Building a cafe racer?

Zascar

I'll try to keep you updated on progress. Did a little more last night. I think I fixed the throttle problem. Sanded the bar down and now it goes on ok. Still missing a piece to hold the cable but at least it goes on. Tidied up a lot of cabling and took away some others that weren't needed, also some drainage hoses which will have to go back. Figured out where I am going to run the cabling for the rear brake and indicators, and then mapped out the battery cables which I'll do next week.

Took off the rearsets - giant big horrible yokes - must weigh a ton. I'm thinking about not having a rear brake at all. I rarely use mine and it would make the bike look cleaner. Unfortunately the only rearsets you can get cost a fortune: http://www.bskspeedworks.co.uk/k-rearsets.html - but pretty much any nice K100 cafe racer i have seen has them.

When I took off the exhaust manifolds a while ago 3 of the nuts were stuck in, Tried to get them out last night but one of them sheared off. So that's another problem to fix. Anyone have any tips on getting them out?

Blanchy90

You can get a stud extractor kit pretty cheap in halfords, that should do the job

Hotblack Desiato

Zascar wrote: »

I'm thinking about not having a rear brake at all. I rarely use mine and it would make the bike look cleaner.

Legal requirement though and you can guarantee any insurer would go ape if they find out in the event of a claim that a brake is missing!

Max Headroom

Hotblack Desiato wrote: »

Legal requirement though and you can guarantee any insurer would go ape if they find out in the event of a claim that a brake is missing!

Was thinking of the same for my build but decided against it,nothing to do with legal stuff but on a classic you really need every brake you can get...:P

Zascar

Yeah fair enough - will leave it there. I think I just have to go for the expensive rearsets now anyway. They cost almost as much as I paid for the bike in the first place!!

blade1

I wouldn't leave home without a good back brake.
I would have got T-boned one day without it.

Max Headroom

Zascar wrote: »

Yeah fair enough - will leave it there. I think I just have to go for the expensive rearsets now anyway. They cost almost as much as I paid for the bike in the first place!!

I'd be looking at cheapo ones that could be adapted...then, thats me...cheapo..:o

Zascar

I'll definitely look into it. From what I understand you can get some universal rearsets like these and then get someone to fabricate a bracket so they fit. Just not sure if in the long run it will be loads of hassle and not that much cheaper but I'll see. Where do I even look to find someone to do this type of thing for me?

listermint

How do people do slow control without a rear brake ?

It's a necessity for superb slow control I'm sure you've seen the concept on those YouTube videos where the police bikes are doing tiny circles around cones. You can't get that level of control without a rear brake.

Max Headroom

listermint wrote: »

How do people do slow control without a rear brake ?

It's a necessity for superb slow control I'm sure you've seen the concept on those YouTube videos where the police bikes are doing tiny circles around cones. You can't get that level of control without a rear brake.

Not sure he intends going through cones slowly...maybe a spin out to Bray for a 99 though....:p

Blanchy90

How much did the k100 cost if you dont mind me asking?

Zascar

I got it for peanuts as it was not running, and was a second bike on a different ad. Paid €450. Anything running in decent shape is going for about €1500

Blanchy90

Zascar wrote: »

I got it for peanuts as it was not running, and was a second bike on a different ad. Paid €450. Anything running in decent shape is going for about €1500

Thats a great price.

€1500 isn't too bad I've been drooling over pics of them lol

I definitely want to build a cafe racer as my 2nd bike hopefully in 2018

gctest50

listermint wrote: »

How do people do slow control without a rear brake ?

It's a necessity for superb slow control I'm sure you've seen the concept on those YouTube videos where the police bikes are doing tiny circles around cones. You can't get that level of control without a rear brake.

listermint wrote: »

.....police bikes are doing tiny circles around cones. ....

omg omg my poor little heart ..... teh dream.... doing tiny circles around cones on a cb750p with excessive amount of buttons on the bar switches :P




The rear brakes are handy though :

Max Headroom

gctest50 wrote: »

omg omg my poor little heart ..... teh dream.... doing tiny circles around cones on a cb750p with excessive amount of buttons on the bar switches :P




The rear brakes are handy though :

Is he robbing that......:eek::D

Imagine stamping on the wrong lever on that thing...grunch...:eek:

Blanchy90

Hows this going?

Max Headroom

Yeah...interested..

Zascar

It's not - don't ask - long story. However watch this space will be movement soon.

Jackdaw89

Zascar wrote: »

It's not - don't ask - long story. However watch this space will be movement soon.

I’d be very interested to follow a build/restoration thread. It’s been on my todo list but I don’t no if it’ll be a restoration or even what bike I’ll tackle yet.