Tag Archives: drag

COGZ N CAMS TEE SHIRT I JUST DESIGNED

Posted on by Steve Carpenter
03 Dec

I wanted to try and make a cool shirt design using mechanical idea’s, and then try to mix it up and have it look in the style of “OLD GLORY”.

 

 

 

The Flag always looks cool in the Red White and Blue and I have seen many different styles of shirt designs out there but I wanted to try my own one and though I would incorporate Motorcycle Sprockets and camshafts .

 

 

I am happy how this came out and have already had some great comments on the shirt design, I hope you like it as much as I do.

This is available on Small, medium,Large, and XL right now and I may print XXL and bigger if I get enough inquiries on this shirt.

Printed with high quality ink- this shirt design will last many a moon, as I have used the same printer for over a decade now and some of my shirts have lasted over 5 years.

 

These are printed on 100% Pre- Shrunk Gilden Cotton shirts and come in Black, i think the flag is a great offset and on national holidays I shall always make sure I have my one on.

 

These make great gifts too and as it is not long until the jolly Fat man is struggling to get down the chimney, you may want to grab these now?

 

We ship all around the globe too.

 

Thanks for looking and supporting what I do here in Anaheim California.

 

If you are a petrol head, then this is a great shirt for you.

1971 CB750 CAFE RACER FOR SALE $4000

Posted on by Steve Carpenter
18 Nov

OK- here we go with a cool little  CB750 HONDA Cafe Racer for someone out there, who wants to have a fun ride right now.

 

 

 

This is a cool little ride and is a 1971 CB750K with a recent motor overhaul, this runs great and is titled and tagged to boot.

 

 

This has a new LED headlight that functions really well.

 

I have Just fitted a New Stainless Steel Yoshimura style 4 into 1 system and that sounds awesome, and hugs the bike very well indeed.

 

 

 The exhaust is one of my first stainless for the public and it sure looks and sounds really great, these are made at a pro shop and I am so happt with the fit and finish of our latest exhaust system.

 

 

This is not a show bike but a fun ride none the less and hence the price, this is great value for your hard earned buck.

 

We often get a few trade ins and just tweak the bike a little and let you guys or girls, change the bike to how you want it for your personal use and these bikes we advertise on our site have had a road test and a service too.

 

 

This is a good time to buy as you have some of your festive time coming up and can ask for good presents for the big day on the 25th of December.

 

 

This still has the original Candy Paint on the headlight bucket, gas tank and the side covers, have a look and see what you think?  As if you do not like the color as restorer would buy these from you and you can get another set off eBay and paint to what ever color scheme you like.

 

 

If you are looking for something to get on right now and play with, then look no further than here as I will also try and add some video later so you can see and hear this machine.

 

Everything functions on this motorcycle and it wont be long until you have changed it to suits your needs and tastes etc but a superb platform to use as this is the machine that I really enjoy working with.

 

This has a bobbed rear fender with a Beeza light and the bike runs on 19 inch front and 18 inch rear rims.

 

 

 

Runs on Dunlops and all seems to function well, I shall ride it a few more miles today, but on Wednesday we are off to Las Vegas for the Sema show so will be back on Saturday, although you can always email us at carpy@carpyscaferacers.com or text us on 714-598-8392 if you need anymore information.

 

 

This bike sits well and has an old set of RC rear 13 inch coil spring shocks to soak up any imperfections on our roads.

 

This has a Guilerri style racing seat that’s quite comfortable and is hinged.

 

 

Just some good old spit and polish and you will have a head turning machine that’s for sure.

 

Drop us a line if you need any more information OK?  We are here to help or advise and thanks for having a look at this 1971 CB750 HONDA Cafe Racer.

 

714-996-4597 Or text 714-598-8392

 

 

The headers look great in Stainless steel and wont rust either.

 

 

 

Here is a video below I just took for you to at least hear the exhaust system.

 

EXHAUST END CAP FOR 2.5 INCH SYSTEMS- NICKEL

Posted on by Steve Carpenter
13 Nov

Once more we have another cool dress up part to embellish that exhaust system of yours.

Have a look at these and see if this is something that you may want to fit to your Cafe racer, brat, or chopper ride as this certainly cleans the end of the pipe up.

These are hand pressed and then Nickel plated, and have 2 holes so you can Rivet or screw to your end pipe, making the tip of the system now look finished.

Available now and these are a nice sturdy piece too, none of that flimsy crap out there, see for yourself and if ya like it, grab it and fit it to your mean machine, you will be glad that you did.

This is a universal so as long as you have a 2.5 exhaust like the ones we make, you are fine.

