SuzukiSavage.com - Cafe Conversion "the late night special

teabowl13 Serious Thumper Offline SuzukiSavage.com Rocks! Posts: 535	Re: Cafe Conversion "the late night special Reply #30 - 08/03/12 at 06:50:11 scubachef wrote on 08/02/12 at 16:06:49: It gets ridden... My pocketbook says I better ride. GOOD TO HEAR IT! Pocketbook, schmocketbook; it's just more FUN to ride!
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scubachef Full Member Offline SuzukiSavage.com Rocks! Posts: 140	Re: Cafe Conversion "the late night special Reply #31 - 08/03/12 at 14:54:31 teabowl13 wrote on 08/03/12 at 06:50:11: GOOD TO HEAR IT! Pocketbook, schmocketbook; it's just more FUN to ride! You speak the truth The Tail section lives! Messing around with a seat....we'll see
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scubachef

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"the late night special" still lives
Reply #32 - 02/27/14 at 12:09:02

I'm back on the bike and wanted to begin posting again in the hopes that I will have this finished shorty. The plans as of now are to go the monoshock route, new (to the bike) tank, cleaning, painting prepping, etc.
I finished converting to mag wheels and now am focusing on fabricating a new swingarm and converting to monoshock. With this will come a new subframe and rear cowl along with the xs 750 tank I mentioned earlier in the thread. The end result in my mind looks something along this line:

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-tNSmEXknxpk/Tv2RSlboTQI/AAAAAAAAJF4/Mx2zOBHF5nU/s16...

I replaced my battery with a mini unit from Western Powersports that was 85.00 including shipping from Amazon. I read good reviews so I got it and am very happy I did. Great little battery and less than a pound. I fabbed a box using the old battery box cut down and mounted in the stock location.

Hopefully more updates coming soon.

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ToesNose Serious Thumper Offline Pardon me, do you have Hot Sauce? Posts: 1993 Mooresville, NC Gender:	Re: Cafe Conversion "the late night special Reply #33 - 02/28/14 at 07:36:52 Great to see you posting progress on the bike again, you do some cool stuff
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Arnold Serious Thumper Offline The dude abides... Posts: 896 Westchester, NY Gender:	Re: Cafe Conversion "the late night special Reply #34 - 02/28/14 at 08:29:09 Can you charge that battery with a regular charger or does it take a proprietary?
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scubachef Full Member Offline SuzukiSavage.com Rocks! Posts: 140	Re: Cafe Conversion "the late night special Reply #35 - 02/28/14 at 08:34:07 Thanks Toes! The best is hopefully yet to come! The battery does not require a special charger. Thier claim is a charge to 90% I believe in around 6 minutes and a full charge in an hour. I haven't had to charge anything so I have no idea if that is the truth.
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bobdog Junior Member Offline SuzukiSavage.com Rocks! Posts: 71 Bremerton, Wa. Gender:	Re: Cafe Conversion "the late night special Reply #36 - 03/26/14 at 17:05:56 Could you post the numbers off that battery, thinking of goin smaller also ? Thanks much !!
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v-pilot

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Re: "the late night special" still lives
Reply #37 - 03/26/14 at 18:40:46

scubachef wrote on 02/27/14 at 12:09:02:

I'm back on the bike and wanted to begin posting again in the hopes that I will have this finished shorty. The plans as of now are to go the monoshock route

Hopefully more updates coming soon.

If you won't be needing the shocks, I'll give ya what ya got into 'em plus shipping Roll Eyes

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Suzuki DR650, aprilia RSVR, aprilia Falco, Bimota DB4(2x)
Moto Guzzi V10, Ducati 900ss, Triumph Trident, Suzuki LS650
Moto Guzzi Le Mans SE(2x), Moto Guzzi V50, Benelli 250, Ducati 250

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shorty Serious Thumper Offline be careful out there gentlemen Posts: 547 southern NM Gender:	Re: Cafe Conversion "the late night special Reply #38 - 03/27/14 at 11:09:23 enjoying this thread...nice work
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strang Senior Member Offline Posts: 387 london Gender:	Re: Cafe Conversion "the late night special Reply #39 - 03/28/14 at 03:46:25 What's the bike like to crank in the morning with that battery? I really want to go this small but I've heard they're no good for a cold start.
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Dave

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Re: Cafe Conversion "the late night special
Reply #40 - 03/28/14 at 03:57:26

strang wrote on 03/28/14 at 03:46:25:

What's the bike like to crank in the morning with that battery?
I really want to go this small but I've heard they're no good for a cold start.

