The 12 hour cafe.
Guten tag rustlovers!
Today on the free model T we do it on 2 wheels for the first time. Yup! A German motorcycle. Although my true passion is cars I have also owned quite a few motorcycles. My dad had dozens of old Hondas, Kawasakis, Suzukis, Hodakas and even a CZ. At one point I owned about a dozen bikes but they mostly just sat so I got rid of them. What can I say? I like climate control and hate getting stung in the face by bees. OK I’m a wuss, my brother Big Ben on the other hand races dirt bikes and even has is own race team: Sikora Racing.
A few posts ago I mentioned that I had picked up an old BMW motorbike from my dear friend Mr. Naughty, since then I’ve tinkered with it off and on. I cleaned out the fuel system, put in a new pump, lines and filter. I got all the sand out of the tank (yes there was sand in the tank) then fixed all of the lights and went through the salvage process.
It was in very rough shape as it had died on the road then sat under an oak tree in valley center for 6 years but after some serious love it was running and driving but UGLY!
First, off with the bags!
Better already but let’s ditch the trunk and half of that seat.
Pro tip: hack saw blades fit into all standard air saws and cost a fraction of the price. Each hacksaw blade can be cut into thirds for additional savings or left intact for added length.
Now we’re talking!
I cut off all of the rotten foam and roughed in the desired shape with the air saw then final shaped the foam with a drywall shaving cheese grater. Messy!
Freaking. Awesome.
Just for comparison here is a picture of the “new” seat with the cut off section placed behind it.
Next I cut the frame, bent it, then cut it some more! 
Understanding wife graciously donated some cotton batting and sewed together some brown vinyl scraps leftover from refinishing our antique kitchen chairs. I stretched and stapled it all into place.
I did all of that in 7 hours on Sunday.
Monday after work I welded some frame scraps together and welded them back onto the bike as the new rear portion of the frame.
Perfect! Done! Except for the blinkers, license plate, brake light and tail light are gone now. Yeah, I should probably put some on.
BAM! I welded the new rear frame hoop to the inside of the cutoff frame rails leaving two hollow tubes poking out the back into which I shoved some tiny amber LED blinkers. Sweet.
I did all of this in 5 hours after work on Monday. After getting it running I turned an essentially worthless motorcycle into a rideable, street legal cafe racer for $30 in parts and 12 hours of my life.
No, it’s not painted and polished, no, it’s not done, but at this point it is cool looking, reliable and sellable . Cafe racers are hot right now and although this bike will never exemplify the style, I think it is truer to the history of cafe racers than most.
Originally cafe bikes were built by novices at home; stripping them down to make them as light as possible to win on race day. This bike is as much of a home hack job as any, ready to be abused, not some polished museum piece or trailer queen.
I ordered some clubman handlebars and will “cafe out” the front end when they come. I want to paint the bike brown and cream colored. The theme I’m going for is “Rootbeer Float” but c’mon how often do I actually paint a vehicle before I sell it? Never!
This is not one of those crazy deals that I’ve been working on for years. Anyone can get one of hundreds of dilapidated motorcycles for cheap or free on the webs and do this. Maybe not as fast as me but you can! All you need is a little creativity and a couple hundred bucks. Don’t know how? Learn by doing, heck ask me for advice, I’ll answer. Also find a friend who can weld, hoseclamping a frame together is to be highly discouraged.
Until next time rustlovers,
Build a bike!
