My Enfield Cafe Racer!! Project Complete and I'm back. (Back to stock - Pg 6)

v12 · 2nd March 2008, 22:02

Ok guys, now for the details of each modifications. The below are the major stuff that were fabricated on the bike.

Rear Mudguard :
The original rear mudguard which comes with the Machismo is a bucket-type. Obviously this would not suit the cafe look, so it was replaced with a round mudguard. Now the round mudguard had to be cut short since its too long. Sounds easy, but it isnt. If you notice the rear mudguard on a Bullet, theres more gap bbetween the tyres on the top rather than at the back. So when we cut the mudguard, it looked a bit wierd. Inorder to get the mudguard lower, we had to cut one inch of the frame and drill extra holes for the mudguard mounts. Also we wanted the mudguard to be a little different, and not just a short one. So we tried with the idea of having a pilot light fitted at the bottom. And obviously, a BSA brake light to complete the setup.
The next cafe racer seat would be a very different and unique design.

Front Mudguard : The front mudguard that you see over here is nothing new. Its a T-Bird one which is cut short. We were looking for a small mudguard to replace the existing long flowing mudguard. My mechanic informed me that he has a T'birf guard which is in a pretty bad shape. Looking at the state of the mudguard, we decided it best to just cut it and paint it black. So off we went to the guy and asked him to cut the mudguard short. Work done, we fitted it and it worked fine. More to come....
The major problem with this mudguard came up when we fitted the Duro tyre up front. We still regret this decision, not because of the brand, but the size. The 100/90-19 tyre is too wide for the front and results in heavy steering. Also, our new mudguard would not fit into it due to the mudguard mounts. So we had to remove the brackets and weld them outside the mudguard. And this would mean that the mudguard surface would be spoilt. We had no other choice since a new mudguard would cost 1000 bucks. The top surface of the mudguard was quite even and it was possible to chrome it. The place where the brackets were mounted had lot of welding marks and could nnot be chromed. So we painted this black and put a golden stripe on it.

Seat : At one point of time, when we ran out of ideas and almost overshot the budget, we decided to give the bike the look of a classic british bike. We were thinking of a single seat, but it would not be practical. Getting 2 seats done too was not in our budget. So we went along with the Goldstar seat. Once the GS seat was ready, we tried exploring the possibilities of having a removable cowl fitted onto it. So we got one done and tried mounting it on this seat. We almost succeeded but the problem was that the cowl did not match the shape of the GS seat. The cowl had to be mounted on a straight seat. So, what do we do now?? We thought more, got ideas and extended our budget a bit. And the result is in front of you now. One of the best cafe-racer seats i've ever seen.

Handlebar : No cafe racer is complete without clip-ons ir clubman bars. Initially we had decided to keep the original handlebar and get it to its lowest position. But this too wouldnt give us the look and seating position required for a cafe racer. So we decided to fabricate one. The guy who made the handlebar got it done with a single iron rod and its perfect. The only problem is too rounded at the bends (unlike the original clubman bars).

Exhaust : Thump........We weren't at all impressed with the sound of the original Machismo silencer. A stock Pulsar or CBZ would sound louder than the Machismo. My mechanic advised me to change to the short bottle silencer and it would sound good. So thats what we did and LO.....................there was a very marginal increase in the sound. The sound was the same but marginally loud and we weren't impressed at all. The reson was that the bend pipe had to be changed to get a better note. Again this would be a problem since our budget for an exhaust was low. And the main question was, "After doing all this it would sound just like a STD350 or an Electra, right". The answer was right. So we told him to leave it at the short silencer and started thinking. Things started looking good when my mechanic told me he's got hold of a Goldstar silencer which is in good condition. We saw the exhaust and fitted it on a trial basis for 2 days. And I must say, the sound that we had always wanetd, the thump that should come out of a Bullet.... the Goldstar exhaust made it possible. The only thing was too now make it sweeping upwards. So we cut it at the start and bent it upwards. Thats the story of the Goldie now....

Other finishing touches :

Seat cover over the cowl

Eliminator RVM

Gordon · 5th March 2008, 13:03

More pics :

indian21r · 5th March 2008, 16:39

The bike looks real cool. Great work guys

highwayblaze · 5th March 2008, 22:58

Those pics are heavenly i'm not even kidding. Check out the chrome+retro look mixture man. SIgh...dude! When I come back to india next I'd love to swing by your place and see the motorcycle!

TomRider · 6th March 2008, 02:15

Great work Gordon...

Congrats on ur completed CR.

Some questions!
First, about the rearsets..
The gear sifter and the linkage looks neat..
But the brake lever..... Is that custom built?
I am sure you can make it much better.

Why the RVM is only on left side??

bblost · 7th March 2008, 10:49

Quote:

Originally Posted by TomRider

Why the RVM is only on left side??

