1989 Honda GB500 Cafe Racer

I debated about posting this 1989 Honda GB500. It is absolutely a cafe racer, but it isn’t one of the classic bikes or home-brewed specials that usually get posted. It appears to be completely stock and in great condition, but it does have about 42K miles on it.

The seller of the bike is some kind of classic car guy who probably has the bike on consignment from the owner. The listing has lots of pictures, some description, and so much legalese that it makes the seller look like a hard ass. So if you decide to bid, read the fine print very carefully. The auction has about 1 day left with 15 bidders and a current price of $4,350 (reserve not yet). It does have a Buy-It-Now of $5,995, which seems a bit high given the mileage on the bike. It’s a nice bike and amazingly clean given the relatively high number of miles.

1979 Honda CB750 DOHC Cafe Racer

Up for auction on eBay is this nicely done CB750 cafe racer. It’s got a couple of fairly unique features that I really like: the seat and the taillights. If you could throw a rock and hit a cafe racer (not an easy task in most places, although their popularity does seem to be on the uptick), it would most likely have your standard humped cafe racer style seat. This bike has a non-standard looking seat that certainly gives the look of a cafe racer, but doesn’t do it in the standard way. And then it’s got the dual taillights that are vaguely styled after VFR1000 units from the mid-eighties but have the nice chrome rings added. The tank, which appears to be a stock DOHC CB750 tank, has been modified with knee indents and a great paint job. Rearsets are provided by a modern CBR. All in all, a great cafe conversion of a DOHC CB750.

What’s not to like? Not much. A simple readjustment of the bars. And a fix of the jetting and valve-cover gasket oil leak. The seller seems to be honest with his assessments of the negative points, but the listing doesn’t really have too much detail in it. There’s a few more pictures in the listing, but not much else. Good luck if you bid for this neat bike!

I’m crying on the inside… (1972 Honda CB350F)

“And I find it kind of funny
I find it kind of sad
The dreams in which I’m dying
Are the best I’ve ever had…”
“Mad World” by Tears For Fears

(begin rant)
This bike is like one of those kids that Sally Struthers parades around on the television at 3am on a local channel showing reruns of “Perfect Strangers” for 4 hours straight. You feel very sorry for the child. You know they are probably very poor. And yet, you don’t call the toll-free number to donate less than a dollar a day to help feed, clothe, and school the cute tyke.

And now back to this motorcycle. Prima facie, a good find. A 1972 Honda CB350F for a reasonable B.I.N. of $400 on eBay. And then we look more closely at the photos. Dude! At least stand the bike up to take a picture. You could have even done that in the back of the truck. But hey, as the seller states, the throttle works. More power to you…
(end rant)

Another Not-Quite-Complete Cafe Racer Build (1973 Honda CB750)

I think this bike is from the same seller as the one I posted yesterday. It is a really clean build of a Honda CB750 being advertised as a cafe racer. But we all know better right? Just a cafe racer seat does not make a bike a cafe racer. As with the CB750 from yesterday, add bars and rearsets to this bike, and you would have an instant conversion. The seller/builder has already added a nice Giuliari-style seat, so this shouldn’t be too difficult.

Other features of the build include a long list of new and/or updated parts including Dyna ignition, Barnett clutch, Yoshimura header, and lots of other stuff. There are many pictures in the listing if you are interested, but the bidding isn’t particularly active right now with only 1 bid at the starting price of $2,500 and a Buy-It-Now of $4,500. There’s about a day and a half left in the auction. Good luck to you if you win this bike. Send us some pictures if you convert it fully…

1973 Honda CB750 Cafe Racer (Sorta)

Since you have read this far, let me address the “Sorta” in the title of this post. What we have here is a nicely modified bike with so much text in the eBay listing that I refuse to even cut and paste it into this post. Is it a cafe racer? Absolutely not. Could it be one with minor mods? Yes. Get some bars and rearsets, and off you go to your local bike night on a nice, fast, classic-looking bike that would meet most of the criteria of your average cafe racer.

