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Complete Restoration of BMW R75/5 into Cafe Racer

Thanks

Yes. The first bike I rode was an R60/2. The first bike I owned myself was a Norton 750 Atlas that I successfully street raced. When that bike was new, it was considered to be very fast and mine sure was!

My first Airhead of my own was an R75/5 . That was a very nice bike but not quite enough bike to cause fear in small kids and animals. :brow

Yep! That old Norton tried to kill me several times but the Airheads have been a piece of cake!

Thanks again, one of the main reasons I want to get a bike is because my brother Chad has a bike, and I would like to go on rides with him, he never had one before, he is 36 years old, they have this really good ABATE class here in town that he took and he had never driven a bike before, got his license and went to the Harley dealer and drove away with a brand new Super Glide that weighs about 700lbs. Had no experience on a bike, never drove earlier in life, wanted a bike, took the class and his first bike was a Harley. In fact, he says he enjoyed the class so much, he is going to signup with me and take it again. I understand that a modified vintage BMW will not drive or run like a modern bike, that is what I think I will love about the experience. When you drive my Porsche, you know you are driving a vintage car, it is just wonderful. Again, I appreciate everyones concerns but I do not think I am getting over my head and I will take it slow.

Thanks,
Shane
 
A word on Harley's

GREAT THREAD, and thanks for sharing.

I'd never ridden a Harley or any other large machine before buying one of the first-ever Road Kings back in '94, (after paying +$3,000 over-list-- YIKES!), then riding 30-miles home through Seattle traffic. (Not recommended.)

Despite the weight, and strictly IMHO, a Harley is one of the easiest bikes to ride that there is. . .VERY low center-of-mass, and smoooooth on throttle and clutch. This fact, coupled with a low-seat height, may account for the relatively large number of women riders on Harleys.

Curiously, LOW SPEED maneuvering on something like a cafe-racer (or an R100RS) may be the biggest challenge for a newby. . .once the wheels get all gyroscope-y at speed, almost anybody can keep it upright (unless you hit something!). Dropping a beauty like this new bike is akin to dropping a Ming vase. The message: Handle with care, which you intend to do. Dry your hands before handling the Ming; buy a Standard bike (NOT a Cruiser), and start learning. LOTS of good riders out there on Craigslist, on the cheap.

Shane sounds like a very prudent man, and has shown the good sense to come to this forum. Given his chosen profession, he's tougher than a nickel steak, and can most likely handle a new moto, no sweat. That said, depending on the ergos of this to-be cafe-racer, and depending on Shane's inseam, that first ride is going to be a "first" experience.

Lads, these are just my thoughts, and alternative advice is the essence of this site. Just don't expect me to defend my position. All good.

BTW, "philosophical" is a rather large branch on the motorcycle family tree, so no apology needed. Non-riders think we're ALL crazy, and they're mostly right which tends to create a unique bond: it's a LIFE wish, baby, and nobody gets out alive.

The real cycle you're working on is a cycle called yourself. -R. Pirsig-

Walking Eagle
 
Photoshop Magic

I did not share that Josh my builder is an excellent photographer by day and knows his way around Photoshop very well, here is a rendering he did of his bike, with my proposed paint scheme, the bike is going to be the same classic Porsche silver and have a white race stripe as well just like the car, the first Porsche ever in 1948 was in this color, the car was known as K45-286, I got the color from a curator at the Porsche museum and thought it would go good on the bike, the Photoshope rendering is not exactly accurate but gives us an idea as to what Silver will look like on a similar bike. It is not our goal to duplicate his bike completely, we are just using his previous wonderful creation as a visual aid to what we are going to do with my bike.

Thanks,
Shane
 

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I think you are off to a good start, the basic design is clean and simple. Very nice.

One comment/observation: In typical "cafe-racer" fashion you've removed the classic aluminum airbox which has left a rather large hole in the middle of your bike. If you were dealing with one of the later model black plastic boxes I'd understand getting rid of it, but (IMO) that lovely bit of sculpted aluminum is an inherent part of the design of the boxer engine.

