1973 Honda CB750 (Stock Bike For Project)

If you are looking for a decent starting point for a cafe racer project, this might be a good bike to begin your work. It’s a 1973 Honda CB750 that is basically stock and in good shape. The seller provided a good list of his recent upgrades to the mechanicals, so I just cut and pasted the list shown below. There are a few more pictures on eBay of some of the details on the bike, but these give you an overall idea of what this bike has in store for you…

I don’t know if this bike is going to sell or not. It has zero bidders with just over a day left in the auction, but the starting price is at $2,500. Buy-It-Now is set at $3,200. If everything works as stated by the seller, this bike appears to be in line with what a decent CB750 is currently worth. I’d love to see pics of this bike after it gets the cafe treatment…

Had a Honda mechanic replace all the gaskets in the upper half of the engine. Head gasket, valve cover gasket, etc…
Carbs have been cleaned, rebuilt and synched
Valves have been timed
Gas tank has been lined
New OEM petcock fuel valve
Clutch has been rebuilt with OEM Honda parts, OEM clutch cable is new also
Brakes have been serviced and checked out
Original air box replaced with pod filter, carbs were re-jetted at this time with 120’s, i also have the original air box with a new K&N filter
Rear fender has been removed and replaced with a fender eliminator kit and LED rear light. Looks great on the bike. Turn signals were flush mounted and look better this way
New EMGO rear shocks have been added to replace the originals that were pretty useless. I still have them though
Low (super) bars have been added to give it more of the cafe racer look. Note- these are not “clubman” bars because i found them to be uncomfortable
Added a headlight visor to front light
Original chain has been replaced with an o-ring chain
New battery added last summer
Original paint on the gas tank (pretty sure side covers are repro)
I have the original tool kit and original manual from Honda
I also have 3 additional manuals, including the official Honda service manual which is amazing
Tires have plenty of tread on them
Electric ignition and kick start both work great
All lights, guages and electronics function perfectly

1971 Triumph Bonneville T120R Street Tracker

Here’s an interesting street tracker built on a Triumph Bonneville T120R. It’s got a rebuilt engine and transmission and an electronic ignition so it should be relatively reliable all things considered. One of the things I like most about this bike is the mix of modern aesthetic touches with its basic old-school sensibility. Most of this is centered around the handlebars, with the matte black finish and the aluminum/black grips, which go quite nicely with the glossy paint and chrome all over the rest of the bike. Yes, grippy rubber bits would be better on the bars from a functional standpoint, but it isn’t like this bike is a canyon carver given the low pipes. There’s more pics if you click through, but these were the ones I thought spoke best about this bike…

Not Another XLCR!?!?!?

Alright, alright. I know that almost every XLCR is the same as the last. Black with almost no modifications (if any). What can I say? A friend of mine really likes these bikes, and for those of us who are trying to convert a Sporty to a cafe racer this is the original…

Addtionally, this XLCR currently being auctioned on eBay is very clean and low miles (just over 4K). The price pretty reasonable, but with four days left, the auction has risen over $8,000. Still a good price given past sales for these bikes. If my friend hadn’t just bought a classic beemer, I’d be rooting for him to buy this bike. Oh well…

1977 Harley-Davidson XLCR (Super Clean!)

I’m not going to write a lot about this bike. I’ve written about lots of these, so if you want to read more search the archives. This bike is probably the cleanest XLCR that I’ve seen come up on eBay at auction. It isn’t completely original however, as the seller has put some kind of non-stock muffler/straight-pipe on the bike.

Currently the bidding is at $1,025 with 5 days left and just a few bidders. Of course, at this price, reserve has not been yet. There is a Buy-It-Now offering the bike for $11,500 if that’s how you roll.

1971 Honda CL350 Cafe Racer

This is a really nice little cafe racer. I say little with respect, as I will soon be starting on an SL350 cafe project, so I gotta give the small-bores their props. Additionally, this bike has been done up very cleanly and has a unique paint scheme to boot.

One of the things I like the most about this bike is the fact that no aspect of the chosen aesthetic (cafe racer) has been left out. Yes, it has a stock tank, but it has been painted suitably. It’s got a nice seat, clip-ons, and rear-sets even! And the paint job with the cream-colored frame is unique. I can’t recall having seen this before. Are there too many stickers on the tank? That’s for each of us to decide according to personal preference. But overall, a great build-up!

