Mild Bratstyle Cafe Build (My 1st Bike)

This is my first bike that I picked up in Feb and I did all the work myself in my garage.

She started out as an '81 650 Special with 10k miles on her.

She now has a 750 tank, '77 650 metal side covers and spoked wheels, vintage car tail light (swap meet).

The parts I fabbed; the seat pan and cover (I won't take all the credit my wife sowed it), licence plate holder, chopped front fender on rear, chopped stock front fender, removed 2" from rear hoop frame, removed some brackets off frame.

The new parts; Avon Roadrider tires, monza rear shocks/coils, 1.5"exhaust, shorty mufflers, pamco ultimate coil, replaced both oil filters, wrapped stock air filter cages with UNI foam, rebuilt BS34 carbs and added canadian needles, new manual petcock, new grips, bar end mirrors, low rise handle bars, mini bullet turn signals, brass swing arm bushings.

Still to do; install tapered steering bearings, rebuild front forks with lowered spacers, paint tank/side covers/fenders/headlight bucket (still undecided), smaller speedo/tach...

I'm sure there's a lot more I'll change but I've been riding her like this for now and it's a fun toy.

I like it. A bike you can actually ride without being all contorted or having your hands up above your head. There is nothing on the bike that you look at and wonder what the hell the builder was thinking of. Good job.

Nice. What was your method to mount the 750 tank? And what pipes are those.

willyguzzi53 said:

I like it. A bike you can actually ride without being all contorted or having your hands up above your head. There is nothing on the bike that you look at and wonder what the hell the builder was thinking of. Good job.

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Thanks.

Square Circle said:

Nice. What was your method to mount the 750 tank? And what pipes are those.

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I welded a "u" shaped plate to the neck on the frame with some short pieces of tubing like the older frames had to hold the front rubber mounts.
Then I bent the rear tank mount so the rear of the tank sat higher on the bike and then added some gusset plates to stiffen.
The pipes are from mike's, Part #07-0757 with a few inches cut off the ends.

Right on. I've seen similar mount set ups.. one guy used copper plumbing caps bolted to frame. Your way was much easier than mine. But I am happy with how my tank sits with the frame lines. We were chasing leaks on my tank for hours though. I had this bright idea to cut off the ears on the tank. They probably wouldn't have been an issue anyway.
Thanks for the part number on exhaust. I need new pipes also.