I guess because its a left hand drive (ride).

btw: my bike (currently) runs with a single left hand side mirror.

revved_up · 7th March 2008, 10:58

Wow.. looks really neat!
Great work.

v12 · 8th March 2008, 18:25

Quote:

When I come back to india next I'd love to swing by your place and see the motorcycle!

Thanks highwayblaze. You're most welcome to swing on the bike too

Quote:

But the brake lever..... Is that custom built?
I am sure you can make it much better.

The brake lever was cut and bent backwards. Agree with you it looks bad. Am looking at replacing it with a better fabricated one.

hmishra83 · 29th April 2008, 10:07

AWESOME MACHINE THERE. Great job guys. I have an MACH - AVL350 (2001) which has just done 16k kms in these 7 yrs. Though I manage to keep it shining, I am still concerned about the exhaust note, which is not to my liking. PLUS, the AVL engine has its own sounds, which dont impress me either!

Thoughts?

v12 · 13th May 2008, 00:36

Some pics taken by BSM during the photoshoot.

All pics courtesy : Business Standard Motoring (Aman Chaudhary). Thanks Kyle.

v12 · 14th May 2008, 10:26

Some more pics taken by BSM :

netchef · 14th May 2008, 12:46

Quote:

Originally Posted by v12

Yes, you read it right. The Cafe Racer project is complete and I'm now back onto Team-BHP.

As you may know, the reason for buying the Royal Enfield was initially to make it into a classic British Motorcycle. But things took a turn when I saw pics of a few BSA Goldstar's and Enfield Clubman's and the result is now the Enfield Cafe Racer (ECR).

The project which started somewhere in mid-Dec 2006 got completed yesterday. Here are a few pics of the ECR. More detailed pics and timelines to be followed in further posts. Please feel free to post your comments on the same.

P.S : Mods, can you lock the Pictorial Progress: V12's Cafe Racer Project! Updated pics! topic. Thanks.

Lovely job, Sir. Rear-sets and the works- evokes another time. You and your metal art belong at the Ace Cafe.

vabs78 · 14th May 2008, 12:56

Beautiful bike! Congrats on completion of the project.

We should show this to the "American choppers" guys. Let them see how its done.

Rehaan · 14th May 2008, 23:08

Cool pics V12,

I like that vertical salt-farm(?) picture!

I assume that is you riding (in the leather jacket)? How tall are you? The bike looks quite small with you on it.

cya
R

theMAG · 14th May 2008, 23:32

Thats a work of art if I ever saw one - amazing stuff !

2nd March 2008, 22:02	#31
v12 Distinguished - BHPian Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Mumbai Posts: 6,739 Thanked: 7,212 Times View My Garage	Ok guys, now for the details of each modifications. The below are the major stuff that were fabricated on the bike. Rear Mudguard : The original rear mudguard which comes with the Machismo is a bucket-type. Obviously this would not suit the cafe look, so it was replaced with a round mudguard. Now the round mudguard had to be cut short since its too long. Sounds easy, but it isnt. If you notice the rear mudguard on a Bullet, theres more gap bbetween the tyres on the top rather than at the back. So when we cut the mudguard, it looked a bit wierd. Inorder to get the mudguard lower, we had to cut one inch of the frame and drill extra holes for the mudguard mounts. Also we wanted the mudguard to be a little different, and not just a short one. So we tried with the idea of having a pilot light fitted at the bottom. And obviously, a BSA brake light to complete the setup. The next cafe racer seat would be a very different and unique design. Front Mudguard : The front mudguard that you see over here is nothing new. Its a T-Bird one which is cut short. We were looking for a small mudguard to replace the existing long flowing mudguard. My mechanic informed me that he has a T'birf guard which is in a pretty bad shape. Looking at the state of the mudguard, we decided it best to just cut it and paint it black. So off we went to the guy and asked him to cut the mudguard short. Work done, we fitted it and it worked fine. More to come.... The major problem with this mudguard came up when we fitted the Duro tyre up front. We still regret this decision, not because of the brand, but the size. The 100/90-19 tyre is too wide for the front and results in heavy steering. Also, our new mudguard would not fit into it due to the mudguard mounts. So we had to remove the brackets and weld them outside the mudguard. And this would mean that the mudguard surface would be spoilt. We had no other choice since a new mudguard would cost 1000 bucks. The top surface of the mudguard was quite even and it was possible to chrome it. The place where the brackets were mounted had lot of welding marks and could nnot be chromed. So we painted this black and put a golden stripe on it. Seat : At one point of time, when we ran out of ideas and almost overshot the budget, we decided to give the bike the look of a classic british bike. We were thinking of a single seat, but it would not be practical. Getting 2 seats done too was not in our budget. So we went along with the Goldstar seat. Once the GS seat was ready, we tried exploring the possibilities of having a removable cowl fitted onto it. So we got one done and tried mounting it on this seat. We almost succeeded but the problem was that the cowl did not match the shape of the GS seat. The cowl had to be mounted on a straight seat. So, what do we do now?? We thought more, got ideas and extended our budget a bit. And the result is in front of you now. One of the best cafe-racer seats i've ever seen. Handlebar : No cafe racer is complete without clip-ons ir clubman bars. Initially we had decided to keep the original handlebar and get it to its lowest position. But this too wouldnt give us the look and seating position required for a cafe racer. So we decided to fabricate one. The guy who made the handlebar got it done with a single iron rod and its perfect. The only problem is too rounded at the bends (unlike the original clubman bars). Exhaust : Thump........We weren't at all impressed with the sound of the original Machismo silencer. A stock Pulsar or CBZ would sound louder than the Machismo. My mechanic advised me to change to the short bottle silencer and it would sound good. So thats what we did and LO.....................there was a very marginal increase in the sound. The sound was the same but marginally loud and we weren't impressed at all. The reson was that the bend pipe had to be changed to get a better note. Again this would be a problem since our budget for an exhaust was low. And the main question was, "After doing all this it would sound just like a STD350 or an Electra, right". The answer was right. So we told him to leave it at the short silencer and started thinking. Things started looking good when my mechanic told me he's got hold of a Goldstar silencer which is in good condition. We saw the exhaust and fitted it on a trial basis for 2 days. And I must say, the sound that we had always wanetd, the thump that should come out of a Bullet.... the Goldstar exhaust made it possible. The only thing was too now make it sweeping upwards. So we cut it at the start and bent it upwards. Thats the story of the Goldie now.... Other finishing touches : Seat cover over the cowl Eliminator RVM
	() Thanks

