Reader Submittal

Reader Ride. A VIP visit and some beautiful TZ shots.

Got a great e-mail (and some really great pictures) today from Richard over at Mule Motorcycles. If you don’t know much about them do yourself a favor and go pay them a visit… go ahead we’ll wait…  LINK  I consider this post to be a bit of a coup for me as I’ve been drooling over their bikes for years now and for my blog to be paid such a high compliment from such outstanding builders makes me think that I just might be doing something right.  It’s much appreciated!

Richard writes in:

My friend sent me your link a few months ago and the variety you have just amazes me. I’m pretty fussy about how stuff looks and I find almost every bike has features I like, if I don’t like the whole bike. We must have similar tastes in bikes. Keep um comin’! Good job! Heres a few pictures of some TZ750’s I restored back in 1991. The pictures are all scanned from photos, so they’re not super crisp, but I thought you might get a charge out of them anyway.

Richard   http://www.mulemotorcycles.net

I guess my 2-stroke lust precedes me.  Thanks VERY much for stopping by and for the great shots.  And yes… I will keep em coming.

Holy S#it!  that is a NICE garage… I swear to god I gasped a bit when I first it.  I look at this and wonder if maybe I wasn’t born a decade late.

Reader Submittal. How to build a Norton Cafe Racer from Beginning to End.

Here’s a few start/finish pics from Jean Des Rosiers excellent build of his Cafe Norton.  If you want to see how it’s done you could do a lot worse that checking out his site.  http://www.pbase.com/jeandr/cafe_racer


Jean writes in:

Hi,
Saw your blog and the many bikes you have posted on there, especially Nortons. Please take a look at my café racer build galleries at http://www.pbase.com/jeandr/cafe_racer The bike took about two years of on and off work, mainly on during winter and off during summer. The job started by fitting a belt final drive of my own design and fabrication and evolved into having an open clear area in the back of the engine by hiding everything that normally goes there.

Best regards
Jean

Really excellent stuff!  Thanks Much Jean!

Reader Ride. Possibly The Nicest XS650 Street Tracker I’ve Seen Yet.

Folks are making this really easy for me. I’m getting quite a flood of outstanding pics lately so if you’re bike isn’t getting on right away doesn’t mean that it won’t. I’m NOT complaining so please keep em coming.

Ken Fontenot of Cycle Sports Huston sent in this jewel of a build. As XS trackers go, I don’t believe I’ve seen it equaled.

Ken Writes:

I read that you were always looking for interesting bikes to post to your site. Here is a bike we built over the winter months. Several pics attached as well as a story about how it all happened.
Everyone knows things have slowed down a little in the motorcycle business lately as well as many other businesses so this past winter we decided to take on a project to occupy any down time we might have.
We have had an independent shop here in Houston Tx for the last 29 years and have worked on several Flat trackers and Street trackers in the past and everyone here liked that style so after looking around we pulled out a rusty 1975 Yamaha XS650 rolling chassis that had been outside for about 16 years.
We had a starting point. We tried to accomplish this by using as many parts as possible that we already had around the shop, simply refinishing, replating, repainting and restoring. Well after about 6 months this is what we came up with. Its a real conglomeration of parts from many different bikes that we made work.

* Frame is a 1975 Yamaha XS650, gusseted and modified
* Engine & carbs are from a ’77, Both left stock but painted polished & carbs rejetted
* Front suspension & fuel tank ’81, steering stem bearings,seals & progressive springs
* Swingarm ’86 Yamaha Radian with needle bearings
* Kaw ZRX 1200 Shocks, Repainted and re cadium plated
* Foot controls are Kawasaki Ninja 250
* Tailpiece XR750 Harley, seat recontoured , firmer foam inserted and recovered
* Tailpiece is also rubber mounted to the frame on viabration absorbing Iso mounts
* Headlight & Brow from a Harley Sportster, custom mounts made
* K&N Air Filters with custom adaptors made to mount to the carbs
* Pipes were built down the street from us by John Easton at Jemco Exhaust Systems
* Stock front caliper and rotor with Grimeca mastercyl & stainless lines
* Brembo Rear caliper with custom water jetted hanger and stabalizer bar, stainless lines
* Stock front brake rotors turned, drilled & painted
* For the wheels we used two stock front Xs650 hubs & Spokes
* Custom built billet sprocket adaptor made by James Moody at Leeco Springs
* The Rims are rear Honda CRF450 Excell 19″ take offs donated by Honda of Houston
* Paint scheme graphics were designed by Shane Davis at Graphtec Inc in Houston
* All paint was done here in our shop, the only powdercoated parts are rims and fuel cap
* Trailtech computer for speedo, tach, odometer, tripmeter, clock, temp, shift lights
* Trailtech also has an optional bezel with all the idiot lights needed, rubber mounted
* We custom built the turn signals and lic plate & taillight brkt.
* Hard to spot the front signals but they are there
* Custom built the electrical box and wiring harness.
* Hi performance YTZ10s sealed battery, electric start only.
* All lighting is LED except for H4 Quartz headlight.

This has been a very fun project and of course we ended up spending more time that we expected but we are very proud of the final result. Considering we have spent very little (under $1800) in actually parts & supplies, this bike runs, handles, stops, and rides exceptionally well and really turns heads where ever we park it.

