Cafe Racer for sale on Ebay

I thought about keeping the red cafe racer for myself, but I decided to list it on Ebay today. I have started another one and have some new stuff I want to try, maybe I will keep the next one.

1981 CB750, a future cafe racer

Every once in a while a challenge rolls into the shop. I wrote about a bike with a rusty tank a few days ago. Well it took about 10 cycles through the sonic cleaner to get the carbs good and clean. A few parts and then I reassembled them and bench tested them for proper float adjustment and for leaks. The overflow for #3 leaked, the brass tube was split, I removed it and replaced it, installed the carbs and TAH DAH, it ran. Jorge came by and picked it up later so he could do some riding this weekend.
The next project for this bike is going to be a complete rebuild and then transformed into a cafe racer, scheduled to be started this winter.

Rusty Fuel Tanks Are Bad

I recently had a bike dropped at the shop for some work. It had multiple issues. The first was carbs that needed to be cleaned and rebuilt. Then after I got it running, I discovered the coils were breaking down when they got hot. I fixed that only to find out on the test ride that somthing else was wrong. Even though the passages all seemed to be clear they were actually clogged where they meet at the intermediate outlet. The carbs had rust deep inside of the passages and was affecting the mid range. Rust in the tank is very bad. A fuel filter had been installed but was not catching the very fine particles in the fuel.
This is why I only use very clean tanks on all of my projects.

Hello Russia

I have a huge amount of traffic from Russia recently. I mentioned once before that I speak Russian complements of a great language school and the US Air Force, DLI in Monterey California. If you are reading this in Russia drop me an email or comment.

Cnacudo

California Dreaming

The problem with taking a short trip, like last weeks to Barber Vintage Days, is that I want to keep traveling. I love to see new places and things. I want to go to England and parts of Europe before the kids go to college. The one place I always like to be is California, more specifically, the Monterey area. I lived there most of my adult life and it is definitely one of my favorite places. Maybe someday I will return for an extended stay, maybe 20 years or so.

It's hard to believe I drove by this nearly everyday for years.

Motorcycles and Race Cars at Barber

The Barber Musuem has some great bikes and cars. It is still hard to believe that this is one persons collection. I could write about it all day, but I will just post some photos that I took.

Dan Gurneys Indy Car

Folding Scooter made in New Jersey

The exhaust is also part of the frame.

Iver Johnson, I wonder if we are related?

Great Trip to Barber Vintage Days

They saved me a parking space. Right out front!!!!

The trip to Barber Vintage Days was a great way to end the summer of riding. I had planned to trailer down a couple of bikes with Mark, but we decided to ride. I figured, what is the sense in having a great looking cafe racer, unless you take it for a ride. What a ride it was, the weather was great and Barber Motorsports Park is incredible.
We left Indiana at 2 pm on Thursday and rode until we were in Athens Alabama about 90 miles from our destination. After a short ride we arrived Friday morning. We set up camp and spent the day checking out the swap meet and other stuff. I went to the Cafe Racer TV area and arranged to have my bike in their area, along with some other very nice builds.
Saturday I took the bike to the Cafe Racer TV area and met Jason from Dime City Motorcycles, nice guy, but very busy trying to keep everything going great. They had a band, Ace Cafe from London was there as well as Cafe Racer TV. Ed the producer of Cafe Racer TV, took a few moments to talk to me also. They seemed to really be enjoying what they are doing. That's what made the whole event great. I went to the museum off and on all day, I will post some pics and more words about that later this week.
We rode 1175 miles over the weekend. The cafe racer ran great, smooth as silk and fairly comfortable. We are already planning the next trip. Maybe back to California.





Time to head back to Indiana.



Barber Vintage Days on a Cafe Racer

I have made a decision about Barber Vintage Days this year. We will leave Thursday morning, Mark is riding his big bike, and I have decided to ride my Honda CB750 Cafe Racer. We were going to drive down and haul a couple of bikes, but I figured the ride will be the best part, that is if I can walk after I get there. The furthest I have ridden one of the cafe style bikes I build is about 200 miles, and this is quite a bit further. I will try to post some pics just before we leave and maybe a couple while we are on the road.
Yes it is the red one I intend to ride,the one for sale, photo adjacent this post.

One Year Blogging and a Montesa Fender Bracket

Today is the one year anniversary of my blog. Today was a very busy day. I had to get a few estimates done and Tami needed some help at her store. She opened on Sept 15th at her new location. She still has some stock to move, but the store is up and running and doing great at the new location.

I did manage to get a few parts into the blast cabinet and hope to get them polished tomorrow. I received the fender bracket for the Montesa and need to send it to the chrome shop. I am getting dangerously close to having all the missing parts for this project. I better hurry or I won't get to ride it this year.

The elusive Montesa fender bracket has finally been captured.

Apollo 11 Customs Declaration

I ran across this surfing the web to find out where the satellite re-entered the atmosphere. I thought it was a cool piece of history.

Vintage Arthur Fulmer Helmet

                                                    What year was this photo taken?

Tomorrow I Ride

I have been wanting to go for a decent ride all week. I thought I would have time yesterday, but nooo, too many things to finish. I was sure I would wrap up a few things early today, but nooo.  I did squeeze in a short ride. But tomorrow no matter what at 2 o'clock, I drop everything and go for a ride.

The reason I can't have a mid life crisis

I had a couple of comments on my 100th blog, and a few other people have asked, why I can't have a mid life crisis.
The answer is in a post I made in Feb of this year.


Thanks for reading
Bob J.

Montesa Parts and the Endless Build

Restoring an old dirt bike has taken more time than expected. I have been trying to find the correct fender mount for nearly a year and last week, I found three. The air box, seemed nearly impossible to find and yet I found it. John at Rocky Mountain Montesa has been great help, and Jared Bates at Southwest Montesa has been a wealth of information and parts as well.
  It doesn't help that I keep trying to rebuild or find new parts for just about everything. I am not happy with the condition of the fork tubes, so I ordered another pair. This build is going on and on and on.

NOS Cylinder Head

Abused original head

I had to hang this on the frame just to see what it looked like all together. This is one of the pieces that I felt was very important for this to be as close to original as possible.