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-   -   RE Café U'Morok - the Hottest Commando Racer on the Indian Sub-Continent (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/motorbikes/79643-re-caf-umorok-hottest-commando-racer-indian-sub-continent.html)

I have embarked on transforming my LB500 to a Norton Café style Racer inspired by the Colorado Norton Works (over ambitious?). I have been making changes to my bike over the past 3 years and my focus has been to make it lean and mean. I always felt that the Bullet is made to look too bulky and has a lot of unwanted excess that can be eliminated.

I also worked on reducing the weight to improve handling, control and performance to suit my build. Although the classic thump of the bullet melts any heart, my idea of a motorcycle is to have a nimble but torquey machine that has a hearty beat and can challenge typical street bikes with its performance. I am not a rally, drag or anyother type of racer, but am doing it only because I love automobiles and want to have a custom recreational bike that provides reasonably good performance and looks.

Thanks to Gordon, V12, 500Modder and my dear friend Jay for being trailblazers and offering their learning to the Bike community. Last but not least thanks to Colorado Norton Works for designing a masterpiece of a bike, that I can't take my eyes off of.

Changes to make:
1. Café Tank
2. Cowl + Seat (I will keep it as a two seater, with removable rear)
3. Straight handle bar (no clubman or rear sets required)
4. Red Frame
5. Chroming

I'm keeping my quad-exhausts, alloys, mirrors and such and debating the need for a battery cover and the frame extension that goes around the rear cowl.

I am adding a picture of the wannabe and various avatars donned by my LB500 during its evolution over the past 3 years. The last picture is my starting point.

congrats gbanavar. The bike as is currently is looking hot. If you can manage to get it intended form as in the first photo, then rest assured , yours will be one of the hottest looking bikes around. All the best.

Ganesh,

The day before yesterday, I met Mubarak, a mech in Sheshadripuram who is good at cosmetics. He was giving final touches to a CI535. It sported a matt black finish and looked like a great city slicker with lots of nice stuff on like a new flat handlebar, solo saddle, etc. I think you must meet him once sometime next week when I'm back and show him this pic. He might be able to work on your bull and give you the something that is very similar to the Norton in the picture. No, not ambitious at all. This can definitely be done in BLR with the kind of cosmetic experts we have access to here.

Cheers,

Jay

@ Rotorhead: Thank you. I think the biggest challenge will be getting it trim and tidy!

@Jay: We shall definitely go meet Mubarak next week after you are back.. I got Mubarak's number from Naveen Roy and intended to pay him a visit :).

Actually, I meant to tell you that I got the handlebar work done a couple of days ago! I wanted to start this thread last week, but I was behind. So, here are a couple of pictures of my new handlebar :D.

Initially, I got the handle bar mounted right along the "bearing tension nut" and it looked very clean, but it was too far for my hands to reach. I know it will be even more difficult once I get the Cafe tank, so I decided to move it back by making a custom mounting bracket. Now I have more flexibility to tilt it back and also got a couple of more inches of height.

Dude,

I haven't really been into Bullets but I'd certainly like to see where this one's going. So if you're headed to a mech I'd love to tag along if time permits and if you're ok with that.

:)

Cheers

Rahul

Hi gbanavar, you got an interesting project there, a query: you spoke of reducing unwanted mass/weight but your bike has a totally useless quad exhaust for a single cyln. motor, whats your rationale behind this? it not only adds on weight but would also sap your engine of some useful power if the design of the passage is not right. as much as ppl say that the exhaust chamber in a 4st doesnt affect the output, it does to a certain extent. All the best sir.

All the Best for the Conversion.

Here are a few Cafe Racer mods that have been done & posted before

Cafe Racer Mod - Link1

Cafe Racer Mod - Link 2

Howler,

I have thought of removing the left side exhaust pipes many a times to reduce weight further, but I let the heart decide that one! I give almost equal weightage to performance and looks and sometimes, the artiste in me take over. But anything ugly (in my eyes) I try to get rid of. Most of the Norton Commandos pictures I have seen on the web have dual silencers, so I am also considering going from four to two, but I will make that decision once the body work comes together and I can see how the quad looks with the rest of the setup.

Can you please shed some light on how the passage should be designed? and the exhaust chamber? Your inputs will be appreciated!

Thank you for the wishes!

Haha! i get what youre saying. Its not ugly in anyway, but i think your idea of reducing it to two will go with the whole brit cafe race theme. Im not a very technical person but i know that an exhaust system should be as free flowing and unobstructive to spent gasses, but at the same time there should be a certain amout of back pressure to prevent the charge escaping due to high speed of the charge coming into the cylinder at higher rpms. i thinks its called blow-by , not sure. For this purpose angled conical sections similar to those used on 2-st exhaust systems are employed. again, i think someone with more experience in this area would be able to guide you better.

Will be following your project closely, :thumbs up

Rahul, PM me your number and I will call you next week when we meet Mubarak.

Technocrat: Thank you! and I have gone through the threads a few times and conveyed my thanks to them.


General question: I thought of removing the casquette and install a Yoke, however I found out that it is not a straight fit for the newer vehicles since the top end of the fork is different and requires the yoke to be re-worked.

Does anyone know if there is an alternative? I have ordered the Radon meter, so I need to be able to fit the meter that is the same size as the regular Bullet meter. I am not particular of the retro look for the yoke, so please let me know if I can use something else.

Hey Ganesh, all the best for your project!!! I hope to swap my bike with a cafe racer in the next sunday morning ride!! :D

@howler: I was reading up online and found this forum where they have explained "back pressure" in layman terms. Based on my understanding, there should be a little bit of back pressure for 4S engines (unlike 2S engines) to help with bottom end torue, but for the most part the exhaust system in a 4S system should encourage free flow of gases during the exhaust stroke, which will help with top end.

Exhaust back pressure on a 4 stroke ICE?

yup, thats what i was trying to put into words. what im trying to say is that a tuned exhaust system is a must for a 4st as well, a lot of ppl are under the impression that a proper exhaust sys is not imp in a 4st owing to valves, but there are a number of smaller factors and mechanical limitations to valves like valve overlap etc (where both valves are open for a short period of time) that require a tuned system. bottom line - a tuned exhaust sys will have marginal gains on a 4 st over a open pipe / restricted exhaust system.

Thanks Rishi,

It will be a few more weeks, before the cafe racer is ready. But when it IS done, you will be one of the first few to try it out :).

There has not been much progress the past couple of weeks. The tank is not ready yet, so I am making minor changes here are there. I have not started working on the seat yet, since it is dependant on the tank. I also want to keep the configuration of the front seat as is or close to it and add a rear seat with the cowl.

I raised the back end a bit since my tyre was touching a couple of bolts under my rear mudguard. I have much better clearance now.

I was struggling with the pilot jet since it was running very rich after I messed up my stock jet. Jay helped me with a new jet, but it seems like it is still running rich. Probably need to downsize back to stock size.

Will post as I make more progress.

Ganesh, if the 17.5 pilot jet is too rich, you need to check the filter. If the filter has picked up too much dirt, you'll be running way rich. Another issue is the rains. K&Ns exposed to rain lead to mixtures getting way rich. So, check that also once.

Cheers,

Jay