As I write this, it is only selling for $1,020, but reserve hasn’t been met and there are 4 days left in the auction. I am sure that this bike will end the auction well above…, hmmm, $2,500. But it’s impossible to know where the seller has set reserve. Your guess is as good as mine…

1976 Honda CB400F Super Sport

Before getting into the details of this bike, I just want to say something for the record. I am in no way advocating the tear-down of this motorcycle into a cafe racer or other modified form be it race bike, bobber, chopper, etc., etc., etc…

What we have here is an unrestored, but amazingly clean and beautiful CB400F Super Sport from the year 1976. It only has 6K miles, and the seller is supposedly a factory trained Honda mechanic who has adjusted all necessary doohickies (that’s a technical term for those of you not mechanically inclined) so the bike can be ridden immediately upon purchase. There are a few more pictures on eBay, and the seller has done a good job of describing the tune-up he gave the bike. His feedback is good, with a decent amount of selling over the last year, so if you decide to get in on the bidding or pay the Buy-It-Now price ($6.5K), it should be a pretty safe transaction. Bidding is pretty heavy with 12 bidders taking the price up to $1,925 with 3 days left. Awesome bike for whomever wins the auction!!!

Oh yeah. If you win this bike and then tear it apart to make a cafe racer, you will hear the cries and screams of thousands of classic bike fans who wish you would have started with a beater, and not this nearly off the showroom floor example…

Catalog of 1967 Dunstall Parts

Up for auction on eBay, and ending in just over 6 hours, is this piece of classic Brit bike history. A genuine catalog of Dunstall parts from back in the day. Looking through this book of wishes (several more photos on eBay), you can dare to dream about buying a complete Metisse road or race kit for your twin cylinder BSA, Norton, or Triumph for a whopping £323. Okay, I admit it, that was probably a lot of money back in 1967. Actually, I found an inflation calculator, and it would currently convert to almost £2,000.

Be that as it may, this is a great chance to own a piece of memorabilia that might just give you some ideas about how your cafe racer should/could/would look given a time machine and a few pounds sterling…

1970 Honda CL450 Cafe Racer

Up for auction on eBay right now is this period correct Honda CL450 that seriously brings the funk! I love bikes with the Tracy bodywork, and have featured them before, but this one is really beautiful, and is not your standard CB750. The smallish Honda twins are a lot of fun, and provide great bang for the buck. The biggest issue with this bike is that the tank will need to be patched (it’s fiberglass), but that shouldn’t be a deal breaker. And the seller has already ordered a replacement windscreen for the one destroyed by bird strike (must have been a very small bird!!!)…

Bird strike!

1978 Harley-Davidson XLCR Sportster Cafe Racer

Up for auction on eBay right now (and going to sell for over $13K by the looks of it) is this 1978 Harley XLCR. It is in pretty good shape with very low miles (<4K). The current owner mentions a few minor wear-and-tear scratches and dings, but no close up photos of those that I could find. Lots of extras included in the auction…

I’m starting to feel kinda stupid posting different XLCRs. As the owner of a 2005 Sportster being converted into a cafe racer, I feel a little bit of loyalty to these original attempts at the factory cafe racer. But as I download and post more and more of these, I am beginning to realize that nobody does anything interesting to these bikes, and I could just as well post a picture of any one of the XLCRs that are for sale on any of the listings and it wouldn’t really make a difference. I mean, how many black sportsters (albeit XLCRs) can one person take?

I understand that they are considered a “collectible” Harley (especially out of the AMF years), but come on! Somebody has to have modded one of these. Bueller? Bueller? Bueller? If anyone has any good pics of a modded XLCR send them my way and I will post…

Those are some foggy gauges!!!

Interesting Fairing For Vintage-Look Cafe Racer

UPDATE: The fairing has 27 minutes left, and it is above $250! Who woulda thunk it? Not me. Oh well, guess I won’t be bidding…

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Up on eBay today is this very cool looking fairing. If you want something different from your standard naked cafe racer, this might be just the ticket. The seller seems to be pretty honest with his description (includes mention of a few scratches and the dimensional specs), but he or she really needs to be better about their shipping costs. It’s a really interesting product, but I’d be wary of the price of getting it delivered to your place…

Two days left in the auction and the fairing is at about $75.