I am happy to say project Cafe ala Carte has finally begun.  I thought some of you might be interested in seeing some of the work.

The goal of this bike is to build an ultra-clean and ultra-minimalistic 1960's style cafe bike using a Savage engine.  The engine is a 1997 with 2,000 miles on it.  The frame is from a 1968 Wards Riverside 260 Mojave (made by Benelli in Italy).  This was a frame that was a knock off of a Rickman racing frame and orginally made by Benelli to house a 650 twin.  It was a bike that never made it past prototype stage but they ended up using the frame for the Wards bikes.


My build will be in two phases.  The first that I am in now is what I am calling the Title Build.  To title the bike I need to take it in as a running functioning bike so this first build is a very rough fast build to get the title work going.  Once I have the title in hand I will tear it down to the ground and start over and do it right.

Here is a picture of the Mojave frame.



As of November I had gotten the engine in the frame.  I have modified a GS450 swing arm to fit it.  The GS450 is the correct length and much stronger and better looking than the stock unit.  The picture below shows the bike with a GT250 swing arm on it which I will use for this build since the GT rear wheel fits it with no mods.  Eventually it will have either the GT or the Savage rear hub laced up to a polished aluminum high shouldered rim from a 1975 XS650.



In the second build I plan to cut out the swing arm pivot plates and replace them moving the pivot (and engine) down about 1" to 1-1/2".  The rear shocks are currently stock Savage units, again for the title build only.  I would like to put a set of gassers on it for the final build.

I have updated the post further down.  Updating this one truncated it  

Hell yeah!
I really like where this is going and I love that there are more folks doing full on custom rebuilds with the Savage.
Keep up the good work man.

Now this beats the crap outta the pap they push on "American Chopper".  We want to see bikes being built, not Mikey and Pauly shooting clay pigeons or throwing paint balloons at each other.  Thanks for the pics, keep em coming!

8) Great stuff!! As a previous post said, "keep it comin'" ... fabulous work! Can't wait to see the finished product! 8)

Thanks for the comments and support!


Mpescatori - - I hear you about the 4 shoe drums but at this point I can't bring my self to paying $300 plus for an old 4 shoe hub.  The racers are paying top dollar for them.  My plan is a bike that from 25 ft away looks like a 1960's gem but up close it is sprinkled with modern technology.  The front brake (I like 1 or 2 finger stoping power   ) is going to be a 320mm Ducati rotor grabbed by a twin piston Tokico caliper off a 600 katana (same as on the SV650).

Rogue -  Personally I can't stand the Tuddly's.  The only credit I will give them is a little jealousy in that they have a great marketer, they are filthy rich, and they get to play in the shop while I toil for "the man".

srinath  yes the GS500 fork was chosen for a number of reasons.  First the GS500 weighs about the same as the savage.  I needed forks from a bike that had a fairly tall engine so they would be long enough.  I wanted as large as I could get but ones that could still be cleaned up to look like late '60's style,  They are 37mm (not too shabby) and they fit the old large GS triple clamps.  I have made several pairs of triple clamps on past projects but didn't really want to have to go there on this bike.  Lastly because many of them were raced in club racing you can get full valving and spring kits for them.  Now luck would make it that I snagged a set on ebay from a guy that was parting out his old race bike and just last year he had put new seals, Race Tech valves and springs in them!!  $105 to my door!  over $200 in valving and springs in them.  As far as the katana forks go they would force me into making triple clamps to have the old style look and also they are sprung way to stiff for a bike that is targeted to come in at about 300 lbs.  I really want to break sub 300 but we will see!  Add a fork brace and the old GS500 forks do pretty well.

Rock on guys!  I will post more pics as it progresses!

CONTINUED...

Now to start on the spacer.  Select one fine piece of cold rolled steel.



I turned down the OD to match and then the ID to fit in with a slip fit.



Then cut if off and do the same to the other end.



Here is the new stem pieces



Here is the stem assembled.  It was then cross drilled and pinned. Once everything is final I will weld
it solid.




Next a little grease on it and into the press for assembly.  No heat needed on this one.  First the stem
then the bearing.




Now here is the GS1100 lower triple clamp with the newly stretched stem.



Now on to the uppers.  Here are the uppers side by side.  Note the small hole in the GS must be enlarged to
match the LS.



I set it up in the mill and indicated in the hole (centered it under the cutter) and hogged it with a 3/4"
cutter.  



Then I finished sizing it with a boring head.

great work!!! that rotor is huge in comparison to the wheel, i like it.

Yep, beats the TV shows on bike building. Good going.