Jeff71 wrote on 10/27/14 at 17:51:48: All I need now is a rear wheel hub and I'll have a pile to send to Ryca.
Jeff
I have bought a couple of rear wheel hubs from Pinwall Cycles, give them a call at (330) 879-9910. They are great folks and easy to deal with.
I really think you should ride this bike for a year before you tear it apart. You need to get some experience riding and get some miles and hours of riding time, and become a proficient rider before you jump on a Cafe' bike. They are a bit less stable than the stock bike, they put a large amount of weight on your arms and wrists, the seating position is not all that comfortable, and they are really nasty to ride in wet weather. I like my Cafe' bike and never regret making the change - but you will have an easier time learning to ride the bike in stock form.
The RYCA kit is a good start - but it does require a good bit of mechanical ability to get it together, and this not only includes cutting the frame in several places - but also some creative wiring and fitting of the components. RYCA claims an assembly time of about 40 hours, and I suspect you could do that in the 4th or 5th bike if you were not to critical about getting things done neatly. Lengthening and shortening the wires takes a long time to get done neatly. Trying to assemble a bike with painted tank, fenders, and side panels would be really scary....as there is lots of fitting and adjustment to be done.....I don't know how you could do that without damaging the painted parts somewhere along the way.
Your stock Savage is a fun and reliable machine, and you should ride it for a year and make sure you like it.....then consider the RYCA Cafe conversion. I bought my bike and rode it for a full year before it went under the knife.....and I have no regrets about doing that. The first year I rode it stock and worked on getting it jetted and running well, the second winter it got the Cafe' conversion and was ridden in primer for a year as I got the mechanical things done, and the 3rd winter it was painted.
One other thing to consider, is that just about every new rider is going to drop a bike as they are learning. It might be a slippery pile of leaves and a front brake issue......or a gravel encounter........or a throttle/clutch engine stall on a driveway approach....who knows? The point is that getting proficient on a motorcycle takes time and patience, and the Savage in the stock form is a better bike to learn on than the Cafe bike. I learned to ride in the dirt and strip mines where I grew up, and just about every day I would have a learning experience of some sort. Dirt is very forgiving and with lots of protective gear injuries were not common - asphalt and concrete are not nearly as forgiving.
Get a year of riding experience.....and you will be less likely to drop your newly created Cafe' bike!
(Just the advice of an old guy that has been around the block a few times).
Dave