Just a little Photochopping to get ideas...

[Odinist]

Since I love being original, I'm thinking about going in a cafe racer direction with my bike. ;-)


I figure one of the first steps will be getting rid of the L style rear fender, and custom mounting the tail light, and some flush mounts. I'll also cut the front fender shorter, and change the handle bars.


Here's a pic of my bike as she stands:

And here she is with a general idea of how I'd do the rear and front fenders. I didn't add bars yet to the pic, because I'm still undecided between clubmans or drag bars:

Ideas?

 

[80GS750]

it would look better with a flat seat,

but man that seat is comfy eh?

i have one on my 1000 and i wish a had the flat seat as it goes easier on a cafe style bike

 

[Billy Ricks]

The altered look resembles a Kawasaki Eliminator from back in the '80s. Not a bad look at all, just not really cafe looking. You would need to lose the seat and teardrop tank to go really cafe. Maybe raise the fork tubes in the triple to drop the front end a little too.

 

[Odinist]

Sure is comfy!

I'll change the seat in the long run, but it's not a priority. =)

 

[jimcor]

Don't mount your license plate in anything but a horizontal position. Reports from TN and NC's famous Dragon say TN state police are stopping and ticketing bikes with side mounted vertically positioned plates. You get a second ticket if it's not illuminated.

A vertically mounted plate sez: Can I have a ticket,too, please?

 

[oldschoolorange]

clubmans do work with that bike. Ask bentrod to take a pic of his bike

 

[jimcor]

clubmans do work with that bike. Ask bentrod to take a pic of his bike

I think that seat looks good and the overall stance of the bike looks great. I like the rear fender tho', simply for practical reasons...rain and touring. Instead of Clubman's or clip-ons I'd go for a set of drag bars with a set of "welded on dog bones (risers)" to give about a 6 inch rise. That would look bad. Just, for heavens sake, stay away from flat black anything...Please!

I'd go for an old "Chopper Dragster" look rather than cafe. I mean they are both just cosmetic exercises. And the high front, low rear of the L works right out of the box. Think about it. And Billy is right, that L has the Eliminator look. The dragster chopper was exactly what the Kwacker Co. was building with the Eliminator bikes. And they were really lookers! Runners too!

If you decide to go this route you might also scrounge up a set of old school lowering blocks for the rear shocks . They allow you to move the rear shock mount back on the swingarm and drop the rear heighth about 2".

Everbody is building a cafe racer. Nobody is building a 70's custom dragster chop.

 

[AOD]

I like the short bars up front. Go with a flat seat and longer rear shocks to pick up the rear some.

~Adam

 

[Billy Ricks]

Good idea on raising the rear. It does need to be elevated a little to get more of a cafe look. Right now it looks a bit like a chopper with the long forks and low rear.

 

[jimcor]

Good idea on raising the rear. It does need to be elevated a little to get more of a cafe look. Right now it looks a bit like a chopper with the long forks and low rear.

So go for that Chopper look. It was what we did back then. My XS2 had a 10" over stock front end that I put God knows how many miles on. Rode from Cincy OH to LA and 'Frisco and back twice.

Add lowering blocks and go 72, 73 era performance/dragster chopper look! Don't raise the rear. Lower it more. Everybody has cafe bikes.

The whole concept of the L was chopper based, not 'cruiser', a term the bike magazines came up with because they were scared of losing ad revenue by calling a chopper a chopper becuse of the social stigmata the bikes carried because of the outlaw style bikers that rode them.

 

[Odinist]

Everbody is building a cafe racer. Nobody is building a 70's custom dragster chop.

Dang good ideas!

 

[BentRod]

at least on my L, drag bars with the L tank and guages, looks.. well, special in a short bus kinda way.

Be warned, your going to be doing rear sets, leaning that far forward.. you feel like your knees are in your chest with stock pegs.

I also have the comfy seat, which I'm fine with because i take passengers from time to time now. My solution will probably be me making some tins to cover it, and removing the stock rear fender.

I will post pics

 

[AOD]

Originally Posted by jimcor
Everbody is building a cafe racer. Nobody is building a 70's custom dragster chop.

That's why I'm getting a classic 70's UJM and planning to leave it alone!

~Adam

 

[Billy Ricks]

Everbody is building a cafe racer. Nobody is building a 70's custom dragster chop.

I always liked the look of the Eliminator. It would be real easy to get that look with an L model.

 

[Odinist]

Oh snap, that's a sharp lookin' bike!!


In fact, after seeing that pic, I'll say that that is exactly the look I'll go for. That looks damn sweet!

 

[Billy Ricks]

Oh snap, that's a sharp lookin' bike!!


In fact, after seeing that pic, I'll say that that is exactly the look I'll go for. That looks damn sweet!

I don't care for the little duckbill out back but the rest of the bike is pretty sweet.

 

[80GS750]

that whole bike looks bada$$

 

[Billy Ricks]

that whole bike looks bada$$

In their day they were bada$$. That's a shaft driven Ninja 900 powerplant in that thing.

 

[jimcor]

In their day they were bada$$. That's a shaft driven Ninja 900 powerplant in that thing.

You are looking at a naked Concours. Yep, that is the machine Kawasaki tweaked into their first sport touring bike. OK, there are a lot of changes between an Eliminator and a Connie, but get the Tupperware off a Concours and the bloodline is immediately visible. Connie got bumped to a litre (to 999cc, actually), and lost the twin rear shocks and gained a monoshock rear suspension.

 

[QuaiChangKane]

Since I love being original, I'm thinking about going in a cafe racer direction with my bike. ;-)

Ideas?

Have the rear seat reshaped - like a corbin for an HD Softail or V-Rod, or like the photo in my sig.


I'd also 'shop it up to see what it would look like with a small duck-billed fender a little shorter than the Eliminator above to see what that would look like....

Otherwise, I think you're on the righ ttrack.

-Q!

The image below is a close-up of the custom seat on my 750 - having a seat reshaped/recovered is surprisingly cheap at an auto upholstery shop....