4 Figures!

According to our hit counter at the bottom of the page, there has been 1000 unique page views to our blog site.  Perhaps the article in the local newspaper helped as well -- a reporter from the Minnedosa Tribune stopped by to do an interview and take some pictures of the students at work.  The coverage was helpful, I was also able to "plug" the sponsors of our project.  The least we can do to acknowledge their support!
Yesterday was another Cafe meeting, and the three students set about working on the fork internals, the rearsets, and rear fender.

Unfortunately we were lacking the correct drill bit size to do the "Minton Modification" to the damper rod assembly.  We did notice, however, that it appears Yamaha did upgrade the forks from 1976 to 1981 -- our later model forks already had some additional damping orifices added.  We still need to drill 2 holes in each rod -- Mr. Sheppard will bring one of his 1/16 drill bits from home.

The rearsets (footpegs) seem to be good quality and fairly sturdy.  However they came with no installation instructions, so I left it to the students to figure it out on their own.









In the end, the kids got them fitted, and while the final adjustments are still to come, the transmission works (we rotated the countershaft sprocket by hand while going up and down through the gears), and the rear drum brake operates properly.

Left hand side (shifter side) installed.

Mr. Sheppard plans to make another trip to Rolla, ND, to pick up some more parts for the project, as well as an ultrasonic cleaner to finish off the fuel petcock rebuild.

Shipping the Forks

We've decided to get the fork lowers on the 1981 forks refreshed.  We are going to ship them off to Hugh of Hugh's Handbuilt to get them shaved and polished.  The brake caliper lugs on the LHS fork lower will be removed, as we are only going to run the single caliper on the RHS.
Today we boxed up the lowers and got them ready to ship.  Please note my impeccably clean office... :(

On yet another positive note, Ken atNR Performance has agreed to donate one of his guauge brackets to our project.  We are going to go with just the speedo, as the tachometer drive has been deleted, which we will block that off at the crankcase.  A student and I headed over to the High School to take some measurements to confirm fitment.  Things should line up quite nicely!  Please check out Ken's site to the right on our list of supporters. 

Day 4

We had the new front forks and triple clamps to test-fit today.  We also double-checked the clutch operation with the new parts from Transcanada.  We didn't take any pics today, as Heidi came by from the Minnedosa Tribune to do a story on the bike project.
We put the front end on and things mocked up properly.  We then removed the fork tubes in order to rebuild those.  It is obvious we need to do something with the fork lowers, but at least the upper tubes, the sliders, were in good shape.  After some discussion, I think we will either polish the lowers or get them powder-coated.  We might need to do a vote or something!
One fork came apart pretty easily, but the other tube was far more stubborn.  We ended up calling it a day (at our usual stop time) with one fork disassembled, and the other still stubbornly in one piece.  What we realized is we needed a 17mm Allen wrench -- we actually did have one -- but one that was about 2 feet in length.  Mr. Sheppard took the fork home to see if he could come up with something.
Rooting around in a scrap bin, a 17mm domed nut and a length of threaded rod (wrong thread size, however) were dug up.  A wee bit of welding with the oxy-acetylene kit, and a new tool is born.

A good lesson.  Sometimes, you just have to stop and think about things if you are getting nowhere.    It is too bad the two students weren't around when the tool was made, or used successfully to finish the disassembly.  We'll be sure to look it over tomorrow or at the next session to see how with some ingenuity, we can solve a problem.  Certainly nothing like what you would see on American Choppers, but it worked a treat!

Pandemonium Choppers Steps Up

Pandemonium Choppers has agreed to donate one of their brake kits to our cause.  This will allow us to use a more modern brake caliper to improve the braking (and therefore the safety) of our machine.  It utilizes a rotor spacer, a caliper braket, and they have also agreed to include a brembo caliper as well!!!

Donation News!!!

I am thrilled to announce that the Minnedosa and District Foundation Inc. has stepped forward with a generous donation of $2000.00 towards the TCS Kidz Cafe project.  This of course is a huge help to our project, and will go a long way towards covering our costs.  I just got the letter from Maxine Laws, the secretary of the Foundation today.  This is pretty huge, and not only guarantees our project for this year, but likely assures we will end up with seed money following the sale or raffle to do another project next year.
Awesome!!!!

Some Inspiration

The bike is currently in more pieces than when we started... what the heck are we creating anyway?  From wikipedia:

The cafe racer is a motorcycle that has been modified for speed and handling rather than comfort. Cafe racers' bodywork and control layout typically mimicked the style of contemporary Grand Prix roadracers featuring an elongated fuel tank, often with dents to allow the riders knees to grip the tank, low slung racing handlebars, and a single, rearwardly mounted, humped seat.

