My café racer all finished...

Well, sort of I have a temporary exhaust on it while I take the time to study the purchase of a welder to make my own (I am leaning towards a Miller Diversion 165 TIG welder, personal experiences and comments welcomed) . I started it with difficulty because I don't have the starting recepie down pat yet and it is running really rich so I have to look at the jet size. I only took it down the street and back to see if the belt was tracking OK and so far that looks OK, the brakes seem to work right (for the slow speed I have acheived so far). I need a new tach cable and the speedo angle will have to be corrected because I can't see it when riding the bike. The gas has not eaten through my gas tank so far and I think that should hold up for a while. As you can see with the leaves on the ground, autumn is right uppon my neck of the woods so I will have a bit of time to correct the flaws before I get to ride it next spring. I must have it inspected before getting plates on it and I can't ride it to the inspection station, it must be trailered there, only then can I ride it legally, I may ride it around the block with an old plate though if we get a few warmer days :mrgreen:

More pictures of the build at http://www.pbase.com/jeandr/cafe_racer (PBase was down for a week due to a power failure, but they seem to be back on line for good now) Even trying my best to get as few visible cables, there are a lot of them hanging around, most of them are control cables (clutch, brake, gas) and oil lines, most electrical wires are fairly well hidden.

Jean

Nice one Jean. Well done.

HOT DAWG! I sure like that there motorbike.

If I show up in your driveway next spring, do I get to take it out for a ton?

Jean, A placard stating just the things not stock would be long and interesting. Great ride it would be very hard to keep break in control. G

grandpaul said:

HOT DAWG! I sure like that there motorbike.

If I show up in your driveway next spring, do I get to take it out for a ton?

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No problem, but make sure you come with that replica Dreer Commando :lol:

Jean

Way to go! It looks great! Are you going to put mirrors on er?

RennieK said:

Way to go! It looks great! Are you going to put mirrors on er?

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Of course, they are required to be on the road and I wouldn't feel safe without them anyway. The brake and clutch controls have screw bosses so it will be easy to put them on and easy to find too.

Jean

Jeandr, That is a beautifull machine. I see you fabricated the rear swing arm. What is the axle resting on/in and how do you adust the chain?

Rob94010 said:

Jeandr, That is a beautifull machine. I see you fabricated the rear swing arm. What is the axle resting on/in and how do you adust the chain?

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Thanks, I did make a new swing arm, the axle came from a Ducati 860 and so did the back wheel. There are adjuster blocks in the swing arm and these are pulled by a threaded rod from the back of the swing arm. Hope you noticed there is no chain, I have belts both on the primary and final drives which is the main difference on this build. I think I could have had it running in less than a year if it wasn't for that modification, all in all, it took two years and a lot of hours doing and redoing parts until they were just right.

Jean

That's as pretty as I thought it would be. Geeze I was just happy to put four screws in mine today.

I see the belt drive. Did you fab the pulleys or modify a Harley Davidson pulley? I like the exhaust, it gives the bike character.

Bravo Jean.........!!
You had done a really nice bike , and most of the job is not easy to spot.... "la belle province" had another special builder!
Your autumn leaves remind me when I sailed from Halifax to Toronto at that period , along the St Laurent, it was great, though we finished trapped by the ice (it was later in october....), my friend's special Norton is underway and we copied your breather valve design, many thanks, Pierre.

Are you going to make the new exhaust a two into one also?

Hi Jean, again my congratulations on a superb job. One query - is that an Atlas timing cover on a Commando crankcase? I understand that the oil bypass holes are different and if inadvertantly a cover or gasket from one is used on the other it can prevent oil flow which can be a major problem. I like the tacho-drive and was wondering what cover you used and if any modifcations were done?

Mick

Jean as I have said before, I like your work. Did you coat your tank with something to protect against the ethanol. Were going down the the same road with ethanol at 10%, forced on us by our state government. :cry: I used Caswel in mine and run premium unleaded with no ethanol yet.
Ian

I'm impressed. Exhaust withstanding of course, but that can only improve. The oil tank's down behind the gearbox - does it feed oil ok from there? Do you have to prime it?

Jean,
I especially like your foot controls.

I would be interested in seeing more on the exhaust attachment at the head. Very clean job all around!

Thanks for the comments, I will try to answer all the questions in one post;

The pulleys are made for Harleys and modified to fit. The front one was originaly 2" wide and the back one 1½" wide. The front was cut down and mated to a Norton sprocket by a real machinist since it was too hard for my little lathe and I don't as of yet have welding equipment. The back pulley I modified myself on my friend's lathe to match the belt I used which is 20mm wide. Many Harleys now use belts just like that one so I am not worried about the belt snapping under acceleration, it will most likely outlast a chain.

The exhaust I would like to have something like the Buell with the muffler under the engine/transmission. 2 into 1 since I only want one muffler but probably with two outlets coming out on each side.

That is indeed an Atlas cover, as far as I can see, both are compatible. The only modification was to use the longer intermediate gear shaft from an earlier crakcase as well as use the old style cam drive (the one with dual sprockets) as well as add a spacer to the tensionner.

The tank is coated with Hirsh auto sealant http://www.hirschauto.com/ there is another post on this very subject.

There is no need to "prime" the pump, these pumps are designed to suck as well as push. Most automobiles have their oil supply under the engine and their pumps above, they don't have any problems and I don't expect any with mine either. One thing I will not have is wet sumping since the oil level is lower than on stock Nortons.

For the foot controls and the exhaust attachments, plese check my pictures at http://www.pbase.com/jeandr/cafe_racer also there are a few posts on these subjects on this board.

Jean

littlefield said:

Jean,
I especially like your foot controls.

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Take a look at jeandr-rearsets-t3661.html for more information.

Jean