You can leave them shiny Nickel plated, or you can paint them to what ever color you want,as that’s an easy thing to do, but finishes off the exhaust so well.

CB750 S.S. The Brown Beater

Posted on by Steve Carpenter
01 Nov

This poor old Super Sport was turned into a Mad max style cafe racer, but met an untimely dimize when it was hot by a car, so the chap bought it to the shop to see if I could at least get her back into some sort of ride able condition.

 

So the job began on my own to try and resurrect this old Super Sport and give it a cooler look than it had last time it was transformed.

The front end had quite a punch on the nose, but this was mostly cosmetic other than the forks and triple tree’s as I had to remove and check everything for alignment.

 

The poor old girl slid along the tarmac a wee bit and ended up with a bit of road rash but we can sort this baby out.

Taking her apart to see what we have here and where we can go to make this a head turner once more.

 

These had some weird set of handlebar controls on and were no good, so glad to 86 them to be honest !

 

Be glad when I have cleaned this front end up as she took a bit of a beating that’s for certain.

Took the triple apart and had to use another one as this was out of whack.

 

Now the repair starts and things will eventually look a little better than it did a few days before when she limped into the workshop.

 

 

Well, the tank got a good sorting out and I hammered the knee inserts, cut the top flap off and welded up the space, then fitted one of our Monza Gas caps.

The customers said he would like the color to change to a Brown, so I did what I was told and the bike does look good once finished but at first I thought it looked more like Colon Spillage when we first shot the color.

 

 

Added a little accent here and there to break things up and it starts to take shape.

 

Silver and Black checkers were the way to go on this particular ride and it worked out pretty good in the end.

 

I revamped the old exhaust system the best I could and was happy at how this actually came out.

 

Used one of our Rocket 4 seat bases and I have sold over 200 of these, as they just look awesome.

 

Removed the bent up stock rear swing arm and fitted our new box section set up.

 

The old oil filter housing was shot to bits, so we machined a new one out of 6061 and came out great.

 

 

Polished up the old brackets and Drilled the rear brake Rotor too and added the Scorcher exhaust tip.

Sure is changing shape now and the customer is going to be very surprised when they get this back to them.

Polished up master cylinder assembly and added original switches that we polished a well.

 

I actually hand cut this bracket and then polished it, added some holes for some cool indication lights and fitted to the triple tree.

 

See how much of a difference some polishing and cleaning and making new parts starts to change the machine?

 

I was more than happy at the way this bike was starting to look as it did look pretty sad a few days before.

 

 

Next up was to work on some of the electrical and see if it still works after the car hit it.

Next after that was to wrap the seat base in a classic race style cover.

 

Now we are getting somewhere with this Cafe Racer and the finish is almost in reach.

Buttoning this all up and now figuring out which rear light assembly to fit to the back of the seat base.

 

Now we are almost there and boy what a transformation compared to it before.

 

Before and now after!!!!!

 

This is way better don’t you think?  The Colon Brown actually turned out to be pretty good in the end.

 

 

I am happy at the way this turned out and thought that I would share this with you lot to show what can be done to something when it starts off in a bad state of affairs.

 

 

Needless to say, the customers was really happy with this machine and had a grin from ear to ear when I opened the garage door to show him his machine.

 

 

 This was a fun project and it turned out pretty well for a repair job as I prefer to take the whole machine apart down to the frame and start again.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So, if any of you lot out there think that there is no hope for your tired, rusty or battered ride, just think again as there is always hope.

 

 

Send pics of your machine in if you are not sure, as we will always advise on the best option for your buck !

 

 

I hope that these photo’s inspires you to at least have a go with your bike as it really can be fun.

 

 

 

A fun project that actually finished fairly quickly when you have a lot of the parts at hand and can make them there at the shop.

 

 The Tri bar head light we use on many f our motorcycles, not only looks cool, it’s Brighter than Einstein.

 

 

The top end of the bike when we got it at the shop was torn up like a paper cup and am so glad at the transformation as this looks way better than factory .

 

 

 

I am so glad that this came out OK as its sometimes hard to see the wood for the tree’s but this turned out just as I had hoped.

 

Here are some shots for you to have a look at and I hope you enjoy them?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Warm day at the shop, but plenty to do.

Posted on by Steve Carpenter
27 Sep

Fridays are always busy for me and none less was today, seeing I didn’t get to bed until 3am and today I have a few orders to pack and ship, as well as fit a few exhausts to customers bikes etc and complete a few projects that I have promised my self to do for a while.