One signature trait were low, narrow handlebars that allowed the rider to "tuck in" to reduce wind resistance and offered better control when in that posture. These are referred to as either "clip-ons" (two-piece bars that bolt directly to each fork tube) or "clubmans" or "ace bars" (one piece bars that attach to the stock mounting location but drop down and forward). The ergonomics resulting from low bars and the rearward seat often required "rearsets", or rear-set footrests and foot controls, again typical of racing motorcycles of the era. Distinctive half or full race-style fairings were sometimes mounted to the forks or frame.

The bikes had a raw, utilitarian and stripped-down appearance while the engines were tuned for maximum speed. These motorcycles were lean, light and handled road surfaces well. The most defining machine of its heyday was the homemade Norton Featherbed framed and Triumph Bonneville engined machine called "The Triton". It used the most common and fastest racing engine combined with the best handling frame of its day, the Featherbed frame by Norton Motorcycles. Those with less money could opt for a "Tribsa" - the Triumph engine in a BSA frame. Other combinations existed such as "Norvins", a Vincent V-Twin engine in a Featherbed frame and racing frames by Rickman or Seeleywere also adopted for road use.^[10]

More Great News

I followed up some of my email requests for help with phone calls on Friday.  I'm sure glad I did.  First off, I was ordering some parts from Vortex Racing for my race bike -- I had sent Casey a link to the blog site, mainly for his own interest as Vortex doesn't make stuff for vintage bikes.  However, he thought it was cool and is sending a bunch of shirts my way for the students to have -- a pretty cool treat for the kids.  Check out www.vortexracing.com-- cool stuff for your "more modern" bikes!
Secondly I gave Robert Ward, owner of Omar's DTR a call.  I was asking about his recommendations for a cafe seat for our project.  When all was said and done, he's agreed to donate one of his Manx seats to our cause!  This is incredibly generous and (almost) left me speechless.  It turns out his family has a connection to public education and it has really paid off in our favor.  This has really helped our "bottom line"; as you can see our costs have already passed the $2000 mark, with a few more pricey bits left to purchase.  A picture of the seat is to the left -- again, be sure to visit Omar's website -- his parts are considered to be the best in the business for cafe racers or street track replicas.
After work on Friday I took the fuel tank down to Cycleboyz in Brandon.  They will be welding in a cool low-profile fuel cap into the stock tank.  Chatting over some options with the guys, I really think we found a solution that should look pretty neat.  After that, the inside of the tank will need to be stripped and sealed, and then it will be ready to install for trial running.  I'll have to be patient regarding the paint!
I took a trip down south to Rolla, ND to pick up a bunch of parts for the project I bought on eBay. These items are used, and saved us a fortune over buying new.  There were some shipping and import duties I had to pay, but again, much cheaper in the end.  I've learned over the years that often US-based carriers, such as UPS, tack on a brokerage fee as well as customs duties.  Despite the gas costs, this is a cheaper way to go.
The next session will see us installing the new forks and front end parts.

A few more odds and ends

Mr Sheppard picked up a set of "clubman" cafe bars, grips, a clutch lever and perch, and some steering stem bearings for the larger forks.  Scott and the gang at Transcanada Motorsports in Brandon were able to give us a discount on the purchase of these parts.  Be sure to check out their site on the right, or if you are in Brandon, stop by the shop.

Day 3

Session #3 saw the students rebuild the other brake caliper (just in case we use 2), clean the fuel petcocks, and install the components of the ignition system.

We had soaked the petcocks in Sea Foam for a week, and then took each assembly apart.  This is some of the crud we removed from the inside of each! Yikes! We don't want that getting into the carburetors! There are still some stubborn scales left on the inside... maybe Mr. Sheppard should buy an ultrasonic cleaner... more tools for his garage!

First new screws were installed on the housing -- we learned a good lesson about using the right size tool (in this case a phillips screwdriver) for the job... a tiny, fine tipped one for the fuel petcock, and a larger one for these bolts.

Steady as she goes -- the new Pamco ignition system gets installed.  We installed our system based on instructions posted online by "pamcopete".

Our "hot rod" carburetors also arrived -- bought lightly used from a fellow Canadian XS builder, these are special Keihin flatslide units.  They will require some additional setup, but those who have gotten them to work well are thrilled with their performance.

 

Big Props to Hugh

Hugh of Hugh's Handbuilt sent me the following email today:

James,

I'll gladly Donate the parts to you, 2" is more fitted towards a good cafe' build in my opinion.  It's out best seller, and most common on these old bikes. 

Let me know what size T-Shirt you wear, and I'll ship out a set of riser bushings and a fork kit no charge :)
Hugh

I had enquired about a fork lowering kit and riser bushings for our Cafe Project -- he had made the offer about donating parts through xs650.com, and it looks like he is coming through for us!