Do you like the paint? Good! Go ahead an bid…

Do you not like the paint? Good! Don’t bid…

Sorry. Didn’t mean to be snarky. Good luck whatever your choice…

1976 BMW R75/6 Cafe Racer

While not a full conversion, enough has been done to this BMW R75/6 listed on eBay to qualify as a nice, comfortable to ride cafe racer. No rear-sets and drag bars make this a fairly mild build-up, but the overall look is quite nice. It’s got the seat, the black paint, the black twin megaphone exhaust, and the Black Rain fairing. Yes, they could have gone further, but this would actually be a comfortable bike to ride all day. And it looks the part!

There are almost two days left int he auction, and the seller has zero bids with a starting price of $1,800. I think that eBay’s new zero-up-front-fees pricing structure is bringing more bikes out of storage and on to the market. Maybe we will start to see even nicer bikes appearing soon…

1992 Harley-Davidson Sportster Cafe Racer

It’s been a while since I posted a Harley, and this is certainly a pretty well put together cafe racer made out of a Sportster. This has one of the fullest conversions I’ve seen on a US Sporty, and I really like it. I’ve listed below nearly all of the stuff that the seller put in his listing (The bad and the good), so I won’t go on too long about this bike. As with all Sportsters, this bike shows how hard it is to get the seat right. For some reason, these bikes always seem to have such a low seating position that it can’t be good for handling or comfortable to sit on (knees have got to be ablaze after a matter of 30 minutes or so).

Anyways, good luck to anyone who bids on this bike. It seems to be one of the better solid-mount Sportster conversions, and surprisingly, there are no bids yet with two days left. Maybe it is the $3,800 starting price? We’ll see when it ends…
The Bad

The blinkers are there but not working
The paint could be freshened up and there is a oil leak
The starter relay ($10) is out but there is a button on the starter that works well

The Good

15,500 miles
Only about 3K on the new 10:1 Wisco 1207 pistons and Andrews N6 cams
Progressive springs
Gas Charged adjustable shocks (compression and rebound dampers)
Daytona Steering damper
Rockwall clip-ons
Chainsikle rear sets with a Buell shifter
Airtech XR750 rear fender
Custom made seat
Viper fairing
7” headlight
Custom Gas tanks with billet race cap and High flow petcock
New Dunlop 205 tires front and back (still have the wiskers)
Thunder Slide kit
Screamin Eagle ECU
Crane adjustable push Rods
Screamin Eagle 2 into 1 pipe, packing removed.
New High torque Starter
New chain

1975 Honda CB750 (Good, Cheap Project Starting Point)

I found this somewhat beat-upon CB750 on eBay and was noticing that although it would make a great start for a cafe racer build, the seller won’t ship. So, if you live within driving distance of St. Louis, MO, then read on…

The bike is quite ratty on the surface, but some of the important bits are not too bad. First off, seller claims clear title. Second, low miles at 12K. Third, mufflers with baffles are stock. Fourth, motor turns over. Fifth, tank is clean. (All of which are seller claims)

Only bad news is a stuck throttle and rust. The price is right with a low starting point, although there are still 6 days left and already the bike has bidding activity. The seller has 100% positive feedback score (apparently he sells used bats from MLB games), so it appears to be a pretty safe purchase. Good luck to anyone who bids!

Woulda Shoulda Coulda (a.k.a. 1967 BSA 441 Shooting Star)

Sometimes projects go horribly wrong. Other times they fall by the wayside and never end up finished. I’m going to put this bike in both categories.

I did a little research about the head angle on the 441, and from other pictures, it appears like a bike that, in stock form, doesn’t exactly tuck the front wheel under the motor with a steep head angle. However, when I read the description in this eBay listing and saw that the frame had some non-stock welding around the head tube, I thought “Aha!” Then I read the question at the bottom of the listing where someone commented that it looked a bit raked out, and the seller agreed that the welding was probably connected to the relaxed rake, but that “It seams to go down the road fine though. thanks”.

This is all I ask. If you start a project, either finish it or don’t. You can’t stop building a chopper half way. It just doesn’t work. And don’t later try to sell it on eBay as a cafe racer. Please.

Honda CB Oil Cooler

So you’ve got a Honda CB that you’ve converted into a cafe racer? And you’ve got it pumped up with a big bore kit or a jet and pipe combo? Or maybe you just ride it like you stole it?

I found this oil cooler on eBay that will help your motor stay cool and survive for the long haul. And it’s vintage NOS for that proper look. It won’t work on my SL350 twin, so I will have to find another solution and leave the bidding to everyone else. It’s currently at $76, with just over a day left in the auction.