 

Fitted a couple of my 4 into 1 systems and both are ceramic coated Black, these look awesome as usual and a great sounding set up of which I have sold hundreds to people all over the globe.

I have them in Raw steel as you know and they have really taken off in Europe now for me.

 

These are my best seller and I hope you get to try them and hear their own screaming tone as you open the loud button on your 750.

With that in mind, my 4 into 2 exhaust system all nearly completed and will soon be available to order, as these will be a really Nostalgic looking system of which I hope that you enjoy?

I am trying to design a few different things so keep your eyes open as I shall be making triple tree’s and oil tanks as well as hoops and brackets for your ride.

 

We get all sorts of variety at the shop and great to meet people and their machines, needing just some knee inserts, to a full service or just to be shown how to fit something, we are always pleased to see you.

 I was working on a gas tank and people ask me about the knee inserts but i have done it this way for years, I did used to cut the sides and reverse them but eventually they would leak from vibration, so now pound them until they are smooth and they come out pretty cool.

 

I always like doing this as the transformation is amazing to be quite honest.

The Black Diamond Cafe Racer.

Posted on by Steve Carpenter
29 Aug

This bike I built out of a few parts that I had in the workshop and it came out pretty neat for what its worth?

 

Dunstall gas tank and one of my Vincent seats make this look like it stepped out of the mid 1970’s.

 

 

Original set of Borranis I took from a dirt tracker seem to fit the Bill quite well.

 

 BEEZA tail light, Clubman bars with original GT grips look the part and worked very well indeed.

 As always, new chain and sprockets and polished some of the old cases up.

I used a set of Spitfire tires front and back and I liked the Gold and Black checkers.

Of course, I drilled and polished the back brake hub and then added my finned spacer and stabilizer bar.

 

 

 The old pipe I cut and angled upwards to give it an old road race feel and it sounded pretty good.

 Shortened the front fender and drilled the rotor etc and fitted new fork seals to this Cafe.

 A couple of thoroughbreds, ready to hit the tarmac.

 This ran fine and the brakes were awesome when I really needed it, no fade at all.

 I had to fit rear sets to this bike and then it really did fit me well and loved the corners.

 

 Stainless steel Monza fitted into the gas tanks, well it just screams nostalgia.

 

 

 

 

 The bike was a good runner and as I had the flywheel machined to lighten it up and that made a BIG difference I tell ya.

 

Three bikes ready to ship from the shop here in Anaheim.

 The first one id Mike Dirnts of Greenda, the second is the Black Diamond and that went to England and the last is the KO Special and that went to Australia.

They were all fun to build and hope you got a little kick out of seeing them as well?

BRG73 A very Distinguished Cafe Racer I built.

Posted on by Steve Carpenter
28 Aug

 

This is a Superb machine and it now resides in Kansas City, and Glad that the New Owner likes the creation I have made.
The gas tank needed some help to get all the old paint off, so I did it the old way this time.
I wanted to make a few heads turn in that area and the owner is now more than happy with my creation.
British Racing Green was chose and the year of the bike was 1973, hence the BRG73 title.
I loved building this cafe Racer and it rode really well too, a nice stance and a good Classic color scheme really shows this as a timeless piece.
I hand hammered the gas tank and added my Dunstall tail section and tore the bike completely down to the bare frame and began from scratch.
The Bird in here is on of the owners friends but she sure suits the bike. I hand drilled the rear brake hub and added a Brass breather plate for that old time look.  Here is a closer photo.
So I thought rather than all the blurb what I have done to this and what I used and what I threw away etc, I would just add a few photos and let you decide if you dig this.
I ran around on the bike for a 100 miles, just to make sure all was well and it ran really smoothly and with my 4 into 1 exhaust system, it barked like a hungry pit bull.
I used new bolts throughout this build and mostly stainless steel Allen heads were used and they are not cheap, just add ONE of them up and you may understand how expensive rebuilding a Motorcycle can be.
The owner has taken this to shows and placed first, people seem to flock around it and that’s even with out the girl there.
I would of loved to have kept this machine as my own and I am sure the owner gets many miles of smiles on this mean machine.
Harley 16 inch rear rim laced to a polished CB750 Hub and stainless spokes, this then has the good old Bridgestone 130X90X16 tire to hold the road,  I powder coated the rims a high Gloss black as it was a nice contrast.
Peace and Grease as always.
Carpy

Hybrid Cafe ” The Tracy Special”

Posted on by Steve Carpenter
24 Aug

 

The Tracy Special was a Motorcycle I created for fun, and to use all the parts I had laying about in my garage at home, and she turned out to be a really cool little bike.

