cafe racer questions

[rosscoact]

Does anyone know if there are cafe racer bits available for this type of RD250?

[BurnieM]

Originally Posted by rosscoact

Does anyone know if there are cafe racer bits available for this type of RD250?

All you need is a pair of TT100 and some Clubmans and you have a cafe racer
.

[OldDog]

Depends on how far you want to go Ross ie spoked wheels etc. Most true cafe's are built up using other cycle parts anyway. For handle bars try a set of Laverda adjustables, i think Raask is makin them these days. You can a seat anywhere and adapt it up, rear sets you could get fabed up or just check out a bike wrecker. The more i look at it the easier it looks......but i would question your choice of bike..........

[davorallyfan]

I like Elsies

[Rod]

I know they do 115 MPH ..down conrod straight

[rosscoact]

Originally Posted by OldDog

Depends on how far you want to go Ross ie spoked wheels etc. Most true cafe's are built up using other cycle parts anyway. For handle bars try a set of Laverda adjustables, i think Raask is makin them these days. You can a seat anywhere and adapt it up, rear sets you could get fabed up or just check out a bike wrecker. The more i look at it the easier it looks......but i would question your choice of bike..........

My first motorcycle I bought was an RD250, the earlier model. When these came out I absolutely lusted after them, a mate had one and it was incredible.

Just trying to re-capture my youth

[slowbike smallpenis]

Originally Posted by rosscoact

My first motorcycle I bought was an RD250, the earlier model. When these came out I absolutely lusted after them, a mate had one and it was incredible.

Just trying to re-capture my youth

.. sounds familiar Ross - I did it in 1990 - caught a flight to Adelaide and bought a Bike from Martin Rush - his claim to fame he told me was his father developed the 'featherbed' frame - he also had, once again claimed, Steve Mcqueens Husqavarna.

Martin worked on projects for the South Oz film something or other and restored vehicles - he had a few bikes he wanted to shift that were in storage at Birdswood and one was a 'mint' H2B750 Mach 1V .. a bike that single handed im sure was responsible for the world oil crisis of the 1970's

Long story short, the fucking reserve didnt work.

Not knowing this I decided to ride it from Adelaide back to Jervis Bay. I ran out of fuel 5klms the other side of Pinnaroo firstly and then again about 20klms shy of Hay after filling up at Balranald ...

Kinda dulled my desire to revisit certain chapters of my youth pushing that fucking bike ... I did however sell it recently for a rather tidy profit

[OldDog]

On the subject of youthful escapades. When i was a young un, my Mother strictly forbid me to buy a bike, dispite the fact that my father rode speedway. Anyway, a mates father had a (not so old then) Norton 850 Commando which he didn't want, one set of rings had broken, and i bought it for $30. They were cheap then as noone wanted em. So over the course of a few weeks i pulled the bike apart and brought it home, telling the old girl that i wanted the engine so i could learn to fix it etc and no i'd never ride it. Months later magically i had an 850 with a Dunstall fairing, rearsets and a fastback tail, painted black. This caught the eye of one of the truely gorgeous young ladies at school and we promptly started.........umm....dating....so months later i spy an early RD250 and decide to trade for it. Immediatly i had a smokey bike, no girlfriend, and a very disappointed father.






I hated that bike.............

[rosscoact]

Originally Posted by slowbike smallpenis

.. Kinda dulled my desire to revisit certain chapters of my youth pushing that fucking bike ...

hang on, come to think of it...pushing the RD every now and then was part of the deal. I push started it for three months because the battery kept on going flat and I couldn't afford to get it fixed.
Another time I stacked it on a wet road because I had been to happy hour at the Uni and forgot I hadn't adjusted the back brake after a tyre change. Another time I accidently swapped the spark leads over and the resulting explosions cleared all the big chunks of carbon out of the pipes, and smoke out a neighbourhood. Yet another time I stacked it in the back yard with my 7 year old nephew on the back, who highsided into a bush. My sister had the shits but my nephew still talks about it.

But what i really remember was how it went like a scalded cat



so this is the young Rod? How long did you have it?

[rosscoact]

Originally Posted by OldDog

Depends on how far you want to go Ross ie spoked wheels etc. Most true cafe's are built up using other cycle parts anyway. For handle bars try a set of Laverda adjustables, i think Raask is makin them these days. You can a seat anywhere and adapt it up, rear sets you could get fabed up or just check out a bike wrecker. The more i look at it the easier it looks......but i would question your choice of bike..........

That Raask site is a ripper, i've already identified the rearsets and bars. Wifey is not going to be happy (especially as she identifies the RD with my previous girlfriend, I had a different bike by the time I met her).

A tank is the next thing after stripping all the extra bits off.

rossco

[Rod]

Originally Posted by rosscoact

hang on, come to think of it...pushing the RD every now and then was part of the deal. I push started it for three months because the battery kept on going flat and I couldn't afford to get it fixed.
Another time I stacked it on a wet road because I had been to happy hour at the Uni and forgot I hadn't adjusted the back brake after a tyre change. Another time I accidently swapped the spark leads over and the resulting explosions cleared all the big chunks of carbon out of the pipes, and smoke out a neighbourhood. Yet another time I stacked it in the back yard with my 7 year old nephew on the back, who highsided into a bush. My sister had the shits but my nephew still talks about it.

But what i really remember was how it went like a scalded cat



so this is the young Rod? How long did you have it?

have serveral as I competed in the 250 prod class for couple of years, started out with 250G the air cooled ones then LC came out, followed by the RZ

[OldDog]

Originally Posted by rosscoact

That Raask site is a ripper, i've already identified the rearsets and bars. Wifey is not going to be happy (especially as she identifies the RD with my previous girlfriend, I had a different bike by the time I met her).

A tank is the next thing after stripping all the extra bits off.

rossco

Glad to help, As for a tank, just check the wreckers / get some foam and mock up one then fibreglass / or check the Airtech website, they may have something there as they have a lot of race parts, seat bases etc etc.

[GodSilla]

Dunno about the Elsie Rossco, but the RD was VERY similar to the TZ GP bike.

A bloke I knew from Gawler rode TZ350 to work through the hills for 3 months with a total loss lighting system and rego that said RD350. He gave it away saying it was all getting a bit silly riding at sunrise at 130mph, and went back to the RD350.

If the frames are similar between the proddie and the racer there could be some cross-pollination of parts, like fuel tanks and seat units, plus fairings, rearsets, clipons, etc. Worth a look. They should be cheap enough if you can source them. Good luck.

[rosscoact]

Originally Posted by GodSilla

Dunno about the Elsie Rossco, but the RD was VERY similar to the TZ GP bike.

A bloke I knew from Gawler rode TZ350 to work through the hills for 3 months with a total loss lighting system and rego that said RD350. He gave it away saying it was all getting a bit silly riding at sunrise at 130mph, and went back to the RD350.

If the frames are similar between the proddie and the racer there could be some cross-pollination of parts, like fuel tanks and seat units, plus fairings, rearsets, clipons, etc. Worth a look. They should be cheap enough if you can source them. Good luck.

Thanks Tom,

The bastard sold it on me, he had a better offer apparently. The search continues. I'm keen on a simple two stroke because of my complete lack of mechanical nous. I saw one of these advertised locally but it seems like a shame to strip it back for a cafe racer, just leave it as it is for a terror racer

[OldDog]

Follow the link Rossco.....enjoy

http://www.airtech-streamlining.com/...odvintage.html