Proper cafe conversions?

[andrewsw]

Hiyo,

Someday I imagine turning my B4 into a proper cafe style bike. In my mind that means:

* cleaning up the controls and cables with slimmer, cleaner, simpler versions
* cleaning up the dashboard/clocks though the stock B4 clocks are fine, perhaps just losing the little indicator panel (recessed leds in current clock faces? maybe! and reworking the mounting of the stock clocks.
* fixing a proper solo seat -- more on this below
* clearing out the airbox and side covers including grinding off the mounting tabs, etc
* basically, removing everything that isn't needed and hiding most of what is needed but ugly.

There aren't many proper cafe bandits I've found on the intarwebs, mostly streetfighters which I'm not particularly a fan of. If anyone has photos/ideas etc I'd appreciate them. I'm really only in the ideas stage at the moment...

About the "proper solo seat". Seems that the lines I really like are the nice flat seat arrangements like:

http://www.caferace.com/vin4.jpg

While the B4 could have the feel of this, it doesn't really, as the natural line of the rear subframe is wedge shaped and pointing up. There is this beast:

http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s163/redrum999/bikes/BANDIT_mockup2.jpg

I'm pretty sure that's not a stock rear subframe.

I think it wouldn't be too hard to modify the rear subframe to remove the rise from it. really, just a couple of cuts, and a wedge out of the underside, bend and reweld it, if my geometry is right. I'm sort of curious for opinions on this. Ever seen it done? Have any thoughts? Man I'd hate to cute up a frame...

Oh, and this is interesting:

http://www.caferace.com/beeza.jpg

I do believe that's a B4 or related front-end and wheels...


A

[Red01]

After doing a google image search for "bandit cafe racer" I didn't come up with many that were actually Bandits and cafe racers... This one was probably the best rendition of what you're talking about:



Back in the days when cafe bikes were first around, they were trying to emulate the racers of the day - usually without the fairing though.  Nowadays, the factories offer up racer replicas and people want to go back the other way and so the streetfighter is born. 

Back in the day, when I cafe'd my RD350, it was my desire to put a racing styled fairing (with a headlight) - something like the John Player Norton or the Imola 750 Ducati. 

I always thought the little B4 (and 250) did a pretty good job of a cafe look stock.  When Suzuki offered up the B4/250 Limited, it furthered the "finished" cafe bike most of us strived for in the old days.

[andrewsw]

Yeah. I found one: Iron Horse Revolution in Sydney was building one out of a 250 -- there are no completed photos, but this series of videos ends with a mock-up of the finished product.

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLA75C984ED6EA5ABE&feature=plcp

They're doing a pretty nice job, though I'd have chosen a different shape for the tail -- something less pointy and shaped more like the tail end of the tank for that symmetry. Another thing they're missing, in my opinion, is the see-through aspect of the frame just behind the engine. I've put my tank/seat etc back on w/o airbox and side covers and it looks very nice. A nice clean open space behind the carbs. Relocation of the battery (into the tail?) and a smaller coolant overflow would finish that look nicely.

I agree that the bandit has the basics in place. Really I think it's a matter of clean-up, like I said before. Removing clutter on the dash, cleaning of the lines of the tail, opening up closed areas on the frame and that sort of thing.

The more I look around though, the more I realize that the B4 doesn't have the right lines for the truly classic cafe look. It relies too much on slanted lines in the frame and tank to fully embody that look.  The true classics -- the best looking ones, in my opinion, are heavy on the horizontal lines which the B4 just doesn't have.

[andrewsw]

Here is a very bad gimped idea. I left in the credits for the original image, but the tail piece, a bit of from fender, clean up around the dash area etc are all mine. Oh, I blew out the airbox and such too. I think a lot of the crap that's between the frame bits under the seat can be removed/reworked as well. There's plenty more that could be done, but this was just a hack at the idea of the flat seat.

[tomacGTi]

http://www.400greybike.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=55&t=11665

[andrewsw]

Yeah that one's not bad... at all. Nice to see the flattened rear subframe.

[banditv]

i read there is a guy in the southern states somewhere, jamie james i think is his name
he apparently does a wicked rz350 yammie.
not really a "cafe racer" but a VERY well modded , how it should have been done 80's ring ding

[Sean]

Hey does anybody know if the guy who made that sweet blue bandit (pictured a few posts above) is a member here? Or if he detailed the build in a thread on another forum??