The Cyclone CAFE RACER

 

Here is a cool ride that I created from a old 1969 bike and now is living in Long Horn country and enjoying some Texas tea I am sure.

 I spent many hours taking this bike down to a skeleton and then smoothing all the welds in the chassis and finally high fill primer, block sanding and then House of kolor flake and then clear, to make sure this thing sparkled in the sun. The motor was banged out to 836cc using Wiseco pistons and Genuine Honda gaskets etc as well as many many hours of cleaning and polishing the aluminum to look like chrome.

I hand hammered the gas tank and pounded the knee inserts in as I do on many of the mach9nes I have put together, this was going to get all the best treatment I could muster and boy did she turn out a belter of a machine, and I am so happy that the owner digs this Cafe Racer.

 

 I fitted Stainless steel Allen head socket bolts through out this motorcycle and the bolts are over a buck fifty a piece, this stuff soon adds up.

It was time to add my special 4 into 1 exhaust system that is so similar to my Original Yoshi system I have had for Donkeys years, and I ceramic coated it and then added the badge.  I also fitted some Tarozzi rear sets to give it a little more aggressiveness.

This bike is an early KO model and I bought it from a local guy who had it many many moons and it was time to let it go to a new home, so I bought it and then took it down to the frame and began to build this for a customer who wanted something tough but also have a bit of Zazzle to it.

 

 

 

 I hand drilled the front Brake rotor and there are 140 holes in that puppy but I enjoy doing this on the drill press in the shop, I also completly stripped the front brake assembly and honed the carcass out, made a New stainless steel piston and fitted New O ring and brake pads, I also polished the caliper to a chrome finish as in a stick guise they are an anodized Black color.

 

 New rebuilt forks with brand new tubes and seals and of course, polished lowers with a $360 New front fender, sets this off, but I had to paint the fender and make sure no scratches got in as this is a 4 stage set up to get the custom lines in etc. I then fitted the good old Bridgestone tires that I really like the feel of on the road.

 

 

 I always name the bikes I build as I can then remember them, so this one I aptly names the Cyclone as they get many in Texas and this bike will indeed go like the proverbail wind.

Check out the custom Oil filter I had machined for this set up,

 

 

I tore down the old ripped seat base and powder coated that Gloss black and made the Guilerri style seat for the bike as I liked these back in the 70’s.

Polished triple and new bars with brand new switches that I polished and a New harness, made sure this thing is a keeper, new chrome turn signals add to the classic lines and then I made some cool Gauge faces to embellish this KO motorcycle.

Gloss black, with Silver Flake and Grey pin lines make the fender flow and I hope I really blew the guys mind when this came out of the trailer and into the Texas Sun when he received it.

Hand drilled the rear brake hub and fitted my Custom swing arm to really make this bike stand out from the crowd, with brand new shocks with adjustable alloy lowers and a wider Bridgestone tire just adds more neck breaking looks.

I searched for some time and found Original metal flake material from the late 1960’s, so bought the entire roll and upholstered it in the traditional style called Tuck n Roll.

Master cylinder I polished to like a chrome finish with new cables and new levers, just to make sure this looked like a brand new bike was inportant to me.  I also hunted down a 1973 Oil Pressure gauge assembly that was off a Drag bike and thought that this would make all the theme flow. I machined the oil tank cap and the finned them does go through out the bike.

 

All the brakes are brand new, the actuator, the brake rod and spring, all new and this is a tight looking machine.

Plenty of silver metal flake to catch your attention, as well as new chrome everywhere too.

 

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Steve Carpenter