kradus]

Today I started on the seating frame, its only gonna be a solo rider so I began by removing the battery box and disconnecting all things with it.

I then, after like 2hrs just looking at it and planning everything , I merrily cut away,

I cleaned up what I needed for today, found a handlebar cut off that magically was a snug fit for sleeves, every join has to have this in the top part.
In the below pic is the lower supports ive cut off and the top pair are the top sections, and my lovely sleeves

Everything fit so well

So the aim here is to take it from a wide cruiser rear to a more sporty racer type of look.

I took the 2lower supports and flipped n spun them a bit to get them to come out a bit where the battery and electrics go, then taper back, superbike style, I think I nailed it
One is about 6mm longer than the other but I’ll trim it before adding cross member supports.

I must be using about 90amps, the welding went great

So I couldn’t help but do a mock seat assembly

Tomorrow’s job is to join the lower supports to the top, there will be a bit of looking and planning again as “style” is

what im after

 

[JA331]

Nice work. Honda had a cool bike a few years back named the Solo with a suspended saddle.

 

[Son of Kradus]

Nice work. Honda had a cool bike a few years back named the Solo with a suspended saddle.View attachment 255292

That’s a great little bike, be perfect for a pub bike,

 

[Son of Kradus]

I began work on the lower supports this morning, everything was going good, until I got that urge to weld just a little bit more , even with sweat dripping leg cramps and some strange desire to just keep going and BAMMMM, punched a hole, a great big hole to, 10mm x 8 mm oval
I managed to fill it but you can see the repair so all isnt lost,
Towards the end,as usual, the welds get passable but not “pro custom “

It went great, that pile of jumbled electronics is awaiting the battery box install tomorrow or the next day,
Its New Year’s Eve tonight so thats it for the project today,
Happy new year everyone! Be safe and look out for your young ones

 

[Son of Kradus]

Finished the seat mounts today. I cut up an old office chair seat base, it had the right sized tabs and at 3mm was sufficient, all holes pre drilled, I just cut them off and shaped the corners.

The seat itself had the weirdest shape underneath, just look at couple different angles to make tabs,

A bit fiddley to do but I got em all on,

I joined the back too, shes pretty solid now, ive still got 2 supports to put in tomorrow and then its tabs for the covers, I’ll put something a bit different for the battery box , starting to look the goods now

 

[Son of Kradus]

The rear seat frames complete bar 4 tabs to attach covers, there’s 1 good tab left on each side that I’d left for this reason.

I utilised the old rear cross section and trimmed it down so I can use the 4 holes that have 6mm nuts already on the back of, this is to get a good purchase on the rear light assembly , which is a full custom job

It all went well

I cut out the gussets from an old MTB in the scrap bin, shaped for style and welded them in,

I ve left those last 4 cover tabs till after ive done the battery box install. There’s very little room now to fit it all in

So the battery has to go long ways, if I run it normally there’s a problem with battery removal, longways like this I can remove the entirety cradle to change the battery, even though once I get this running it may ever need 1 or 3 batteries in its remaining life,
One things for sure, this is starting to look really great, im excited about fabricating some covers

 

[Son of Kradus]

Yep, I did it again
Thought I’d finished the seat assembly and turned around to see the fuse box still hanging off the side, I’d also forgotten the cover tabs
But I did complete the battery box.
It’s sitting on some thin rubber matt, ready to mark out then cut, it’ll cushion the bottom and I’ll chuck a few smaller bits around the sides.

 

[Son of Kradus]

Today I installed the battery and hooked everything up for a mock assembly, its a bit tight but looking tidy!

I put the , this thing (rectifier maybe) at the rear , im guessing with those radiator type fins on it then it must have to be away from heat, it was positioned under the fuse box originally so now its at the rear, still upside down, it should be cooler back there with a bit of air flow around it.

The fuse box is housed in front of the seat in the void area between the tank and seat, it will get covered.

I also made sense of the wiring loom, I now only have just 2wires not going anywhere, they’ve been cut clean so they maybe for an item no longer required, I spent all day on this and my backs paying for it. Must rejoined most of this, I even had to get the original headlights and investigate what went where and how, it helped a lot,

So while looking complicated it’s coming along really well , in this pic the wiring’s done, ive just gotta marry up all the plugs , there will of corse be a wiring move about, as I try to hide everything

 

[ifitsfreeitsforme]

neat project. cool bike.

 

[Son of Kradus]

Ok getting closer to the mark, I lengthened a couple wires, this allowed me to lay everything down under the tanks tunnel, just a few plugs to marry still, I’ll also lay some rubber matting on final assembly underneath so vibrating ware is minimal
All that remains is a tail light of which I’ll start on soon,

 

[Son of Kradus]

Apologies for the lack of work on this , life’s getting in the way but I’m back and really have get moving,
Im starting the rear cowling work, As with the mini drift quad I’ll be using the rear plastic off an office chair, these make great templates for custom work where cardboard isnt strong enough,
In this first pic I have taped together the two corners and roughly shaped them, everything is ready to start
I’ll then run some epoxy glue and a single layer of glass to strengthen that join so it becomes workable and I can glue and shape other bits to it,

Here it is after the gluing, this is only to make a mould, depending on its structural integrity on completion I’ll then decide if the plastic mould will stay in or be removed