750 F2 Cafe racer project 2011

[UK Pete]

Hi all, i have decided to start another one of my projects , again it will be a 750f2 sohc but this one is a parts bin special cafe racer project
I have 99% of the bits i need for this, many of them aquired while searching for bits for my 77 f2 restoration i bought job lots of bits just to get certain bits i needed and so ended up with some very usefull parts
This has given me a great excuse to build a cafe, and this one is going to be a stunner with lots of period mods, and goodies, i have seen some real good cafes recently and so have saved a few pictures as inspiration for my own
This will have to be a quick project as i have so many other bike projects in the que and it will take me a life time to complete them all unless i get my finger out and build them a bit faster , so here goes post 1 of the new project
Pete

I have decided to start with the brakes here is my progress


Dirty calipers, and master cylinders stripped and ready for blasting



Nice clean blasted  calipers and mastercylinders



All brake parts de dusted de greased and sprayed up, the caliper brakets also got blasted then painted silver and lacquered
the foot peg brackets were degreased , blasted de dusted, satin polished and clear lacquered

[kaceyk2]

wow Pete, your going at a quick rate of knots!!!  Hope to see some familier parts?

[K2-K6]

That's the definition of a "time bankrupt" i.e. more things to do than you've got life.

Although I can't believe you get through so much anyway so your not doing too bad at it.

Thanks for letting us see your projects as they evolve.

[UK Pete]

Hey Kacey , there are a lot of your old parts on this cafe, ie the frame, wheels and lower half of engine etc, i hope you like what i am going to do with it
Keep watching as this one should progess real fast hopefully done in a couple of months

K2 K6 ,  i  will be familiar with the term bankrupt if i keep buying bikes and bits at the rate i am LOL
I love sharing my hobbies with people on the forums, its what keeps the site active, and i really lookforward to hearing peoples comments, as it makes it even more worth while
pete

[Yoshi823]

Well done Peter. Those parts look so familiar to when I cafed my 750F2. Have you got some pics of the inspiration that you are getting for your project? PaulXJR said that there was a website for modified Honda 750s but I was in pain at the time so didn't think to reach for pen & paper to jot down the details. I did ask him to put up a thread on here for our perusal so hopefully we will see more of this website sometime soon.

I look forward to seeing you attend future VJMC meetings on your 750F2 Peter. I expect that it will cause quite a stir amongst the attending throng. I know that Teresa will show her appreciation of all of your hard work as I have been keeping her up to date on your progress with the F2 as I have been reading them. I must find that petrol filler cap for you as well. It's somewhere in the shed...it's just a question of finding it.

[UK Pete]

Hi Tim, your old F2 is part of my inspiration for the cafe project, plus there are a few i have seen on the US forum that are nice as well
Let me know if you find the petrol cap, and yes i will take the F2 to one of the future vjmc meetings
Pete

[Spitfire]

Looking good, it's nice to see parts cleaned up and ready to go.

Cheers

Den

[AshimotoK0]

Hi Pete,

Never really been into Cafe racers until I saw a CX500 !!! Yes CX500 - not a misprint !!  Cafe on 'Cafe Racer' series on Sky. The tank is  Silver in old Honda 60's style and boy does it look good- absolutely gorgeous and a really humble guy as well.

http://www.caferacertv.com/tag/cx500/

Also gleaned from that programme, that you make a seat rear hump mould from the rear of the fuel tank profile.

Problem is with Cafes are they are gobbling up old CB350's and the price is going up, plus people are also racing them as well.

Also saw a mad French guy hacking away at a perfectly good Kawa 900 ( chopped it up with a hacksaw to get the motor out for his Martin frame. To my eyes there was nowt (as we say up here) wrong with the Standard bike.

Go for it Pete - Nice shots of your SOHC's by the way in recent posts.

Cheers

Ashimoto

[pauliexjr]

Hi All, I did put up a link under "Misc" to Paul Grant's site http://www.customcafes.com/ I had the chance to visit Paul and Barry last week and see CC002 in the steel, it's a beauty and I cannot believe the amount of work that's gone into that machine, even the tank badges are made in house!

[Spitfire]

Just one question, what did you blast the brake parts with, I did all mine by hand and it was a pain !

Cheers

Den

[UK Pete]

I have a shot blasting cabinet Den, it is one of the best restoration tools i have ever bought
Pete

[Yoshi823]

I also have a sand blasting cabinet that I bought from Machinemart. I have done most of the CB125T bits & pieces, &, as Peter has said, it's a very useful bit of kit.

[pauliexjr]

Am I right in thinking you need a compressor to run one? In which case I'll be sticking to Nitromores and wet'n'dry for the forseeable future or it will be the divorce court for me!

[Spitfire]

Ok I'm getting convinced, then again I do like shiny stuff, but what blasting medium do you use ?

Den

[UK Pete]

I use silicon sand, its perfect finish is almost fine enough to polish afterwards, i have tried the aluminium oxides of different grades but prefer the sand which is cheap , just use kiln dried block paving sand, but i wear a proper mask as its bad to be getting any of the dust in your lungs, and yes you do need a compressor the bigger the better, infact its not worth using a small one
Pete