Honda CB360 Café Racer

This beautiful 1975 Honda CB360 was purchased by Canadian Peter Cabral for next to nothing about a year ago. Of course, you usually get what you pay for, and Peter got a vintage bike in vintage condition. It wasn't running, the wiring was all damaged, it had a rusty tank and seized brakes. Although Peter has owned numerous bikes in the past, this is his first vintage custom project. Here's what Peter told us about the build:

"First I stripped all the unwanted items off the bike and started moulding a seat/tail from pink styrofoam. Happy with the look I covered it with foil and laid down the fibreglass, after the seat was hard I put it aside and started striping the bike down to the frame. I wire wheeled the frame to the metal and shaved off any unwanted tabs, wiped the frame down and sprayed with black epoxy paint. Next started on the engine, took apart the top end cleaning and checking parts, painting the engine body high heat black and lightly polishing others. Reassembled with new gaskets and also rebuilt the brake calliper, master cylinder, carbs, front shocks new cables and hoses. Wire wheeled the rims, painted them satin black to match other parts on the bike and installed the tubes and tires. Then I custom mounted the speedo low on the trees, added a sparkplug socket for a kicker, the exhaust 2-1 reverse cone was found on ebay, it was from a CB350 but a little heat and now it fits. I also mounted the stock rear fender to the swing arm, built a 2-1 intake and after most of the mechanical was complete I started on the bodywork, bondo, sand, bondo, sand etc. I had a local paint supply shop mix a metallic orange, then in my one car garage I sprayed the tank and seat."

Peter has loads more great shots of this stunning CB360 Lucky 7even café racer on his Flickr page, from the beginning of the build right through to the completed project. Peter would like to thank all the members on Do The Ton that helped and inspired him - I'm guessing he's in the running for bike of the month. 

Suzuki GS550 Café Racer

This 1978 Suzuki GS550 was picked up by Jason from Vintage Customs in Florida for $500. It wasn't running but some simple tuning plus a rebuild of the carbs and he got this classic back to life. "The frame was cleaned up, all of the extraneous stuff removed, and painted in a metallic charcoal" Jason explains. "I found a new-old-stock 4 into 1 header which really sounded nice. I kept the stock tank and the rear fairing, built a seatpan out of aluminum which held the rear fairing piece and upholstered it in a black vinyl" he says. Jason recently quit his graphic design job to follow his dream of building custom vintage styled café racers and bobbers under the name Vintage Customs. His website isn't up and running yet but you can view some of his other projects on his Flickr page. 

Yamaha SR400 Peccant

Raider Motorsport are based in Coffs Harbour, Australia, approximately halfway between Sydney and Brisbane - it's famous for having a giant banana and also where Russell Crowe owns a farm. Raider Motorsport have built this SR400 completely from the ground up and this is what they tell us about the build: "The frame has been removed of all unsightly and unnecessary brackets and mounts, sandblasted and anti-corrosion sealed before painting. The engine has been disassembled, all clearances and OEM tolerances checked and refined prior to reassembly. Engine cases are hand polished while the barrel and cam cover are treated with a high temperature coating before hand finishing of the aluminum cylinder cooling fins. Whilst a great deal of the bike's accessories are hand-made, there are also several unique and off the shelf items newly purchased including blinkers, handle-bars, LED warning lights, digital multi-function speedometer, braided brake lines, mirrors, rear-a-set billet aluminum foot-peg assemblies, coil-over gas shocks, seat & upholstery, new Michelin tyres, wiring and battery, and of course, new custom paint". This naked street fighter looks fresh out of the box and we're sure it would be a blast ride. It's actually for sale but isn't cheap at A$18,990 ($16,000 US). You can view loads more pics at the Peccant SR400 gallery.

Cretins Yamaha XS-2

This classic Yamaha XS-2 Café Racer was sent to us by Smokey Cretin #9. If you haven't heard of the Cretins MC, they're a motorcycle club that are "dedicated to the preservation and glorification of the Café Racer motorcycle and its roots". They have chapters in Seattle, Los Angeles and of course Portland, where Smokey resides. He has done some work to his 1972 XS-2, like adding a '72 Suzuki GT 750 four shoe drum brake front end which "stops better than the stock, first year disc did" he remarks. It also has period BUB headers with shorty reverse cone mufflers, Boyer Brandsen ignition, NOS Redwing shocks from Omar's DTR, seat from Glass from the Past and rear-sets were made by fellow club member 'Cretin Torch'. If you're interested in joining the Cretins or just want to find out more about them, visit the clubs site.

