My Yamaha looks like this:
A Yamaha XS Cafe racer looks something like this:
I have gone over a dozen ideas on how to go about this. There are a few options, but my frame is an ugly bastard, and I'm not sure how to do it.
What I do know - and I have plans - but what I do know is that I need a sidecar, and I have the plans to build one, and the friends to do it.
I'll need a fairing of some sort eventually - Craig Vetter (who designed the sidecar) is working on a new more streamlined fairing idea.
When I break it down, it comes to two choices.
Form over Function or Function over Form.
Ducati went out of business because they cared more about Function than looks - and put more money into the design and capabilities. So you'd buy a new Ducati and the first time you washed it the Ducati decals would come off - but Oh My God what a motorcycle you owned.
Harley cares more about Form, so do a lot of modern Cafe Racer (replicas) and Choppers. Its the look that drives them, not how the bike is actually put together.
This is why a Harley Sportster weighs almost 200 pounds more than a 73 Triumph of essentially the same capacities.
I have decided to go with Function over Form.
I need a sidecar. I need the bike to be in its best for function.
So while I REALLY want to cafe it. Do I put $350 into a tank, $150 into a seat, $50 into fenders, and $350 into a fairing?
No. The way to do it is to put the bike together the way it would have been done in the 50s, 60s, and 70s. Instead of building a replica showy cafe racer - I'm going to build a real one. So it won't look like one, not like a replica.
I'll sort it out.
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