I used a set of Original Raider rims that I have had for many many moons and powder coated them an Aztec Gold color to give it some contrast as I hadn’t seen any Gold rims over here then.

I loved the rims and they were heavy made and sturdy as hell, so had them all ready to go but i wanted something right out of the Custom scene of the 70’s this time and there it was, an old Tracy body that I picked up at a swap meet.

I also hand drilled the front Rotor on a cheap harbor freight drill press and am glad how she came out.

Its an early model too and I went about cleaning it up and getting the bodywork all prepped and then had to decide on a color that would suit this, I then decided that if I used the original Candy Apple red, that would accentuate the gold really well, and so, the concept was born and off i went on a crazy tangent of odds and sods until I had what I needed.

The bodywork came out so well and then one night about 10pm I get a call from a guy in Guatemala, he asked about the Tracy body and that the one I had was a very early one that he made many years ago in the 1970’s, I said oh yeah really?

He said yeah, turned out to be Mr Tracy himself and he was glad that someone had made a bike using the body and raised me on my effort, that was so cool, so I had to finish the bike now.

There were many produced over the years but you don’t see too many on the tarmac as a lot of people have them on the wall but they tend to twist out of shape from the heat and then will not go back to their original form after that, so you usually see them hanging up on walls in shops but they do look cool.  ( I took the two pictures above from the internet on Google, so shows there are still some out there.)

The motor I had was a Late 1978 set up and I wanted to use every year of the SOHC on this Hybrid just to see how she turned out to be honest.

I wanted the exhaust system to be wilder than I first designed, so this time I had my Buddy Eric come over and we pieced together this crazy Spaghetti style header set up and I just loved it, so we tig welded it and then chromed it, I should of numbered the elbows as it took me 2 hours to figure out what went where that day.

 

The design was good but, your leg on the right hand side got bloody hot for a long length of time, but overall I liked the bike, I dug the headers, but wished I had re-routed the 12 bore side winders to go under the bike, but that’s bike building and I was building TWO bikes for the Pomona show that time.

 

The Gas tank was sealed and once the Candy Apple went on it looked amazing in the sun, also the early bodies have the hold in the tank for a bolt, that’s the way it secures to the frame, so to make at least something appealing than just a mount hole, I incorporated an oil pressure light in there and it worked out very well indeed, banged on a few pin lines with the triple O dagger brush and she was awesome.

I loved the way the bike came out in such a short amount of time and using just spare parts that I had been leaving in the garage to trip over from time to time and the proof of the pudding is in the eating and I ate well that week.  I built the carbs and they purred like a kitty when the motor first fired up, no leaks and no misfire, something that is quite unusual to be honest as they are more than likely out of sincronisation, I just got lucky on this one though.

The seat base was something I hoped to make as I didn’t have one at all, my buddy rang me to say he had some Original 1970’s metal flake Gold and I said that’s just what I need and we made up some cool Diamond stitching pattern and the end result was just the cherry on top of the cake for me.

Next up was what the hell was I going to do about the Grips on the handle bars, as Black was just the wrong choice, but then I found some Original New Old Stock Red metal flake Grips from a friend of mine in Belgium and the deal was done, he shipped them out to me and they were just what I needed and was stoked at the condition of these.

 

 I entered the bike in the 60th grand National Roadster show and placed 2nd, i was stoked as first place went to me for my other Black cafe.

 

 

I love to create and this has been a fun journey and continues to be, I see so many cool bikes being built and I hope that just a little bit of the stuff I have done has steered people towards having fun in the garage.

My old Garage back in Orange where it all started here in the States in Feb 2000.

 

 

I will always be building motorcycles and cars, its just something that I grew up with.

El Frijolito The little Bean Cafe Racer

Posted on by Steve Carpenter
23 Aug

                                                                           EL FRIJOLITO CAFE RACER 1975 CB750 F SUPER SPORT

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I was fortunate to get this motorcycle from the Original owner, its a good and bad thing as the poor guy did a lot of work to the machine back in the day, but unfortunatly, the drink got the better of him and some 30 years later he is still battling a drinking problem.

 

I named the bike ” The Little Bean ” as it was in a Deep part of Santa Ana of which is a predominately Latin area of California.

 

I changed her around a little bit by polishing the upper triple tree and making anew gauge face, as this bike was just something I could not take all apart, it ran well and boy is a cool ride, so I removed the stock tank and fitted my Glass S.S. Race tank, then removed the old tatty stock seat and fitted my Razor back model.

