My new bloody nosed café racer

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Mar 20, 2016
Messages
171
So I picked up a 'repairable writeoff' 2015 cafe racer in Oz for what would be approx. 7,700 USD / 5400 GBP.

Not bargain of century if restored to factory spec but bang for buck and living with bumps and bruises not tooo bad I guess.

Minimum for roadworthy will need
- left gearbox case (or repair) as it leaks through
- left side switchgear
- gear shift lever (If not whole assembly)
- single clock?
- clutch lever
- left bar

Then you can go more $$$ with OEM of course.

Frame seems straight to me but will get professionally assessed.

Starts well.. sounds good...let's see how we go.

If previous owner is here would love to know what was done to her over last couple years.

Will set up some polls for colour/color, fairing/no fairing, flatslides (heh heh) etc :)

Pretty happy for now unless becomes beyond me then would sell on.

My new bloody nosed café racer




Ouch photos follow...
My new bloody nosed café racer My new bloody nosed café racer My new bloody nosed café racer
 
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Hmmm….

At 7,700 USD, not a bad deal if you’re inclined to fiddle with the thing to get it into shape.

Starts and runs ok – that’s a big plus.

Strange that the bike appears dropped on the left side, how did the damage on the right side (Tach and clip –on) occur?

If the frame is straight, and the tank is not damaged, then looks like your biggest expense will be to replace the scraped primary cover. Not sure the cost of that, but knowing factory pricing it won’t be cheap.

Flatslides (heh heh).

FCR’s on a 961? Not a laughing matter!

It will be done by someone. Why not you?:D

Keep us updated on your progress.
 
Britfan60 just replaced his primary cover not long ago . He did it himself. Seem to remember he didn't complain about the price , just the wait .
 
Britfan60 just replaced his primary cover not long ago . He did it himself. Seem to remember he didn't complain about the price , just the wait .
At the time, the price was $589.80 US and about 10 bucks for the gasket. Took forever, but in all fairness, this was at the time Norton started setting up for their own in house production. I have yet to install it because my original is only a little scored on the bottom. I'd rather be riding. As for the price, originally I was quoted 189 pounds which I thought was rather cheap. Was told otherwise by the new personnel. BY your list, I'm guessing you'll be done with about a grand.
 
Lucky so and so. They were asking $14,000 Australian. I waited until the listing had ended to inquire what they would take to be told sold. At $7,700 US that's about $10,000 aus I'd say well done.
 
Manheims Auction
I think I know who the owner was.
just waiting for a text to confirm
 
Spot on nopdog. 10k.

I actually went off gumtree so didn't know there was an Ebay auction at the time.

Owner was very realistic and honest...only someone with the 961 virus would touch it :)

And call it 'our' bike as we will need a guinea pig as we try to keep our 961s going in Oz.
 
Congratulations I'd love to get my hands on a second engine to play around with. Takes us back to the old days when you needed two brit bikes so you could ride one whilst you rebuilt the other.
 
Congratulations I'd love to get my hands on a second engine to play around with. Takes us back to the old days when you needed two brit bikes so you could ride one whilst you rebuilt the other.

It’s not like that these days this is it?

You need 3 !!
 
Ummm steering head top nut should come off relatively easy right?

Not talking about rest where should unload front etc just the top nut.

Coz it won't and spinning whole shaft.

Maybe strong loctite or when knocked about?
 
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You may have to strip off the wheel , fender , fork tubes and get it down to just the triple clamps . Work it off from there , and if the shaft unthreads from the bottom just take it off. Then you can vise the shaft and finish it .
 
Ummm steering head top nut should come off relatively easy right?

Not talking about rest where should unload front etc just the top nut.

Coz it won't and spinning whole shaft.

Maybe strong loctite or when knocked about?
That sounds serious. I recently replaced the shaft on my bike and it is a press fit. If it's spinning you're in a bit of trouble. On a brighter note, my wife's Bonneville was a repairable write off out of Canberra. By running the serial number, Triumph were able to tell me it had done about 3.5k kilometres. By the time I had it on the road in WA it owed us about $7k AUD.
 
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Hmm... I can tap it round with screwdriver and mallet though trying not to exert any force on stem

But what your saying is it's bad news that the (threaded) stem would be able to move at all at this stage of simply removing nut?

Was closing to getting this ready for rego but may need advice here....oh and a new top nut ;)
 
The nut is off
But the nutter is still in the garage :confused:

Will assess the stem situation and if it needs to be redone/ replaced it will.
I want this bike safe for all who own and ride next.
 
Will have a look.
Sure seems like it should be from the image you posted (thank you).
 
Is the press fit loose enough now to allow the shaft to spin while you are loosening the nut ? Which is out of spec , the shaft or the lower triple ? You could have the shaft built up and turned back to press fit spec ? Less cost than new ?
 
Hi,

Nut is off and can barely move the shaft.

Looks like triple is out (the worn bit) so looking as you say build up/thicken shaft...loctite...press fit if stem is true.

OR

Replace triple if worn there.

I'll get it done properly don't need to be the test pilot for engineering prototypes ;)
 
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