Detroit Cafe Racer

Lambretta is finished!

2010-08-26T17:23:00.000-07:00

Lambretta, is finally done...well, not totally done, but it rides and stops. I need to get some hardware to tighten up the gear shifter and the throttle and a set of new brake shoes. But I love it as much as I had hoped! It's pretty hard to get used to riding a bike with such small wheels! I feel like I'm weaving all over the road while I ride it. :-)

Summer! Ride, build and ride!

2010-06-08T15:01:00.000-07:00

No Posts for a long time... I've been to China and back literally.

Hey, good news though, I finally got the stuff to finish the Lambretta. I should be able to knock it out in the next few days. Pics coming soon :-)

I'm moving to a new home soon, and I'll have the full workshop up and running as soon as I can. Then back to work on the SR500 that I'd planned to have done by Feb. (when I got side tracked by the Lambretta.) It's gonna be a mean lookin' bike! None of the shine and polish of "Larry" the SR from the Vid. Just pure rock and roll.

2010-04-12T07:53:00.000-07:00

Today I celebrate one month since I ordered my parts from Lambretta Works in San Francisco. Still no parts. The weather is truly lovely for a scooter ride, but I'll need a week to put parts on (if I ever get them) Since I'll be in China for the next month, it looks like I won't see the open road 'till July!

Do I complain too much?

MOTO GP!

2010-04-11T12:08:00.000-07:00

Very happy to have the MotoGP hi-res season pass. I just watched the 125 and Moto2 races. Now for the big boys!

Pathetic showing from Lambretta. One of the Lambrettas didn't even make the first turn! The other retired well before the finish. DNF and DNF.

Tony Elias was awesome finishing 4th after trading his crutches for the bike and working the clutch with a stitched up left hand. Nice one, mate!

On the downside, I can't get the live timing to work from the MotoGP web site.

Hong Kong!

2010-04-01T17:37:00.000-07:00

Just got the nod from the board at work, they're sending me to Hong Kong and China for 3 weeks! How does this relate to my two wheeled pursuits, you may ask? Welly, welly, well. This means that I get to visit Mr. Jimmy's SR shop in Hong Kong. He's the purveyor of tons of ultra juicy SR parts from Japan that are nearly unheard of in the States. He's a good guy and has fair pricing. I'll likely spend an afternoon there sourcing parts for the current and the next SR projects.

KID IN CANDY STORE.

Powdercoat

2010-03-28T20:40:00.000-07:00

OOOOFFF! Man, I got some of the stuff back from Powdercoat today. It was mostly acceptable with the exception of the front brake drum. The backing plate was fine but the drum its self was pretty noticeably damaged by the multiple sand blasting sessions that were necessary to repeatedly re-do the finish. On the upside, he says he's willing to replace the item. Um, well I imported that from Japan- and It cost some serious money. I found an older version on ebay and I hope he'll go for that. It'll hopefully be a cheap way for him to replace the part and for me to have a sweet bike in the end.

Frustration

2010-03-26T18:04:00.000-07:00

I'm fuckin' over the deadbeat shop owners that won't ship items to you after you order them. I ordered 250 bucks worth of parts from a Lambretta shop in California 2 WEEKS AGO! That jagoff told me that he "needs to finish a bike and then hell send my parts." Well, asshole, I have a bike to finish too!

The same shit is going on with my powder coat guy. I dropped off the stuff for my New SR500 build 9 weeks ago and he "had a problem with the spray booth" and still isn't done. I'm guessing that in this economy no one is spending money so they've forgotten how to do their jobs.

Preliminary assembly

2010-03-23T20:19:00.000-07:00

Loosely assembled to see the progress and assess the fit of the bodywork. The silver is powder coated and the white is enamel. I'll be fitting the speedo, cables and electrics this weekend. Hopefully riding it by Sunday!

Horn cast...

2010-03-23T20:15:00.000-07:00

And that's why I needed a new horncast!

HORNCAST FOUND!

2010-03-16T13:30:00.000-07:00

After a difficult search I've found a horncast! I guess, it wasn't that difficult, but with this interweb thing we all use, searching has become so easy that anything longer than a day is exhausting! It took me a month and the help of the guys at Lambretta Works to find the horn casting. It needs to be shipped from Europe, but will likely be on the bike in a few weeks.

