I would LOVE your build input!! (Cafe Style)? any at all!

[big donnie brasco]

So I got this bike a few weeks ago, with 5000 miles on it. It was sold to me as a 1980 special. Seams to run/ride just fine.
I am an artist, NOT a mechanic or a fabricator (altho I wish I were).

I just finished a Yamaha Vstar 1100, but it was 95% bolt on stuff (see pict)

SO, now I would like to get my hands dirty and really made a cool looking cafe style bike

I know I will have thousands of questions and I am sure this will be one of those threads that goes 30 pages before I'm done

I'm not even sure what I don't know! I have ordered a clymer manual.

I even think I would like it to be kicker only... with a hidden kill switch, hidden battery and wiring where possible etc.

I would really appreciate any up front input from you guys! Not just your opinion on what I am doing or have done.... feel free to tell me what you think I should do, or what you would do if this were your bike.

Thanks a TON!

*ps... selling all the side covers seat bars etc... maybe the tank too as I have a 750 tank for it!

BDB

The black bike is the one I just completed... the RED one is the xs650 ... DUH

 

[racerdave]

Quote: "feel free to tell me what you think I should do, or what you would do if this were your bike."

Leave it alone. It looks to nice to fuk it up. See your quote above.

 

[big donnie brasco]

Thanks Dave... and believe me, I have thought a lot about that!

If I don't molest her, then I'll just sell her outright, as I am not a fan of the riding position. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE the bike and the LOOKS, just not my style.

Thank you for your honesty !

 

[yamimoto]

Great looking bike and sounds like an awesome deal, we all dream about deals like that. Welcome aboard. So many options for what can be done to it. Budgets and abilities are your possible limitations. I would hate to see it cut up but many here will disagree in a heartbeat. Suggest you go through the pictures on the forum and Google a few times over a period of maybe a week or two before you do anything. Save the pictures that you like in a file and narrow it down. It's your new blank canvas, put your "stamp" on it and show us what you end up doing. Good luck.
Yamimoto
While I was writing this racerdave replied too and frankly I agree with him, but to each his own.

 

[big donnie brasco]

Thanks Yamamoto,

I have been pondering this build for a few months, and I have a "vision" that I would like it to look like, but I am older and I do remember these bikes from my high school days and get a little sentimental when I think about shopping her up.

BUT.... maybe the end result will be something even better!

 

[yamimoto]

I just paid $250.00 for this parts bike. For what you paid I would have put the money in the PO's hand so fast it would have burned him!
Yamimoto

 

[racerdave]

The mistake I think you made, was saying "out loud" what you paid for her. That bike should bring $1,500. Might make you money to sell it, than look for one like Ymoto posted, to do your thing on.

Also you would be surprised, what a change in handlebars will do for the riding style.

 

[big donnie brasco]

look on the bright side... you have a head-start on "knee indents" !!

 

[big donnie brasco]

good point.............. *poof*!

 

[racerdave]

good point.............. *poof*!

HaHa. But I, and Ymoto know! My silence can be bought!!

 

[yamimoto]

+1 again with racerdave.
Yamimoto

 

[big donnie brasco]

DAMMIT!
I'll split the profits with you both, but Yam has to settle for "Loonies"!

I'm sure we'll be RICH!!

I may put it in the classifieds for a week or two while I try ad decide.

Thanks for the advice!

BDB

 

[yamimoto]

We don't need more loonies in Canada, plenty here already......oh wait, you mean $$$
Yamimoto

 

[Airwolfie]

Change the seat to one of the older,flatter ones, and also the handle bars. Would be a shame to see it chopped up!

 

[TwoManyXS1Bs]

Since you've ridden both, how does the XS650 compare to your modded Star 1100?

 

[big donnie brasco]

Since you've ridden both, how does the XS650 compare to your modded Star 1100?

hmmm wow..... the Vstar is just SMOOOOOOOOOOOTH and sexy!

I know I would love a cafe racer as I used to race sport bikes (R1) but as it stands I can barely get around the block on this 650 due to the unfamiliar riding position.

That said, the Bobber took a little getting used to as well.

I literally have people pull me over to ask about the bobber!

 

[angus67]

so.... whats your medium on your other artistry stuff. I meen... judging by your picture(if that's you) you are not a hipster hoping to get a huge flower plastered on a collisium.
You did an excellent job on that bike. Im sure the 650 will be kewl too. But if your looking for power< you may want to stick to the liter bikes.
Sounds like a 650 would feel like nothing but a pit bike to you. Sell it, get a beater 650, read along, bore the piss out of a special, put all the go-fast stuff on it, rephase, and since you started with a basket case, no one will blame you for chopping it up.
Care to double your money on that bike?

 

[scabber]

Put a front fender on the 1100 and sell it to me. The 80 is not original would make a good café. The 650 not blinding fast but a fun bike.

 

[big donnie brasco]

so.... whats your medium on your other artistry stuff. I meen... judging by your picture(if that's you) you are not a hipster hoping to get a huge flower plastered on a collisium.
You did an excellent job on that bike. Im sure the 650 will be kewl too. But if your looking for power< you may want to stick to the liter bikes.
Sounds like a 650 would feel like nothing but a pit bike to you. Sell it, get a beater 650, read along, bore the piss out of a special, put all the go-fast stuff on it, rephase, and since you started with a basket case, no one will blame you for chopping it up.
Care to double your money on that bike?

Yea, that's me. I have done everything from relief sculpture, airbrush artistry.... I was even a hairstylist for 10 years... nope, not a hipster! I do a lot of carving (rotary tools) out of bone, horn, antler etc. I have a degree in Elementary education with an emphasis on art, but decided against being an art teacher after one year in a 5th grade class.

Now I am a 48 year old IT nerd that HATES his job!!

I still do a lot of creative stuff in my spare time and the bobber was my very first foray into altering a bike. I just had an idea in my head and wanted to see if I could make it "come to life"...

Check out the $24 rattlecan paint job!

 

[big donnie brasco]

*ps... Angus -
I'm not really into power or fast any more. I just wanna slow down and cruise the back roads of Kansas