As long as your bike starts up quickly the smaller Li-Ion battery is fine, as they can supply good amperage for running the starter. The downside of them is that the amp-hours are about half what a lead acid battery is.....so you can't crank quite as long. The Li-Ion manufacturers claim that the lead acid battery gradually loses voltage as it cranks - while the Li-Ion battery holds the voltage right to the very end and then falls flat in a hurry.....which can ruin the Li-Ion battery if you run it flat.

I have an Earth-X battery, the bike does not sit outside and I never ride when it is much below 60 - but it starts my bike right up and this will be my second year with it. Somebody else is going to have to give you a report on real life cold weather starting - but the numbers show the bike will start fine in the cold.....providing you don't have to crank for an extended period.

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Someday I will be old......But not today!

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scubachef

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Re: Cafe Conversion "the late night special
Reply #41 - 04/30/14 at 23:02:07

Been working on the bike lately finally trying to finish up what I was envisioning. I got the monoshock mocked up and got the new subframe fabbed.

Lower shock mount tacked together. I took a measurement of the ottoman shock mount and used a bolt and a few nuts to adjust and hold the tabs where I needed them during welding so warping would not affect the spacing.

Final welded

Top mount in and shock mocked up. Still need to put in some bracing just for the sake of overbuilding!

I'm going to run this to assess the ride and see if this shock and it's spring rate are going to be the ticket. I am expecting some flex in the stock swingarm. I definately don't think the stock swingarm is designed for this kind of stress long term. I plan on fabbing a tubular swingarm if the shock works out since it will be based on the length of the shock I wanted to try it out before building the new one in case I need to make some changes in shock angle or position. I'm no an engineer so the leverage calculations revolve around me drinking a cold one whe staring at the bike. The reason I decided on this shock orientation is it doesn't interfere with my pod filter. I have about 2 inches of clearance with the design which is more than I needed to remove the carb or filter.

New subframe beginnings.

It is remove able and mounts in the back via a threaded insert I made and welded into the frame tubes and mounts in the front to the tank mount.
A sheet metal tail section is comin hopefully in the next day or two. I'm stripping the tank and subframe as we speak and will be prepping for paint a soon as the fabrication is done. Stay tuned, I'm hoping his will come out like what is in my mind! Hopefully like no savage yet.

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scubachef

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Re: Cafe Conversion "the late night special
Reply #42 - 04/30/14 at 23:27:00

Sorry for the late replies...

Bobdog here is a link
http://www.wcpmx.com/WPS_Featherweight_Lithium_Batteries_p/wps_lithium_batter...

I looked up the Cca of the stocker and his has 10 more!

V-pilot, the shocks are from eBay. Free shipping from seller gets them cheaper to you than me shipping them so you would come out ahead cash wise. They do need some work out of the box but it isn't that hard. I can send instructions if needed.

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SavageCat Junior Member Offline SuzukiSavage.com Rocks! Posts: 96 Central VA	Re: Cafe Conversion "the late night special Reply #43 - 05/01/14 at 06:28:23 Good work, love the monoshock look. If you're interested in letting your old shocks go then PM me please. Thanks!
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scubachef

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Re: Cafe Conversion "the late night special
Reply #44 - 05/02/14 at 10:31:05

I try to find ways for quality results on a shoestring budget. Here are two modifications/fixed that cost me a grand total of $11 and should hold up for the long haul.

Headlight repair

As is shown in the pic below, my headlight bucket snapped at the base. I assumed that vibration might be the culprit. I scuffed everything, wiped it down with acetone and epoxied the broken pieces together. Once the repair had set for about 20 minutes I taped around the perimeter of the base and filled the back of the headlight base with the epoxy. My thought was that the stress is now absorbed by all surface in the base since the all are now essentially connected instead of the plastic base being able to flex and eventually crack as I suspected was the case originally.

Smooth Top Triple Tree

To smooth the top triple without access to a mill and lathe I took 2ea 3/4in fender washers, plug welded the hole and turned down the OD by chucking them in the drill press until they were a snug fit in the top triple's riser holes about 1/16 in below the top of the tree. I drove them in with a large socket and used steel epoxy to fill the 1/16in gap and also epoxied the bottom of the washer around the perimeter to lock it in even more. After some scuffing, sanding and a coat of primer here it is.

I'm going to paint with brake caliper paint. It is chip and chemical resistant and I think it is the toughest finish short of powdercoat I've come across.

Both these were quick and easy, hopefully this helps someone else!

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