See See Motorcycles

Earlier this year See See Motorcycles put on the 'The One Motorcycle Show' with a few other local shops in the Portland area. See See Motorcycles was formed 2 years ago by Drake Mcelroy, Jared Kenyon, and Thor Drake. "See See is a motorcycle brand that values the origins of motorcycles and an emphasis on aesthetics. What that boils down to is, we want to build some amazing bikes, race to win, and create a community of two wheelers. See See is based out of Portland Oregon, except for one. Drake, being the desert rat that he is, spends his time jumping dirt mounds in warmer southern regions" explains Mcelroy. See See Motorcycles don't seem to have a website but you can find loads more eye-watering photographs of their bikes and others at Chris Hornbecker's site, who did a great job shooting all the bikes at the show. Update: The stunning Yamaha XS350 was built by Sean Dunlap. [Found on Bubblevisor]

BMW R80 Cafe Racer

After two blown engines Englishman Chris Simpson decided to try and squeeze a R80 RT engine into his 1979 BMW R45 frame. "The powers that be said the engine wouldn't fit, as you can see it obviously does" Chris explains. "The only engine mods were a lightweight flywheel and the air box was removed and replaced with a Bellmouths. It has custom stainless 2-1 exhausts with a stainless megaphone, fully custom sub frame with hidden battery under the seat pod, a large EARLS oil cooler from a Ford Cosworth. The controls are from a Aprilia RS 50 and an Aprilia RSVR. It has had a full race wiring loom fitted and all lights ignition removed and now starts with a master arm, start button and no key". Chris custom made the fairing and brackets from a Classic Yamaha race fairing, it has a Manx Norton front mudguard, hugger made from the R80 front mudguard, twin disk conversion, rear sets from a Kawasaki and a upside down gear box. This beautiful Beemer is just one of the projects Chris has on the go, he's also building a Mike Hailwood Honda Replica which we look forward to featuring when completed. You can view the 'before' shot of this BMW on our Flickr page.

Yamaha XS650 Café Racer

We love receiving emails from Ted at XS650chopper.com because he knows we get excited by Yamaha café racers. Frank Derris the owner and builder of this immaculate bike writes: "The concept was to blend old with new hence the crossover Yamaha racing paint scheme with the ton up stripe. I wanted the bike to handle and run as good as it could on tube tires and it does. I wanted to be able to look through the bike and see nothing but hard parts (no wiring, bolts or unsightly junk) 3 years of part time work. You judge the finished product." The parts come from a variety of bikes but they all work seemlessly together, the forks are from a 87 FZR 600, rear swing arm from a 1988 Radian, front rotor 87 FZR1000 and front caliper from a 98 Suzuki Bandit 600. The 2 gallon steel tank, seat and fairing have been painted in a fresh Corvette velocity yellow with classic black racing stripes. The impressive exhaust is a custom built 1¾ shell pipes with tuned port and exhaust port optimizers. You can read the complete spec list and view some more pics on XS650 Chopper.

Suzuki S40 Café Racer

As far as donor bikes go, the humble Suzuki S40 Savage probably isn't on top of many peoples list. Casey Stevenson had trouble finding a suitable bike for his Café Racer project but eventually stumbled upon the S40 and decided to turn this 'ugly duckling' into a very sexy swan. "I was in the market for a new motorcycle and wanted a lightweight thumper to get around the streets of L.A. I quickly discovered the lack of available options, so I started working on a new design. I was imagining a motorcycle with a Japanese engine and classic cafe styling, but more sleek and modern than the single cylinder customs based on old bikes that are popular at the moment. I discovered my ultimate thumper café racer hidden inside a bike known as the Suzuki S40 (aka the Savage). They have been around for over 20 years and are still available brand new. The custom parts and accessories were designed to avoid any major modifications to the frame or engine, which allows anyone with basic tools to build their own bike from kit components. The end result is a machine that is simple, fun, and efficient." We take our helmets off to Casey who has done a fab job building a slick café racer from this unpopular model which most people would overlook for the more popular XS650 or SR400. It turned out so well Casey is now going to do a small production run of these bikes out of his shop in Los Angeles, as well as offer the custom parts as a kit. If you are interested, you can view more pics and prices on his website Ryca Motors.

Moto Guzzi V35 III Café Racer

The Italian owner of this Moto Guzzi café racer Michelangelo Possidente turned 18 a few months ago and had to decide on his first motorbike. "I had to choose whether to buy a Japanese bike or a power limited Guzzi V35 III, I decided to buy the V35 III and build a unique bike!" Michelangelo explains. This Guzzi is his first 'creation', and he goes into detail about what he has done to this V35. "The chassis has been lowered for better agility in the corners and the frame was cut in the back by about 10cm and was capped with arrows round the old superstructure which was replaced with plastic aluminum to hold the seat and plaque. The saddle is made entirely of fiberglass and coated in a kind of leather like Kevlar effect. The bike is equipped with a 650cm3 engine derived enduro, namely a NTX, carburettors are 30 Dell'Orto and footprint airbox was replaced with a pair of mirror filters. The exhaust was created by a friend, along the lines of Quat-D, and he also removed the compensator". Regarding the electrical, Michelandelo removed all the components that were unnecessary and added a dell' Imola tachometer and LED lights. He has even marked his territory by adding his own stylish signature to the tank. Overall, the word 'belissimo' comes to mind. To see more pictures of this black Italian beauty check out Michelangelo's blog. Ciao.