So my wife wants to buy a Cafe Racer, to go along with our other 4-5 motorcycles in the garage She wants to spend between $2000 for a nice 90% complete bike build to $3000 for a completed build. I am thinking it will end up on the wall in the pool rom/bar at some stage but she will want to ride it for a while first. We both like the mid-late 70's Cafe Racers and probably a 350-650 size, if we want to go fast we have other bikes to do that on. So what are everyone's thoughts on a cool Cafe Racer that fits what she wants. This is her idea, I will just get to fix/finish it when I have time, because I have so much time nowdays I was thinking a mid-70's CB550 or XS650 or something.
Not selling one. I'm in the process of building a 1975 H2. It will have a 2005 GSXR front end and a Bandit rear end. ESP is building the motor now.
Triumph T120. Or if you want to think out of the box, a BSA A65. Either one has tons of parts support due to thousands of them being cafed-out in Europe over the decades.
Buy mine - I need to buy another house so it's up fo' sale. [/URL][/IMG] People dig it and it gets a lot of attention at local bike nights.. [/URL][/IMG] I've put about 1,100 miles on it since the build [/URL][/IMG] It's on CL with more info - http://tampa.craigslist.org/pnl/mcy/3752078386.html Cafe bikes kick ass, buy one!
I found a good deal on a 1976 Yamaha XS750 triple. Don't care much for the shaft drive but thought it'd still make for a really cool vintage looking streetable café bike. Then it sat in storage for the last three years. I recently donated it to a buddy because: His Kaw 500 triple got stolen and he'll never see that bike again. Him and his wife just had a newborn first of this year. He moved his family to Nashville two weeks ago. I don't think he'll be in the position to purchase a bike for a very long time. AND... I have a list of projects to work on/finish that's so long I'll never get to the 750 triple project. All the old bikes are cool. Good luck with finding the one you and your wife like. If your project list is like mine, hopefully you'll find a bike that's already or almost already completed.
Check out the new cafe racer mag Iron & Air. Super well done and full of build our articles and cool pix. They came to 2013 Barber Vintage weekend and were a big hit. Cool guys..
GS450 twin and GS550 fours were the go to bike around here for awhile. You could pick them up for next to nothing, throw a couple more nothings at it and you had a nice enough cafe rat racer. Now those bikes are few and far between or selling for more. What about the GS550 twin? Nice starting point.
Can't believe that no one has mentioned Ryca. Buy a beater zooki savage S40 on Craigslist and throw their stuff on it. Modern cafe racer. Add some cool bits here and there. Done. Pretty cool stuff from them, pick a style you like and run with it.
There's a good looking 400F for sale on one of my local boards. Dunno if that's close enough to you but....
If you want something really cool, I've got a 60' Ducati 200 SS I would part with... Needs a little work but ran when I parked it 5 years ago.