Again, please visit his site -- a hyperlink is posted the the right!!!

Day 2

Day two of the Cafe project focused on taking some measurements of the front brake components, as well as installing some of the parts we have purchased for the project.  Super-fast shipping from xs650-direct.com had this box show up at the school on Friday afternoon.  It was just like Christmas!

A nice surpise is that Jason threw in several t-shirts along with our order!  If you are an xs650 rider/restorer/builder in Canada, please be sure to support this shop; the link is on the upper right hand corner of the page.

Mr. Sheppard dug through his parts bin at home and came up with two front brake calipers.  These were from a more modern sportsbike, and would likely have far more powerful braking capabilities that what was originally fitted to the bike way back in 1975.  It was a moot point anyway, as the project as-purchased was missing the front brake anyway!  Here a student begins the process of taking apart the calipers -- we are going to strip and rebuild both, and build one right hand side caliper with the best pistons, the newest-looking seals, etc.  Jury is still out as to whether we can use the larger front rotor or not.

Using the piston removal tool Mr. Sheppard brought from home.  Luckily we were able to borrow some torx sockets from Mr. Gugin to split the calipers.

The seat as it was delivered had a tear in the vinyl top, and was not the correct shape for the "cafe look" we are shooting for.  We hoped that by removing the old vinyl cover and foam, we could restore the seat pan, fit some shaped foam and a new vinyl cover.  However, it became apparent that the seat pan was in horrible shape; water had gotten to the inside of the pan itself and started to rust.  It was a mess, and we eventually decided it was not salvageable.  D'oh!  Time to do some thinking about seats.  At least the hinge and bracket hardware was salvageable....

We learned last week that the alternator located off of the end of the crankshaft was in fact an expensive aftermarket piece.  We pulled the covers off the ignition (located at the top end of the engine) and found... nothing.  We need a new ignition system, an aftermarket Pamco unit, as well as a new mechanical advance unit.  Note the almost-stripped phillips bolt -- this will be replaced as well.  At least the bike will have a new, theoretically bulletproof ignition system!

Mr. Sheppard's VISA is getting a bit of a workout...
Next week we are going to finish the front brakes... some more parts will have likely arrived as well.  Stay tuned!

Mr. Sheppard does some Shopping

You may notice the running tally on the upper right hand side of the page.  While I hoped the cafe project would not turn into a catalogue bike, it was missing some key parts (although what was there and rebuilt by the previous owner was in excellent shape).  While there is still more stuff that needs to be bought, hopefully this will last for awhile.  Note again the discount from xs650direct.com -- thanks Jason!

And We're Off

The first session of the Kids Cafe had the students working on the front end of the bike.  When it was purchased, the forks were weeping damping oil fairly badly.  It turns out the slider tubes were pitted severely, which likely caused the seals to tear and the oil to escape.  Step one was the disassemble the forks to see what was salvageable.

As two lads worked on one of the fork sliders, another student tackled the front brake.  The original rotor was pretty hefty, small, and was not vented.  In the recesses of Mr. Sheppard's dusty brain, he recalled that the bolt pattern for Yamaha front brake rotors went unchanged for many years... he also remembered that Ducati brake rotors were quite similar to Yamahas.  Acting on a hunch, he brough along an old Ducati brake rotor from his days racing the Italian bikes, just to check if it would fit...

While we compared brake rotors, the work continued on the front forks.  After draining the oil, the damper rod piston needed to be removed from the lower slider.  The kids learned a bit about leverage: the allen wrench could be flipped to fit into the deep recess of the fork leg; but that left very little on the other end to twist the allen bolt.  Using an old mechanic's trick and the principle of leverage (in the form of a 19mm box end wrench), the end of the allen wrench was extended, and the stubborn allen bolts loosened.

The forks were then completely disassembled, and bagged into component parts.  The seals were shot as well, as well as the dust boots.
At this point, the good news is the Ducati rotor fits!  The end result, with a better caliper, some spacers and a fabricated adapter, should be much better front brakes.
The bad news is it might not be financially feasible to rebuild the stock front forks.  Mr. Sheppard has some feelers out, and has discovered via some eBay trolling that used forks in overall better shape are likely a cheaper option.
As we wrapped up, we took a look at the ignition system.  It appears to be a new aftermarket system, but we are unsure about the make... and no installation or hookup instructions were included with the bike.  Hopefully posting this picture to a forum might help us solve this mystery.  If it is a new aftermarket piece, it is quite pricey and we want to be sure to use it.

Next cafe session is October 9.  We'll starting looking at the front brake situation in more detail.  Mr. Sheppard has a few calipers at home that could be rebuilt to work with the front rotor.  We'll be utilizing some vernier calipers and taking some accurate measurements to get the specs to fabricate a spacer to get the correct front rotor offset.