Roadster

Alright so my plan for the Yamaha has changed. I was as you know planning to Cafe the bike at some point in the future. I have decided instead to go with something more workable, a Roadster - which is what Dad's Norton and Ducati were, really its what my two Triumphs, my BMW, and Dad's Triumph were as well. A Roadster is sort of a cross between a Cafe, a Cruiser, and... well really its just a straight up standard go get 'em motorcycle.


So we all remember my bike, you can see it clearly here - in the back of my car. Its hard to tell just how ugly the tank is, but I can assure you that it is quite ugly. That rear bar on the seat is equally horrific, and oh my god is the seat ugly. The whole design is just bastardly.

Well I figured it out a few days ago, I realized that there was a small chance that a gas tank off an early 80s Kawasaki KZP550 might just fit - as they share high backbone frame design. SO I asked my friend Jack, who owns one, to come over and let me see if his tank fit.


It DOES!
You can see here that it sits parallel to the ground (the base of the tank) which is wonderful. Not only that but the mounting bolt lines up almost perfectly. I might have to pad the frame with fiberglass to help with vibration. But the tank is a match!


From this angle (more steady) you can see what the Norton bench seat would look like, and just how well this Kawi tank lines up. You can see how she looks with the flat bars and bar end mirrors. God it went from a bastard child of a Harley & Yamaha to a Roadster in the blink of the eye (as well as some imagination)



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Now here is the revised plan. The only major part that I will have to buy is the tank. So let me describe for you what you see.

You have the Kawasaki gas tank replacing the stock tank.
There is a Norton front wheel with Drum brake (I will use the one I have at some point)
You have a Lucas 7" headlight.
Flat handlebars.
A Norton bench seat.
The rear fender is actually the front fender off a 1982 Suzuki GS550.
Mounted to the rear fender will be a replica Lucas tail light.



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The tail light in better detail looks like this:

They cost about $30 depending where you buy them.

Then the turn signals I plan to use cost $10 each and replicate the classic look, being Lucas replicas from the early 1970s.


One last part that I'll need is a new battery box.

This is designed to sit under the seat of a cafe racer and hold the battery as well as give a place for any electronics. There is an air box that I plan to remove as I will soon be fitting new carbs with pod air filters. The air box holds everything else in place, so when I remove the air box I'll have to for now make temp brackets to hold the electrics. But later, later I want to get one of these boxes for under the seat.

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The main thing to take away from all of this is simple. For roughly $600 I could cafe the motorcycle. This new plan, I have the whole thing together for less than $300. It will be more comfortable, hold more fuel, stop better, handle better, and look better - look better than any other of this model.