Ken Fontenot, Jeff Wisenbaker & Ben Brooks
Cycle Sports Ltd of Houston
9802 Clay Rd
Houston, Texas 77080
713-690-9802
http://www.cyclesportshouston.com

Reader Submittal. XS650 Cafe From Bogota.

Very Nice! He Writes:

Hello my name is Camilo Pinzon Im a motorcycle designer from Bogota,Colombia, Im starting my business down here, Love cafe racers and bobbers this is my first proyect, hope you like it, I have more bikes will send you pictures soon.

Thanks!

Wanderlust Reader Ride. Wow! I want to be in this shot one day.

Nate Sends in a few great roadtrip shots.

He Writes:

Here’s a couple pics from my wife’s and my trip through Oregon, California, Nevada and Arizona. Eight days, 2,810 miles and three hundred thousand dead bugs later. We got back home today. Here’s one from the Grand Canyon and one from Route 66. The bike is my ’05 Honda VTX 1800.

Love your site!

What a ride! Thanks Much for the pics!

Another Honda Cafe from Reader Chris Sharon

Got another E-mail from him so I thought we’d double down in chris’ bikes.  
He Writes:
Here is my second CB750F built. I called this bike Low Dough.
Its much like the first CB750F I built but just in a different color scheme.
The biggest difference is the KZ650 tail piece I used for the rear cowl along with a tucked under LED tail light
Chris Sharon
Knuckle Busters MC
Seattle Wa

Reader Ride, Stunner of a big bore CB Cafe.

Looks like it’s leaning towards the Honda’s this week!  Chris from Seattle sends in this beauty of build.

He Writes:

Good Morning,
First off I love your site and love to see what the new bike of the day is. With that said I live in Seattle and am a member of a vintage motorcycle club called the Knuckle Busters http://kbmcseattle.com/  the love of old bikes and working on them brings us all together. Were a fairly new club but we are coming on strong.
This 1975 CB750F was my first complete frame up with every nut, bolt, and what not completely restored or replaced. The basis for my bike was that old hot rod look.
A few points of interest on the bike are
Wheels, frame brackets powder coated
All engine covers, chromed
Flat black paint with hand laid pin stripes
Stainless spokes, With Avon road riders
NOS gauges and controls
Custom seat pan using stock rear cowl
Nitrogen reservoir rear shocks and progressive springs up front
Drilled disc’s front and back
New seals on brakes and shocks
Fiberglass front fender and bar end signals
849cc big bore with stage three cam
Ported and polished
All engine internals heavy duty i.e., springs, studs, retainers, clutch
Solid state regulator/ rectifier
Dyna ignition and coils
Chrome 4 into 1 exhaust
This set up pulls like a train and I’ve since have had to retool the seat to keep me from sliding back too far.  
I loved this bike so much I built another that I’ll have to send you. I have two more on deck as well.
I hope you like it. I know I’d love to see it on your page
Chris Sharon
Knuckle Busters MC
Seattle Wa
 First full restoration! Damm that’s what I’d call a successful effort!  Thanks for sharing!




Reader Ride. Very Nice DT175 Restoration.

 Mike Stratton Sends in this beauty of a restoration. I especially appreciate the “before and after” style of the pics. Very nice resto. When I was a younger (and lighter) lad I seriously lusted after one of these.

Mike writes:
Hey I stumbled across your site and really liked it! Thanks for your work on it! Here is my 1978 DT175E That I restored. Hopefully you will like it enough to put the pics on your site! (Bragging rights for me to my friends!) Anyway Thanks again.

My pleasure Mike. Brag away!

Reader Ride.

Jon sends in his former Triton.

He writes:


Built this a few years back – now sold and the new owner put it back to a ‘standard’ Triton, you know, Gold Star pipes and plain old 2 seater with a hump and he scrapped the fairing – oh well…


Cheers
Jon
(an Englishman living in Australia)

I’d have to see it now but it seems to me that this would be hard to improve on. If you know the new owner ask him to send in a current picture just for fun. Cheers!

Reader Ride. A rare 1971 T120RV, a 5 speed Bonneville.

This in from Dogtown Cycles.  They write:

A rare T120RV, a 5 speed Bonneville from 1971 with matching engine and frame numbers. The T120RV was released in the US in 1972, to permit Triumph to use them in American Motorcycle Association production-based racing.  But a few were imported in late model year 1971.  In order to race, all bikes had to be made and sold to the public in the same basic form as they would be raced. To meet this requirement Triumph had to produce and sell 200 of them before they qualified.


The Engine/Frame number, T120RV GE25619 is coded as follows:  The ‘T120R denotes this is a 650cc Bonneville, ‘R’ for a road bike, the ‘V’ five speed. The first ‘G’ in the engine and frame number represents June and the ‘E’ is for 1971 production.  As you can see it has the original and correct Triumph logo printed behind the engine serial number, for 1969 and later models.

With the exception of the stamping on the engine case, there were no external differences between the 4- and 5-speeds. They had the same final drive ratios and sprockets, and the 5-speeds were significantly quicker.

This bike has been completely rebuilt with less than 100 miles since. The engine was thoroughly gone through with a new valve job, guides, rings (std.), main & rod bearings (std.), gaskets, seals,etc. HPC coated TT pipes with removeable internal baffles. It was upgraded with a 1973 disc brake front end with resurfaced rotor, new seals/fluid and polished lower legs.  New Marzocchi shocks at the rear. It has like-new  4.00 x 19 Street Tracker tires front and rear on excellent original rims and spokes.