1968 Honda CB350 Cafe Racer

Here’s a beautiful bike (nice job! to the builder). It’s a 1968 Honda CB350 twin that has been crafted into quite the well-done cafe racer. And check out that seat! I admit to never having seen one like that before with the narrow front to match the frame rails, and then the wider back section. I would guess that with a rider on it, the shape becomes perfect. Overall, a nearly flawless buildup that doesn’t appear to be a trailer queen.

On to business. The seller’s feedback appears to be good, and the price is at $2,000 with 5 days left. Given that there are 4 bidders already, I would guess that this bike will go up in price before the auction closes. Buy-It-Now, which is set at $3,250, will disappear if the price gets close, so if you think that’s a valid price (I do), you might want to consider that option. Good luck to everyone who’s interested in this bike!

Interesting seat!

1968 Honda CB350 Cafe Racer

I’ve got one of these in my garage right now taken apart down to the smallest part, and I can only hope that I am able to finish building it into something like this. Mine is actually an SL350, but same difference pretty much.

This particular cafe racer has some nice upgrades both aesthetically and mechanically. The most obvious things are the tank, seat, and paint. I’m a fan of brightly colored frames with fairly muted paint on the bodywork, and this bike delivers. The only issue is that it shoes off the lack of side covers and the placement of the seat on top of the subframe.

However, the lack of side covers does show off one of the mechanical upgrades, and that’s the Boyer electronic ignition. No points is cool! It also has new Mikuni carbs, and the motor has been gone through with new parts and a valve job. The rearsets are made from RC-51 parts, and the wheels appear to be 18″ front and rear, but no verification on that in the seller’s description.

This is one of the more reasonably priced cafe racers to come up for sale on eBay lately. The Buy-It-Now price is only $2,000, and bidding is currently at $1,000 with only 2 days left. Good luck if you are interested in going after this bike!

Kawasaki Mach III H1 Cafe Project

Up for auction on eBay right now is the project bike that has the potential to turn into a really beautiful cafe racer. The seller has an okay description and more great pictures available in the listing, but the highlights are as follows…

Supposedly original Dunstall fairing, but has a few fixable cracks from a garage incident (see photo 4 below on the lower right side)
Hardly complete. Needs controls, front brakes, carbs installed/rebuilt, exhaust, foot controls, etc, etc, etc.
More work than it appears from first glance, but a great final outcome possible with enough elbow grease.

This seller also claims to have a garage full of bike (around 30) that he will be selling. I may try to contact him to find out what’s up with this collection being sent to the auction block. There might be some more potentially beautiful cafe racers coming up for sale!

Ducati Monza 250 Cafe Racer

Up for auction right now is this nice conversion of a stock 1968 Ducati Monza 250 into a cafe racer with the simple addition of clubman bars. It has undergone a partial restoration, but is mostly original and includes the stock bars with purchase.

I do have to say that there is something about the bars from an aesthetic standpoint that strikes me as odd. Maybe it is the angle at which they are mounted, or maybe it is the width. Not sure, but I would swap them out for clip-ons if I bought the bike.