Feverish Pace

2010-03-11T09:42:00.000-08:00

Working on the Lambretta with the determination of an ant colony. I've barely stopped to take pics. So far:

Scoot was stripped and body was divided into paint and powder coat piles.

Both piles sent to sandblasting

Paint pile was sanded, restored, primed and painted.

Powder coat pile was...well, powder coated.

All parts are are finished with the exception of the side panels that needed a touch of extra TLC. They will be painted tomorrow.

New badges and body embellishments have arrived. I'm waiting on the new rear seat and cover as well as the sew cables and speedo.

Final assembly should be complete by the end of this month.

The only road block I've hit was that when I tried to get the clutch arm off to send out for plating, I dis-engaged it from the splines inside the engine. So an oily afternoon is on the horizon to repair my stupid mistake. :-(

Working

2010-02-24T07:21:00.000-08:00

Working again! Unfortunately that means less time for working in the garage. The Lambreatta will be a pretty quick build since the engine and mechanicals are good. Just cosmetic and electrical to be done. Parts are ordered but processing time has been pretty freakin' slow! I ordered the stuff 10 days ago and the order still shows as "processing" on my account page. I feel like a kid counting the days 'till my birthday. I just want to see the status changed to a ship date or a tracking number.

Rocker? Mod? Whatever, dude.

2010-02-22T17:39:00.000-08:00

As a slight distraction from the Cafe Racer build, I'm working on repainting a '63 Lambretta I got for my wife for Valentine's day.

Great, big, honkin' order from Thumperstuff

2010-02-04T13:46:00.000-08:00

I just got in the long anticipated order from Mark Apland. (All things considered It took forever because of my dragging ass deciding on the contents.)

I'll be putting in some hours tomorrow and the next day sorting out the wheels and suspension. I'll prob. make an order from Mike's XS as well. They have good quality fork tubes at a great price. I'll possibly try to get some Ikon shocks as well. This is shaping up to a sweet bike!

Piston arrived yesterday!

2010-01-31T16:02:00.001-08:00

After a long wait for the guy from eBay to ship the piston (he forgot) I finally got it. I hope the machinist can punch out the cylinder quickly so I can get back on schedule. I'll also have him cut new valve seats while he's at it. I've already smoothed out the ports a bit. Nothing radical, no re-shaping just cutting down some of the casting seams and texture.

I also got the tapered bearings installed today. I'll need to order some new fork tubes from Mike's XS asap so I can re-build the forks.

The hubs and rims are at the powder coater and new spokes will be ordered shortly from Buchanan's. I've decided that Black rims and hubs will look pretty nice with chrome spokes! Hmmm pretty nice? or just plain SEXY!

Order from Thumperstuff

2010-01-13T17:21:00.000-08:00

I just got off the phone with Mark Apland out at Thumperstuff in rainy Washington state. He's putting together a nice care package for me to finish building the engine. I pulled off the the covers and other than a few small anomalies ( cracked oil filter cover and a chewed up thrust washer on the starter assembly) the innards look pretty good. the bearings are tight and so is the rod. Thank God, I really hate splitting the cases! I'll rinse out the old oil sludge with some solvent and send off the barrel and head to the machinist for boring and re-cutting the valve seats.

It looks like I'll need to order some spokes from Buchanan's too. I need to match the front chrome spokes to the rear. I'll be powder coating the hubs and rims black. I just need to get off my ass and pull the rear hub out of the old rim.

First fitting of the body work

2010-01-04T08:56:00.001-08:00

Test fitting the seat and tank with the new brackets and soon to be modified rear fender.

Still waiting to get my hubs powder coated, the tripple trees from my storage space and some new fork tubes. The look is there though. still need to make some decisions about the paint on the tank. It's an alloy Manx Norton style tank, but has a few dents in it (I think) I came painted like this. I don't want to have a Norton logo on the Yamaha. I'll likely strip it down soon and asses the dents to make up my mind n the paint.

Now, what the hell am I gonna do about a header and meggaphone?

First blood!

