750 F2 Cafe racer project 2011

[UK Pete]

WOW Thats fast
Pete

[Spitfire]

This is very impressive, I've used fibre glass lots of times for all sorts of repairs but it would never have crossed my mind to use it like you have.

Cheers

Den

[K2-K6]

Brilliant to watch Pete, and fantastic progress.

The best thing I've ever seen to cut foam into shape was a bandsaw with either very fine blade or one with teeth ground off to give a knife blade effect, they could cut a block of foam into any shape really accurately.

Sometimes it's better to use thin layers and just cut each layer with scissors then lay one on top of each other to build up a composite shape and just glue the layers up when you're happy with the profile. Can also use different density layers if you need to i.e. very soft base to form and stick to seat base, heavier mid layers to hold shape and then soft top to give good even finish under covering.

For the soft stuff it's worth looking at those "space foam" pillows in Ikea as a cheap scource.

[UK Pete]

Well i had a go at covering my seat, firstly i found an old tatty F2  seat foam which i tried to cut to shape with an electric knife ,
Then i used a new seat cover i had bought on ebay last year, this cover was totally the wrong pattern to use on my F2 , so it came in handy using it on this bike
I had all sorts of problems with covering the seat, problem 1 was that the foam was really ragged on the edges, usually it tapers off as it rides down the sides but on this seat foam it had broken up a bit, although i did try and pack it out with thin strips of foam,
Next the shape of the cover was not the same, but in yesterdays sun, the warmth allowed the cover to stretch quite well
The biggest problem was that my staple gun would not fire in to the glass fiber , i had underestimated just how hard thIs goes, so i had to stretch and stick it down, which is a very hard thing to do
All in all i am sort of happy with the out come considering how i went about making this seat, although in the back of my mind i was hoping for better
The seat is a copy of the Phil Read 750 replica seat, but i opted for slightly thicker foam for comfort and if you google search images for the phil read rep you will see the seats are pretty awfull anyway
I have only seen one good Phil read seat and i think it was another forum members bike , and it had a custom made seat cover with different colours and piping on the cover
The good thing is i can easily dismantle the seat and start again if i keep looking at it and am  not happy, but at the moment it is staying as is

[Yoshi823]

That is coming along nicely Pete. That seat looks very similar to the PRR and the 750SS.

Have you got the rear tank retaining bar that bolted onto the battery box retaining bolt position? I think that I have the one from my F2 Special somewhere.

[Yoshi823]

Wouldn't those discs look better the other way around Peter, so that the drillings spiralled the right way?

[UK Pete]

I am not happy with the seat, and have redone it, with a bit less foam it looks much better now, and yes the base is an exact copy of the phil read replica seat base
The wheel is probably on the wrong way round, well spotted tim
And i was wondering how the tank gets fixed on the PRR
Pete

[SteveD CB500K0]

IIRC there's a rubber loop attached to the frame than hooks over a "tang" on the rear of the tank.

But I could be wrong (It's been a while since I had a PRR)

[Yoshi823]

The tank retaining bar is the one that I bought from Colin Seeley when he had his factory down in Erith back in the early '80s. I bought the bar, a tank filler cap, a seat & a spare seat base from his boxes of spare parts for the PRR & 750SS bikes that he was building at the time.

Pete...this was how the second seat base looked after i'd had it built up into a single person seat...

[onethumb]

Sorry i know it's been a while since this post but can you (ukpete) please tell me what tyres you put on?
Thanks, steve.

[UK Pete]

Hey steve, i will have to go and have a look what the tyres are, the bike got put into storage and never got finished, it has sat around for about 4 years now still just as i left it, i keep thinking of getting the project going again,or i might stick it on ebay, anyway i will look at tyres tomorrow
pete

[onethumb]

Bloody hell I wish I'd known that. That would of been a great buy. Thanks buddy. 

Hey steve, i will have to go and have a look what the tyres are, the bike got put into storage and never got finished, it has sat around for about 4 years now still just as i left it, i keep thinking of getting the project going again,or i might stick it on ebay, anyway i will look at tyres tomorrow
pete

[UK Pete]

Had a look at the tyres they are dunlop arrowmax, the poor bike has been sat there all alone now for 4 years but at least its kept in the dry.
  here it is apart from some dust it is just how i left it, thanks for bringing up this old thread it has reminded me that i need to do something about it, i have about 7 projects on the go 4 of them abandoned this bike is one that got abandoned, f--ck knows why i have all the parts to finish,
pete

[onethumb]

Thanks Pete. How sad though. Looking back at the original posts you had a shed load of enthusiasm, I hope it returns.
S
Thanks again. Steve