5th March 2008, 13:03	#32
Gordon Senior - BHPian Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Mumbai Posts: 2,546 Thanked: 483 Times View My Garage	More pics :
	() Thanks

5th March 2008, 16:39	#33
indian21r BHPian Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Hyderabad Posts: 963 Thanked: 807 Times	The bike looks real cool. Great work guys
	() Thanks

5th March 2008, 22:58	#34
highwayblaze BHPian Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Chicago/Mumbai/Pune Posts: 771 Thanked: 2 Times View My Garage	Those pics are heavenly i'm not even kidding. Check out the chrome+retro look mixture man. SIgh...dude! When I come back to india next I'd love to swing by your place and see the motorcycle!
	() Thanks

6th March 2008, 02:15	#35
TomRider BHPian Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: KL7-KA03-NYC Posts: 340 Thanked: 4 Times View My Garage	Great work Gordon... Congrats on ur completed CR. Some questions! First, about the rearsets.. The gear sifter and the linkage looks neat.. But the brake lever..... Is that custom built? I am sure you can make it much better. Why the RVM is only on left side?? Last edited by Rehaan : 14th May 2008 at 10:51. Reason: Whoops, there was 4 smileys in this post!
	() Thanks

7th March 2008, 10:58	#37
revved_up BHPian Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: New Delhi Posts: 802 Thanked: 791 Times View My Garage	Wow.. looks really neat! Great work.
	() Thanks

29th April 2008, 10:07	#39
hmishra83 BHPian Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: New York City & New Delhi Posts: 222 Thanked: 2 Times View My Garage	AWESOME MACHINE THERE. Great job guys. I have an MACH - AVL350 (2001) which has just done 16k kms in these 7 yrs. Though I manage to keep it shining, I am still concerned about the exhaust note, which is not to my liking. PLUS, the AVL engine has its own sounds, which dont impress me either! Thoughts?
	() Thanks

13th May 2008, 00:36	#40
v12 Distinguished - BHPian Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Mumbai Posts: 6,739 Thanked: 7,212 Times View My Garage	Some pics taken by BSM during the photoshoot. All pics courtesy : Business Standard Motoring (Aman Chaudhary). Thanks Kyle. Attached Thumbnails
	() Thanks

14th May 2008, 10:26	#41
v12 Distinguished - BHPian Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Mumbai Posts: 6,739 Thanked: 7,212 Times View My Garage	Some more pics taken by BSM : Attached Thumbnails
	() Thanks

14th May 2008, 12:56	#43
vabs78 BHPian Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Pune, India Posts: 552 Thanked: 11 Times View My Garage	Beautiful bike! Congrats on completion of the project. We should show this to the "American choppers" guys. Let them see how its done.
	() Thanks

14th May 2008, 23:08	#44
Rehaan Team-BHP Support Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Bombay Posts: 24,039 Thanked: 34,069 Times	Cool pics V12, I like that vertical salt-farm(?) picture! I assume that is you riding (in the leather jacket)? How tall are you? The bike looks quite small with you on it. cya R
	() Thanks

14th May 2008, 23:32	#45
theMAG Distinguished - BHPian Join Date: May 2006 Location: Avon, CT Posts: 7,217 Thanked: 1,807 Times View My Garage	Thats a work of art if I ever saw one - amazing stuff !
	() Thanks