Help from Venhill

We needed a custom-length front brake hose for the upgraded brakes on the cxcafe... Mr. S has dealt with Venhill for a number of years with his race bikes.  An order went in for a front line and banjo fittings, as well as an update/request for support for our project.  Sure enough, they shipped one of their lines to our specs with no cost for postage.  Every bit helps!  Thanks Venhill!  Check out the link to their North American distributor to the right.

Carbon Footprint

We've fabricated a new "dashboard" out of carbon fibre sheet.  We still need to install/drill the two "idiot lights" for hi beams and neutral as well.  The location to the right will allow clearance for the speedo drive cable (so it doesn't foul on the headlight bezel).  Our version 1.0 in aluminium can be seen above.

Wiring

While the Cafe Kids were off playing basketball (both the boys' and the girls' teams did quite well, by the way), Mr. S spent some alone time with the wiring harness on the cafe project.  The goal was to minimize the "rat's nest" of wiring that was to be tucked into the headlight bezel.  The 8-pin white block connector that can be seen needed to be eliminated, as well as a pile of extra-long wiring that was redundant, now that the handlebars were much lower.  Over the next 3 hours, wires were cut, soldered, and new "proper" bullet connectors from longtime supporter XS650 Direct were utilized.

The end result was that everything still worked, and we are able to get the lightbulb and reflector onto the headlight bezel.  The trim retaining ring is being painted (color-matched to the tail), so that will be installed later.  Next steps are fabricating a new gauge panel (out of carbon fiber sheet), installing and bleeding the front brakes, and cleaning up the wiring at the rear of the bike.  We also need to wire in the rear brake light switch in order to pass safety.  It's coming along....!

Brace

The powder coated OEM fender just didn't look right with the smaller, sportier 18" wheel.  As such, we've replaced it with a fork brace.

It came in a very European looking box from Fast from the Past.  Instructions were in Italian, German, French, and thankfully, English.  Fast from the Past supplemented the 70s-era text with some more current information which helped with the install.

In place!  The next tedious step is the wiring harness.  The tail end of basketball season sees most of the Cafe Kids busy with that sport, so Mr. S might tackle this tedious, 1-person job on his own...

Tank work

To go with the industrial "rat rod" look, we've decided to strip the paint from the tank.  Because this stuff is seriously dangerous, Mr. S decided to tackle it at home, with rubber gloves, eye protection, a mask, etc.
After several applications, and a bit of 100 grit sandpaper, it looked like this...

Then, after rubbing the tank down with alcohol, our custom decals were applied.

The bare metal will be protected by a treatment called "Gibbs".  Mr. S has used it on a number of other projects, and it is pretty amazing.  After a couple of treatments (which we will do before its auctioned off), some WD40 is all that's required.

Identity Crisis

The eagle-eyed viewers will notice we've gone from Cafe, to Scrambler, and then back to Cafe again... it's all about the bars.
We've been struggling a lot with bar-tank interference.  The lower bars and the steering lock is such that at "full lock" the bars hit the front of the tank.  Other cafe-d CX500s use a different tank, but sourcing those tanks is difficult, and they carry a premium price.  So instead, we decided to go back to Cafe Bars which helped somewhat with the clearance issue, but we still need to massage the fuel tank to allow the bars to be turned a safe amount.

I prefer this racier stance for sure, but you can see the "dimples" just aft of the bars.  Judicious use of a ballpeen hammer has allowed for enough clearance.  The tank will be repainted, and hopefully a guru at the pant shop can maintain the clearance and make the dimples look like they are supposed to be there.  There aren't a whole lot of hammer marks anyway, so that's positive.  The sheetmetal was thin enough that it didn't need to be beaten too severely.

The OEM-style fork dust boots were also installed.  The gaiter style accordion boots didn't fit very well.  The fender is pretty substantial -- we actually had to remove the forks after this picture, install the fender, and then reinstall the forks in the triple clamps.  Forks of this era aren't the sturdiest, so the fender acts as a brace.  It's not super heavy, but is stiff -- what the front end certainly needs.

The front view.  The front fender sits a tad high, but other than that, it looks OK.  A lot of the wiring will be the next step, along with finalizing the exhaust mount.  We'll be installing a period-correct, but uprated, front caliper to these forks to improve the stopping power of our hopefully quicker machine.  The front disc is also a lighter EBC unit.  We've been talking as a group about the benefits of reducing rotating/gyroscopic mass.

On yer feet!

Back at it.  First step was to get the front forks installed into the triple clamps.  The forks themselves were rebuilt awhile ago.  They were still oil-tight, but the fork "gaiters" (the accordion dust seals) look a bit worse for wear.  We might have to replace them before we give the bike away.

The wheel went on next, being sure to include the spacer on the right, and the speedo drive on the left.

We test-fitted the exhaust headers, and realized the exhaust bracket that was rough-fabbed last year needed to be cleaned up.  First some work on the grinding stone to get rid of sharp edges, and then off to the wire wheel to prep it for paint.

At session's end, starting to really look like a bike again.  We need to do some painting, and track down some rubber bushings (that are no longer available... Mr. S will hit up some of the interweb forums for help).  We'll be able to finish off the exhaust, add the carbs, and start re-routing the wiring.  I think we've timed the current "scrambler" craze just perfectly!