2010-01-04T08:50:00.000-08:00

Be careful expanding springs, when they come back, the have some power! I had a spring recoil into my hand while installing the kickstand. not a lot of pain because the spring hook went all the way past my nerves, through my skin and into the sub-dermal fat.

Go Baby, GO!

2009-12-29T14:44:00.000-08:00

FINALLY! I got some time to get into the garage. Beautiful newly powder coated frame and all the stuff I need to get this project on the way. I just need to pull the trigger on a bunch of stuff that Mark Apland has set aside for me.

This project finally drew first blood. I put a pretty deep hole in my hand today. for some reason it didn't hurt at all after the initial poke. just looked down and the surgical glove I wear to work started to fill with blood...a lot of blood. Pulled off the glove and I had a bunch of sub dermal fat sticking out of the hole that the spring pulled into my hand. Cool.

After the bood drama finished I got the chrome center stand on as well as the side stand, the Manx style PCV breather tank and the alloy swing arm. Pics coming soon.

At last!

2009-12-23T05:23:00.000-08:00

Great! My frame has finally returned from the powder coater. I was told at first that it would be a few days. It ended up taking him 2 tries and 3 weeks to get it right. It's ok though, he's a pretty nice guy who's just learning the trade. I'll use him again because the frame looks GREAT! I'm pretty busy for the holidays so work won't commence until the the new year.

Happy holidays!

Liberated Swingarm

2009-11-27T13:40:00.001-08:00

OK! I guess I finally found a use for all of my big SAE wrenches! Following the suggestion to use them as spacers and slowly pull the shaft through until it came all the way out. Nice. It took a long while to do it. but in the end, all of the internal parts have been saved and the old heavy swingarm will be scrapped.

The frame has made it to the powder coater on schedule. This is the first time I've used this guy, he offered me a beer as soon as I walked up. I think I'll be going there again! I hope his wok is as good as his customer service. He said it'll be done in the next 5 days.

Now it's time to dig into the engine a bit more and start cleaning and polishing stuff for assembly to start in the next couple of weeks. Though I may need to take a holiday break and begn again after the new year commences.

Swingarm headache

2009-11-25T09:58:00.001-08:00

Fingers crossed wasn't good enough. The stock swingarm is stuck tight! Since I'm putting on my alloy swingarm I really don't care about destroying the stock one. I just need to be careful not to damage the shaft and sleeve inside since I'll need to reuse them.

So I drilled a few holes and pulled the grease zirk. Now I have 4 holes open to the shaft inside. I filled the chamber with carb cleaner to loosen up all of the 32 year old grease and rust. I'll let it sit for the afternoon and try again with the mallet later.

Engine Removal

2009-11-24T18:12:00.000-08:00

Got the engine out tonight without the help of the stupid Sears piece of shit bike lift. It's still leaking hydraulic fluid in the trunk of my car. But the engine is on the bench ready for tear down and blueprinting.

Next on the menu is removing the swingarm. Can be simple, but also can be a complete ball ache if the bits are frozen up inside. (fingers crossed!)

CRAP.

2009-11-24T12:52:00.000-08:00

Just started to work today and my bike lift died. It started oozing hydro fluid and the bike came gently to the garage floor. I went to Sears to get it replaced and they won't do it. Apparently the warrantee changed from lifetime to 1 year. So now I have no lift and I'm mid build.

New SR500 teardown

2009-11-22T14:26:00.000-08:00

Back from the weekend at my sisters place. I got into the garage only for a few minutes to work on the SR. It's pretty much ready to grind off the extra brackets and clean up the frame. then I guess I'll either rent a welder or take it to a local shop to get a few tabs put on. I'm chasing down a powder coater here since I'm kinda new to this area. I'm missing the awesome shops in and around Motown for car and bike custom work.

I plan on draining the oil and pulling the engine out tomorrow if I have time, but I do have some other chores and appointments on my shedule. It's always a strange thing to open up an SR engine. So many people have suped 'em up over the years that it could be a gold mine of race goodies inside or it's bone stock and worn out ...or...it's a fucking mess that a ham fisted kid with good intentions but poor skills has destroyed.