 

 

 

I replaced the old worn out headlight with one of my Tri-bar set ups and chromed the old gauge cups.

 

 

 

The New gas tank and I wanted to have some old style GOLD Racing strips on this machine and they needed to follow the tank and seat for that 70’s race look.

 

 

In the end I ended up changing a lot on this bike as I had Hershey Chocolate call me and the owner wanted it for his son, so I changed a few things and used some cool rims that I powder coated black gloss, then polished the hubs and used stainless spokes, fitted with the good Old Bridgestone tires and then I drilled the rear rotor with 140 holes and that was on the drill press.

Whilst I was there I removed the old caliper and took the black corroded paint off it and polished it to a chrome like finish and rebuilt the inside. And now stops on a dime.

 

Fitted new fender and polished the speedometer drive and fitted Stainless Allen head bolts through out this machine, as well as polishing the forks and adding my own polished fork brace to stiffen the front end up.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Alloy gas cap is a Monza style and new turn signals fitted to make sure people can see where you are going is a must around these parts.

 

 Polished the engine covers and then I drilled the sprocket carrier and polished for that Race track look, then fitted a new 530 Gold chain.

 

Drilled the front caliper and took the Original YOSHIMURA pipe off and ceramic coated it and put back on.

 

 Upholstered the razorback seat with Tuck n Roll and snaps round the side give this a timeless era.

 That Yoshi barks like a angry hound and hard to find series 2 versions these days. This is going to a good home as well as I doubt I will find another Original Yoshimura like this again and I wanted it to stay on the bike as its been on it for over 30 years.

 New rear shock and a full service and this is now ready to head to Hershey Pennsylvania and take the twisty lanes on the east side.

 

 

 

 

 I should of took more photos but to be honest, this was just going to be a small clean up but I got a little carried away, personally I like to take the motorcycle right down to the frame and begin again fresh- and then go through everything, but El Frijolito turned out pretty darned good and I hope that have fun up there in Chocolate County with her.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Monday! Well, start of a New week.

Posted on by Steve Carpenter
19 Aug

Oh yes, I have the same feeling when the alarm goes off on a Monday morning- it was really hard to get my legs out of the pit at 6:50 but once I was up, I was on a roll and off we go for another round of Motorcycle parts and design at the shop.

I live about 30 minutes away in the O.C. Area of La Mirada, its a wonderful place and some very cool architecture too, lots of classic car and Hot Rod activity, as well as a plethora of motorcycle interest to boot.

Yesterday, we jumped in the Mini Cooper of Jennifer’s and headed for Long beach for the antique swap meet/fair, big turn out and always fun seeing whats going on in the area.

Dakota spotted this awesome stadium nine long board and scored it for about $35, that’s a $150-$200 all day long, and he got it to give me a shot at riding it, looks like I may need some intensive care later as I go arse over tit when I have a go at riding the thing.

But there was some cool stuff out there and I need to always come up with a few idea’s for different products for the shop etc, and there is all sorts of cool stuff.

I wanted this TV so bad but how the hell would we fit it in the Mini, as we had the skate board, a Gas Station alarm bell, some old Gauges and Jennifer got some stuff too, but thought I would take a snap.

 

I love checking out markets and it was a great day there with tons of great looking bits and bobs and had a grand day walking about in the high 80’s on a Sunday.

So, back at the shop and have some friends coming in from Australia today, a great Hot Rodder that has had many machines in his shop over the years.

We have much to do at the shop and need to get cranking and make sure these projects are done and dusted, so we can go onto other builds and repairs.

I have just about finished the repair on the K4 a customer has had since brand new and it needed new tire and front brake repairing , as well as electrical doing as the rear end was all corroded etc, but that’s done and now to invoice the fella.

I have a busy week this week and wanted to at least drop a line on my blog, as people do email and ask what is going on at the shop and I do enjoy telling you lot what we get up to as of late.

There is many things we are planning on doing here at the shop and we will always keep you updated with what we have accomplished etc.

We have also been making some cool lamps etc for people, so if you want some cool stuff for your place or as a gift for people and they are into mechanical things, drop us a few lines, and, we are bringing a NEW website out really soon too, and will be showing some of those products on there and maybe a few videos. so you can see and hear what we are up to at C.C.R.

So, keep tuned to the blogs and of course the websites and the Facebook pages as well as twitter and instagram etc as we strive to do cool stuff and share with the globe.

Hope Monday is a good one for you and that the weekend was a blast like we had too.

 

My cousin sent me this today, sure wish I could of gone, just for the sound alone- what do you think?

 

Older posts
Newer posts