Not my project so do what you want, ditching the airbox is just one of those things I've never understood about the C-R aesthetic.
 
Posting pictures

Shane, looks like you're just starting as I did last year with my restoration project.
It took me awhile to figure out that I can post as many as 20 pictures on one entry by using photobucket.com as my source: Problem is that you have to go through a few more steps:
1) upload all your pictures to photobucket, or a similar website that allows you to share photos (Shutterfly does not do this!).
2) Click on the "direct link" button on your pictures
3) hit the "picture" button on the post menu above (that little shortcut that looks like a mountain and a sun). and paste the shortcut into your post.

I always would go back and preview my post too, to see where the picture ends up on the final post: you can tell us exactly what you're faced with this way..

Us forum readers LOVE pictures! It really helps understand your journey, or your problem, or whatnot...

Good luck!
K
 
Thanks

I think you are off to a good start, the basic design is clean and simple. Very nice.

One comment/observation: In typical "cafe-racer" fashion you've removed the classic aluminum airbox which has left a rather large hole in the middle of your bike. If you were dealing with one of the later model black plastic boxes I'd understand getting rid of it, but (IMO) that lovely bit of sculpted aluminum is an inherent part of the design of the boxer engine.

Not my project so do what you want, ditching the airbox is just one of those things I've never understood about the C-R aesthetic.

Thanks for the compliment and the observation. I see what you mean and I think it is a scenario that less is more but that may not always be the case. I do like the look of the sportier K&N air filter. I appreciate your input and will give it some thought, please continue to follow and chime in whenever you want.

Another cool thing happened yesterday, Bill Hamilton, my restorer of my Porsche has always been an avid motorcycle driver, in fact he is certified in Texas to teach their training course, anyway, he got rid of his bike a while back and needed another and take a look below at what he picked up! Never owned a BMW before but he said he got to thinking about my bike and the fact that he has worked on the 356 German Air Cooled cars for over 40 years, it made sense to go with BMW, I could not be more excited.

Thanks,
Shane
 

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Shane, your friend is excellent in Photo Shop. Now, if the bike looks anything like your mock up, you will have a master piece. Good luck.

Wayne
 
Thanks

Shane, your friend is excellent in Photo Shop. Now, if the bike looks anything like your mock up, you will have a master piece. Good luck.

Wayne

Here is another one of the bike from a photograph is his garage, I was just amazed at how he can modify and change the photographs and give us "an idea" as to the finished product. Again, my bike will be different, specifically we will have a seat Cowl where we are going to hide the battery under it and other features, but really gives you a good idea, he amazes me. For instance, with this photograph below I asked him to go away from the white race stripe and just do the front fender all white to see what it looks like and tada!

Thanks,
Shane
 

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Yeah, thats a cute bike Shane and the wonders of Photoshop! It changed photography forever!

Thats a cute /5 but I'm still interested in what you have planned for your bike. Are you going to clean up the rear end? You could, without too much trouble, move a PC 680 battery to a batt holder under the trans. That would lower the CG and improve handling. Then you could throw away the side covers to open up the sight lines at the rear of the bike. Fab up a hugger fender mounted to the swing arm and you're well on your way!

The owner is still working on this one but this treatment would look even better (And lighter!) on a SWB/5!

Photo0332A.jpg





What carbs are you going to use? Bings seem to like a longer intake tract but Dells or Mikuni's work OK with those K+N style caps. ( Just don't get caught in the rain! :laugh)

Oh.... And unless you're sold on one of those fiberglass knock-off/repro/everybodys-got-one-bum-stop seats, you could take an old tank and a welder and do something like this, where the the lines of your tank are repeated in the seat cowl. :


R75-520cafe20monoshock20-d.jpg
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Choices, choices, choices! :eat
 
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Ken, you have my mind going on the battery under the tranny idea. Have you seen this done, or did this just pop into your head? Either way, heck of an idea! I like both of those bikes a bunch, & one on top of the other, you can tell the difference in aesthetics between the airbox delete & with it in place.

