elless1
Member
I've started another project this time it has two wheels. Bought a dr350
road trail and i'm converting it into a vintage looking cafe racer/street bike.
I looked for bike forums but couldnt settle on a descent one so i thought
i'd put the build up here on JC.
Bike is stock,with low km's, shocks rebuilt and rebuilt rims. Plans are to
change the tank to a big old steel one, change the seat to a flat vintage style,put
18" rims front and back (back is already 18" i believe) And vintage tires.
Different mirrors,lights,indicators,exhaust,different rear swing arm,dual rear
springs in the back (hence the swingarm), lower front shock accordingly.
I know nothing about bikes and dont have a license for one but i thought that
i want to ride while i still can, with my back in the condition it's in. Hopefully
i dont come off. haha. Its been a long time coming and now it's time to pull
my finger out and do it.
I'm doing lessons and have a test at the end of the month. Hoping the bike is
done by then or close to it. That;s the aim anyway.
I wanted a Triumph Bonneville or Thruxton but the price range and engine
capacity are a bit out of my budget and license restrictions.should be a fun bike
and a good learning experience anyway.
Heres some pics of what ive been doing-
Here's the bike as i got it. It's a 99 model,last of the air cooled engines.
I managed to get a tank from an old yamaha xs650 from the wrecker for cheap
so i pulled the plastics and seat from the bike and started playing. I thought the tank looked
best pushed right up to the front but the handlebars would smash the tank. So i marked
the handlebars with paint so i could see where they touched the tank on lock, and went
about massaging the tank into shape to accommodate the bars.
The third pic below shows some of the bog i found. Ended up stripping the tank back with a flap disk.
And a shot of it on the bike. Looks pretty stupid on there at the moment.haha.
Managed to get a new oldschool aftermarket headlight,and after a bit of stuffing around
moving the speedo back and modding the light so i could fit the wiring loom in it, i got it on.
Looks pretty silly on there at the moment but it's staying on till the bikes done. Pulled the gators
off the front shocks and decided to crank the bike down with the ratchet straps to get
an idea of stance. The bike will be way lower anyway but just wanted to have a look.
Then i set about doing some metal work on the bare tank to try and straighten it out a bit.
Ended up welding nails to the tank and making a dent puller/slide hammer out of a set of vice grips to
pull some of the dents out.Then the areas got ground back,rewelded if need be,tinned
with solder and lead wiped. Then it got sanded down again and the remaining low spots
filled with a skim coat of filler.
Kept getting that feeling like someone was watching me.
The tank got a coat of primer then sanded,still needs a bit of work.The tank came with dual
taps on the bottom and after seeing the taps on ebay for a lot of money i decided to solder
in some brass tubing and go with an inline tap. The tubing looks way better and fits the vintage
theme. Mad a bracket out of some sheet and an old bolt to hold the tank on too.
Got loads of parts coming over the next few weeks.
Thanks for looking.
road trail and i'm converting it into a vintage looking cafe racer/street bike.
I looked for bike forums but couldnt settle on a descent one so i thought
i'd put the build up here on JC.
Bike is stock,with low km's, shocks rebuilt and rebuilt rims. Plans are to
change the tank to a big old steel one, change the seat to a flat vintage style,put
18" rims front and back (back is already 18" i believe) And vintage tires.
Different mirrors,lights,indicators,exhaust,different rear swing arm,dual rear
springs in the back (hence the swingarm), lower front shock accordingly.
I know nothing about bikes and dont have a license for one but i thought that
i want to ride while i still can, with my back in the condition it's in. Hopefully
i dont come off. haha. Its been a long time coming and now it's time to pull
my finger out and do it.
I'm doing lessons and have a test at the end of the month. Hoping the bike is
done by then or close to it. That;s the aim anyway.
I wanted a Triumph Bonneville or Thruxton but the price range and engine
capacity are a bit out of my budget and license restrictions.should be a fun bike
and a good learning experience anyway.
Heres some pics of what ive been doing-
Here's the bike as i got it. It's a 99 model,last of the air cooled engines.
I managed to get a tank from an old yamaha xs650 from the wrecker for cheap
so i pulled the plastics and seat from the bike and started playing. I thought the tank looked
best pushed right up to the front but the handlebars would smash the tank. So i marked
the handlebars with paint so i could see where they touched the tank on lock, and went
about massaging the tank into shape to accommodate the bars.
The third pic below shows some of the bog i found. Ended up stripping the tank back with a flap disk.
And a shot of it on the bike. Looks pretty stupid on there at the moment.haha.
Managed to get a new oldschool aftermarket headlight,and after a bit of stuffing around
moving the speedo back and modding the light so i could fit the wiring loom in it, i got it on.
Looks pretty silly on there at the moment but it's staying on till the bikes done. Pulled the gators
off the front shocks and decided to crank the bike down with the ratchet straps to get
an idea of stance. The bike will be way lower anyway but just wanted to have a look.
Then i set about doing some metal work on the bare tank to try and straighten it out a bit.
Ended up welding nails to the tank and making a dent puller/slide hammer out of a set of vice grips to
pull some of the dents out.Then the areas got ground back,rewelded if need be,tinned
with solder and lead wiped. Then it got sanded down again and the remaining low spots
filled with a skim coat of filler.
Kept getting that feeling like someone was watching me.
The tank got a coat of primer then sanded,still needs a bit of work.The tank came with dual
taps on the bottom and after seeing the taps on ebay for a lot of money i decided to solder
in some brass tubing and go with an inline tap. The tubing looks way better and fits the vintage
theme. Mad a bracket out of some sheet and an old bolt to hold the tank on too.
Got loads of parts coming over the next few weeks.
Thanks for looking.