New SR500

2009-11-21T08:24:00.000-08:00

OK, I Bought another SR500 this week. I'm really looking forward to building this! I got it in Traverse City, MI. When I drove 5 hours to get it I was - well... disappointed. When I got there. It was a lump of SHIT! The owner had exaggerated the condition to say the least. Last time I bought a lump of shit like this, at least it had some good internal parts. This one is just an old tired 28,000 mile thumper. So I'll have my work cut out for me on this project.

So far, I've completed the initial break down and component removal. I'm now in the process of dry fitting all of the cafe bits to it, grinding off the unnecessary brackets and welding on some new ones.

I drove out to my storage space and pulled out all of my SR spares and the alloy tanks to see what will look best.

I'll still need to get new clip-ons, lights, fork tubes, tachometer and speedo set, etc...etc. I know how these things evolve.

EBAY CONTEST

2009-09-07T14:28:00.000-07:00

I'm entered in an eBay contest for the motorcycle I built. I want your help to get some votes. All you need to do is vote and pass on the link to anyone you may know that has an ebay account (you need to have one to vote.) I worked really hard on this bike and with enough support from my friends and their networks, I think I can win. If you don't think mine's the best don't vote for it. I'm not asking for sympaty votes just honest opinions.

Here's the link to my entry on ebay.
http://ebay.promotionexpert.com/MotorsMaster/view_video.jsp?entry_id=-PLwgkVJ77GGkGt0VtAV4A..

Marc D

2009-08-30T10:53:00.000-07:00

2009-08-27T14:40:00.000-07:00

Brakes:

With out question a double sided four leading shoe brake (4LS) is the coolest kit out there for a cafe racer hub.

There is a dual single leading shoe (SLS) one from a Benelli looks pretty cool. If you could get one for less than $500 it would be a good deal.

Available new is the Grimeca 230mm stopper. On the same hub as the Benelli but has different backing plates. available for about $700+ I have one of these on my SR500 and the only complaint I have is the weight. This is not for guys that like to wheelie! It will stop you fast though.

Also keep a look out for a Suzuki GT750 double sided drums (also called a 4ls brake) could be a good cheaper option for a good drum. Usually available for about $250 - $350. They're really good brakes for the money, but usually need to be restored. Like re-chroming the arms turning the liners and getting new shoes. could be spendy if you get a cheap crappy one. For that reason it can be worth it to look for one thats in really good shape. I have 2 of these in my collection: one is fully restored and the other is somewhat less attractive. :-)

There are other truly exotic (and sweet looking!) 4ls brakes available Ceriani and Fontana come to mind, If you have deep pockets these others are a good option, if not, they'll likely cost more than a complete project bike. Unless you are playing the "I'm better than you" game in the ARMHA paddocks these are a little over the top.

Another consideration is the displacement of your bike. I don't know if I'd want to have drum brakes on a bike bigger than a 650cc. If you are doing a 750 or larger discs would be a sound idea. (or life insurance.)

Rims

2009-08-27T14:30:00.000-07:00

Booo yaa! this is the rim you want. This style rim is the standard of light and strong. It comes in a few different guises. the most notable being the Borrianai and Akront from Italy and Spain respectively. These are the most sought after and will cost accordingly. I've found the Takasago from Japan to be a very well made rim and prefer it to the DID version. However, I still run the DIDs on one of my bikes and have no complaints. The key here is the high shoulder. Great for rigidity and it looks superb. Downside: cleaning them is a chore.

for the BSA, it really depends on how wide you want the rear tire but if, for example, you get a 19 front and the 18 rear, its a pretty common combo. the larger dia. front will have a lower profile tire and the rear will inherently have a little taller profile. this makes them pretty close to the same o.d. after fitting rubber. It makes the bike handle quite controllably and smoothly. I, however prefer the look of matching Dia. rims -and nineteens would look the dogs bullocks on your bike! If you get a matched set of the Takasago rims from the XS650 they will be pretty thin for a rear tire. but it can be done

BSA Cafe Racer

2009-08-27T14:24:00.000-07:00

I'm helping a friend build a 67 BSA into a cafe racer. He's not really new to biking but he is pretty new to the whole custom cafe racer and modifying culture. So I thought I'd share some of the emails I send him.