Can't say I totally like the looks of either, nor hate the looks of either. I think the engine needs something back there to look right, I just don't know what yet! Maybe something rounded off, but smaller? Something CUSTOM... Either way, I dig the looks of the short intakes! I saw one where they cut off the top of the front cover & left the top off of the engine. Again, kind of trick, just not quite perfect...

Hmmmmmm, all I need is a spare front cover, top cover & rear air box, I can cut & TIG weld them back into perfection... Well, I'm sure a lot of grinding & filler metal would be needed as well...

That back end made from the tank looks sweet too. All you need to start is a tank rotted out on the bottom that comes for free! Maybe bead in some wire on the bottom to finish it off nicely. Can't quite tell how that one is finished from here.

Either way, I'm definitely following this thread & love the idea of using the Porsche colors on the bike with the stripe. It is going to be gorgeous when he is done! :eat

John.
 
If you look real close you can see the top of a shock behind the sidecover.

I've seen this a couple of times in person, in rough terms you triangulate a shock mount above the pivot point of the swingarm for one end of the shock, the other end connects to the aft end of the upper frame tube.
 
Seat Cowl

Below is a picture of the seat Cowl that we purchased, the battery will mount underneath it. Thanks for following.

Sincerely,
Shane
 

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Ken, you have my mind going on the battery under the tranny idea. Have you seen this done, or did this just pop into your head? Snip!

That back end made from the tank looks sweet too. All you need to start is a tank rotted out on the bottom that comes for free! Maybe bead in some wire on the bottom to finish it off nicely. Can't quite tell how that one is finished from here. Snip!

John.

Putting the battery below the transmission isn't my idea. No way...!

The first place I saw it was on a couple of European Cafe Airheads. Lately there have been a few Americans following suite and it's certainly a trick that I'm going to keep in mind for the next time I do my bike over.

My main issue with the "small battery under the seat thing" is that the capacity of those super small batteries is fairly low and that can really compromise how you use your bike. My bike is currently equipped with an Odyssey PC680, which will provide for a days idling around a rally site, including several restarts but then I have to charge the battery overnight. A smaller battery means even less flexibility and I have do my limits! :bluduh

Check em out. Both of these bikes have the batteries mounted under the Transmission and I think that it really cleans up the rear end of the bike. YMMV.


DSC00553.jpg


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Heres one more from my files:

P1000182.jpg





As far as needing some extra covers to mod, just look around on Ebay. Engine covers are really cheap. Hell, I've even given em away. Otherwise, bite the bullet and mod what you have. If you don't like the way it turns out, do it again till you get it right or Ebay yourself some replacement covers and move on.

Heres what I did with a set of covers that were on my bike before the engine swap. All it takes is a ruler and a drill press to let cold air in.:

CopyofFULLFILE-2004_002-1.jpg




Lastly... If you want to know how to construct a seat-back using a gas tank, just go look at an RS/RT/R100 seat pan. It's all right there for everyone to see. In fact, you could probably brace the seat pan, cut the rear off and weld on anything that pleases your fancy. Thats been done plenty of times!

Oh... And don't start out with a rusted out tank. Solid BMW Sport tanks can be had for between $40 and free and there are plenty of Jap tanks out there to play with.

Heres an R65 based bike with a cut down RS seat base.:

left.jpg



And heres another one:

IMG_9431.JPG


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I'm not into checkerboard or painted engines but theres no denying that some real thought, beer and plain old sweat went into building that bike!
 
Cute?

Yeah, thats a cute bike Shane and the wonders of Photoshop!

Not sure if the word Cute applies to Josh's bike? Josh has an appointment with the Police Department for them to approve the Title, what a pain in the rear, funny our parts bike has a title but this one does not. Thanks for following, I will keep everyone updated on our progress, have a great week,

Thanks,
Shane
 
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