glass from the past has parts. I have a link at the office on the aluminum fab place, but I can't remember the name of it right now.
Yep my tanks were all hand buit as well as my chain gaurd ,belt gaurd and other stuff and the guy sends stuff all over the world but he does take his time a bit as he has a lot of work on let me know or pm me if you want the details ...........Marq
p.s to really get the right look you have to have clip -on bars also the angle of the silencer is very important,if it looks right it usually is an if it dont it aint.........Marq
Here's one a friend recently slapped together. He loves cafe racers but simply can't afford to get a "real" one, so he made this one up out of two pretty average Yamaha XS650s. He's got less than $2000 AUSSIE in it, but he's a VERY handy guy. He's pretty handy at making something out of nothing, that's for sure. No major changes to the bike, apart from the tank and seat. He laid the tank up himself, changed the wheels, put some pipes on it and clip ons. You're done! Piece of cake!
Rightous!! Thats how I want my XS to look... I've got a suzuki gs450 tank that looks very similar... just gotta pick the filler cap lock and find out how rusty it is inside... Also want to add that second front disk...
Yeah, that's it. The Tank Shop. I'm thinking about taking some cues from pomadepete's Duc (which RULES) and adapting a dunstall half fairing to my 97 SS. He went all out on his with wire wheels, relocated the electronics, etc. I'm just going with the fairing.
When I worked at a Ducati/MotoGuzzi dealer in the 80's we used to get aluminum tanks from an gentleman out of CT. Don't know if he's still around. I'll look and see if I can come up with a name and address.
I've owned over 30 bikes, all of which I've built into cafe racers... just about every Honda made, a few KZ's (mad max style), 4 Beemers and 5 Ducatis... This is prolly my fave project that I just finished and sold... prolly do another Monster soon... (the fairing on this bike is aluminum, paint has blue pearl/flake in the clear, pix dont show that well).
Tanks- the "old timer in Scotland" was the Bartel Aluminium Company, now DBA as the tank shop. He made a tank for my morini that was beautiful. Man that triple is just right, similar to how I built my late Bonnie.
...and here is my photoshop of Pete's Duc as a guide for what mine will look like. Except for the wheels, pipes, practically everything else. Brootal, that Yamaha looks bad ass. I was watching this on ebay, but I don't have the cash right now. Norton
Okay.......this thread is a little old, but thought i'd post a pic of my 1972 Honda CB350 Cafe Racer with handmade alloy tank. I've since changed the mufflers to nice chrome reverse cone megaphone. You can view more pics and some of my other builds at my website: http://www.OHIOCAFERACERS.com Later, Greg
[ QUOTE ] any bodyknow of any one that makes custom aluminum cafe style race tanks. not unlike marq's matchless tank. i talked to a guy awhile ago that said he got his custom made by some oldtimer in scottland. ring a bell? [/ QUOTE ] Norman Hyde makes them for the Hinkley Bonnies. Not sure if you can mod them to fit older bikes. http://www.normanhyde.co.uk/ Here's mine. Not too cafe-d out. But I'm working on that. This is one of the rare instances she was running. '79 T140D I have one of the new Bonnies as well...complete with the weenie button. cheers,
My BSA used to have clubman bars on it and i had it cafe race style. I got tired of being hunched over all these years of owning it, so then i switched out the handlebars... much more comfortable now best wishes, CAB
Thanks man!! Building another one....with a little more modern day technology......GSXR750 inverted fork front end and FZR600 rear wheel. It will have the old race look with a little better handling. Later, Greg www.OHIOCAFERACERS.com
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