Today is the day that the project starts.  Last summer when I bought my Savage, it was always my plan to do a Cafe' conversion.  I rode the bike last summer while planning and gathering parts, and working the bugs out of the bike.  Even though I bought a very low bike with only 262 miles on it - the engine developed a bad knock and had to be torn down and rebuilt with less than 1,000 miles on it.  The left crank bearing was bad and the flywheel nut was loose.....but it runs like a dream now.

I have ordered a number of parts from RYCA and they should be here in a few weeks.  I am planning on using a Suzuki GT550 or Honda 360 tank....not sure yet.  The tach and speedo will be a Vipertech unit with dashboard for mounting indicator lights.  The headlight will be an 8" that I got from a European bike, the rear set will come from Dime City.  The triple tree is from a Suzuki RM400 and it has much less offset from the stock one - the trees are about 3/8" narrower so I had to trim some material off the brake disc mounting surface on the hub, and the axle spacers will need to be trimmed.  The RM triple trees will allow me to slide the fork tubes up/down as needed without installing the spacers inside the forks to lower the front end.  I may have to add some fork spring preload as the Cafe' bike may shift weight forward with the lower forks, longer rear shocks and more forward riding position.  I was able to buy a set of 12.5" Progressive 440 shocks off eBay that only had 200 miles on them at about 1/3rd the new price.  The wheels rims are 18" Excel and the spokes are stainless from Buchanan Spoke and Wheel, I laced and trued them myself.  The tires are Pirelli Sport Demons.  The muffler will be a stainless megaphone that I got from Burns Stainless and I will make baffling to go inside...l..I don't want it very loud.  I plan on doing the Kawasaki EN454 pulley modification that increases the front tooth count from 23 to 25 for better cruising.  One of the things I have not decided is the turn signals and mirrors - as much as I want this to look nice - I want turn signals that are visible and can be seen in the daylight and mirrors where I can see behind me.  I followed a sport bike the other day with a combination brake/turn signal LED taillight - and the thing was a joke as the turn signals were not really visible and did not get your attention.......you could only see them when you were looking directly at the light and the colors were not yellow.

The bike as purchased last summer.....262 total miles!


My bike on the Dragon Run last summer (with loud engine knock). Lancer, BigZuk, Serenity
.

My stand I built yesterday from scrap plywood....and the beginning!


Some of the parts I have gathered.


1980 RM400 triple tree next to stock Savage bottom tree.


8" headlight next to stock 5.5" headlight.


If everything goes well.......there may be a Cafe' Racer at the next Dragon Run!

Time to go out and start pulling more stuff off!

paulmarshall wrote on 01/13/13 at 11:38:48:


Someone posted this elsewhere on this forum.  Here is the link to the plans for the stand:
http://www.bbcracing.com/old/box/

It is nice as it just slides together and can be stored flat or against a wall when not in use.

I used scrap wood so I changed a few things from the plans.  I made the top 27" wide as that was the wood that I had.  I did not widen the front for tie towns as the wood I had was not big enough - so all the cross pieces are 27" wide to match the top.  The 3 cross pieces were not long enough to reach the ground - but that is actually a better thing as the floor is never completely flat.  Both side pieces on mine support the bike just fine, and I actually had to shim it to fit the floor after putting it together - as my floor is not flat over an 8' span and it rocked a little bit.  I also had 8 old threaded eye bolts and I put them in the bottom about 5 inches off the floor for use with tie downs.

To put the bike up on it I had 2 boards that were 2x8 lumber and about 7 feet long for a ramp.  I don't believe you can load or unload a bike by yourself on this stand, and my wife and I pushed it up.  For me I believe this is a nice cheap alternative to the metal stand.

The sides of the stand, which appear recessed in the pics, would be a great place to put magnet strips, socket holders, whatever kind of tool holders you want, maybe mount an air pressure line access, paper towel holder, spice racks to hold small containers and bottles, etc. just be sure to leave the bottom 5" clear for toes.  You could also drill holes on the top, maybe an inch from the edges, to hold screwdrivers, etc.

Wow! Dave I'm not sure you're going to want me and my stock ole yellar dawg for company on the Dragon trip when you get done with that one!  Sooooo.......... when do you want me to bring the yeller dawg up for you to purdy up?

And just pile all yer cast off parts in the corner......me and oldfeller will pick'em up later

Seriously Dave, Looks like you'll have a winner by the time you're finished!

Here is the front hub being mofified to work with the narrower RM400 triple trees.  I had to machine a small amount off the mounting surface for the disc so that the caliper could work without changes.  The wheel spacers on the axle will also have to be trimmed, and the length of the axle reduced.

HoustonBussa wrote on 01/14/13 at 20:29:08:


Cruiser bikes seem to have a large offset on the triple trees and a large rake, sport bikes seem to have almost no offset in the triple trees and less rake.  I believe the cruiser is set up for straight line stability - while the sport bike for manuverability.  My attempt is to lighten the steering force up a bit and make the bike easy to turn.

verslagen1 wrote on 01/15/13 at 09:05:12:


Yep.......That is all going to be part of this long process.  The tank I am using has more of an angle at the front - which should provide better clearance than the stock tank.  Additionally the RM400 triple trees use a different stop location - so I am going to have to modify the fork stops.  I can make the stops wherever they need to be to clear the tank.

Looks like a good start Dave, I'll be patiently awaiting any revealed progress