I hope this stuff will help others out there keep from making costly and or hideously ugly mistakes while chasing the cafe racer dream.

2009-08-17T12:47:00.000-07:00

Burt Munro. Nine letters that spell HERO. That guy was truly a gifted human. How is it that some of us can live a passionless life? True passion is what Burt had for his bike and for Speed. I have not yet had the pleasure of studying about his life, but Anthony Hopkin's portrayal of him in the World's Fastest Indian was inspirational. What would Burt say if he saw the time we waste blogging or watching TV. His days were spent in his shed solving complex engineering problems and finding solutions to unsolvable problems. All I have to Say is: Burt, GOOD ON YA MATE!

2009-08-15T11:05:00.000-07:00

I really think in the grand scheme of things, the importance of life and possessions are really central to the existence we lead. For example in social interaction, I've noticed that the mere mention of motorcycles will usually ostracize me from a potential new social group or employer. Like a motorcycle (or 4) in my garage relegates me to the fringes of society where crystal meth fueled brawls and unkept beards are secretly being filmed by the FBI (or History Channel's Gangland.) Instead of being a "fascinating hobby" like photography or rock climbing, it's like a blot of gravy on a resume.

Well, here I am, not belonging to either of those worlds. Half of my days are spent denying my 2 wheel impulses so I might be presentable in hopes of regaining some kind of reasonable employment to support my family. The other half of my day is spent either wrenching away at some greasy hulk in the corner of my current garage or studying the aesthetics of classic race machines like pornography for my mechanical fetish. So, is it these impulses we feed that are shaping us socially and professionally? Is it these machines that define us as humans that allow us to stand out in relief against the smooth surface of society? Am I wrong to feel that my life and possessions are one great unemployed blob of mechanics and aesthetics? Maybe...

2009-01-30T15:43:00.000-08:00

This is a really cool illustration of the differences in the mechanisms of 3 Norton Engines. I especially like the sweet high compression piston on the Manx. I'm not too familiar with the extent to which Norton actually used the Desmo head, but it seems they were pioneers for Ducati's later use. Of course Ducati really ran with it and beat the pants of most comers with their version!

Scans and Such

2009-01-29T15:27:00.000-08:00

OK I finally got motivated to do some scans from my old motorcycle engineering books. The scans came from P.E. Irving's Motorcycle Engineering (pub. 1961) and P.E. Irving's Tuning for Speed (pub. 1948)

These are some great drawings from motorcyling's past. Enjoy them, and if you can, try to hunt down some of the original books. They're pretty cheap if you an find 'em and they have some good basic info for any one putting together a cafe racer or working on their classic bike. Anyone who reads this is welcome to contact me for larger hi-res scans of these great Drawings. More to come in the future!

After I post this I'll be off to my workshop to sort through my extra stuff to cull the herd so-to-speak. I'm down to the more expensive tasks on my Aermacchi 350 and my XT500 Paris Dakar rally bike replica. I'll need the extra coin!

2009-01-27T07:23:00.000-08:00

Holy crap! This is sick!
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/americas/AP/story/873138.html

Multimedia message

2009-01-25T06:11:00.000-08:00

Today I'm volunteering at the North American International Auto Show. Wow! This stuff is sweet!

2009-01-24T06:47:00.000-08:00

I've been working on the controls for my SR500. I'm trying to clean up the cables and wires as well as replace the tach. I really like the Smiths ATRC I had on it. but I think I'll run that on my Aermacchi. I'm also lowering the clip-ons and replacing the headlight ears. Pics are coming soon.

Getting close to completion on my XT500 project. I'm looking for some taller suspension but the stock stuff will be ok for now. I'm gonna have to tackle making my own wiring harness. I'm the first to admit that my greatest weakness in bike building is the electrical system. Now, if I can just find a place to get 20 different colors of wire!

Beginnings

2009-01-23T07:04:00.000-08:00

Home sick today. I guess I'll finally have the time to start this blog. I've been using a Yahoo group as a blog for a while. I think this is a better place for it. Use the right tool for the job, right?

Anyway, I'll keep posting updates of my cafe racer builds and whatever-the-hell-else I feel like posting. What'r YOU gonna do about it anyway!