The ninth instalment of my first cafe racer project on a budget. First Road Test! I took delivery of my original 1981 Kawasaki Z750 on Friday 23rd February 2018 and 181 days later on 17th August 2018 I took out my first custom built Cafe Racer for its road test. Being my first bike-build project, my main goal was to build a bike which looks aesthetically pleasing to me and hopefully appreciated by others too. Equally I wanted to keep the cost of the build as low as possible w

The eighth instalment of my first cafe racer project on a budget. Problem Solving! leaking carburettors, mis-firing, spongy brakes. Progress has been slow over the last two months due to holiday and other competing projects and also trying to resolve some build problems which I had not anticipated. In my last update I refitted the carburettors and got the engine running after a fashion and my next job was to fit a Dynojet stage-3 kit (£120) and a carb rebuild kit (£60). It so

The seventh instalment of my first cafe racer project on a budget. She Comes Alive! Wiring Loom & Rear-sets Finished, Carbs Overhauled I've tackled one of my least favourite tasks over the last three weeks. I've rewired the bike and replaced most of the original wiring loom. ​To simplify the electrics I have done away with the ignition and kill switch on the headlamp cluster and hand control. I mounted the old style Mini ignition key just below the left hand side-panel. I hav

The sixth instalment of my first cafe racer project on a budget. Restoring Parts, Front-end Assembly, Wheels & Tyres & New Exhaust System A month has already passed since my last blog and during that time I've spent many hours restoring parts whilst waiting for two key components. I had ordered a new headstock bearing kit from an eBay seller and it had been marked as dispatched. Over a week later it hadn't arrived and when I contacted the seller to say I still wanted it, I im

The fifth instalment of my first cafe racer project on a budget. Tank Painted, Cleaning and Painting Engine and Frame Modifications In-keeping with the true spirit of the original cafe-racers, I'm still finding the best ways to do the most I can without throwing thousands of pounds at the project. Back in the fifties and sixties it was all about reusing parts and doing as much as you can yourself to save money. So with this in mind, professional sandblasting, and paint sprayi

The forth instalment of my first cafe racer project on a budget. Preparing the Frame, Fuel Tank and Side Panels I mentioned in my last blog post that I would be trying to remove the dents from the Z1000 tank I purchased from eBay. Armed with some information I found on YouTube I tried a couple of techniques but soon discovered that the metal was not going to pop back into shape as easily as the videos had suggested it might. You will see a couple of my failed attempts in the

This is the third instalment on my first cafe racer project on a budget. Unboxing Replacement Z1000 Tank Not much progress to report in the past week so today I decided to post a short video of me unboxing the replacement Z1000 tank which has just arrived. It also gives me a chance to show you some of the parts I had previously bought in a bit more detail. Whilst I'm waiting for the new top rail for the frame and seat to arrive I will be trying to pull out the dents in the ta

This is the second instalment on my first cafe racer project on a budget. DIY Sand Blasting Today was all about testing my DIY sandblasting set up. I watched several YouTube videos to work out if it would be possible to rig my own sandblaster and use it to prepare parts ready for powder coating. Feeling encouraged by what I had seen I started to search for an inexpensive sandblasting kit on eBay, which I could hook up to my air compressor. At first I thought a suitable kit mi

It has been an ambition of mine to build a Cafe Racer for quite some time. I am following Instagram posts, searching for inspiration on YouTube and so on. Anyone who has built a cafe racer / bobber or is thinking of building one will know, the price of a typical donor bike has rocketed in recent years. As I'm not planning to spend a fortune on the project the price of all parts and work needed will be an important factor. So I've been keeping an eye on local ads and asking bi