So when we last left off, I had outlined what my plans were for rebuilding my bike as a cafe racer. This past weekend I started making good on those plans.

First up, I picked up a Vance & Hines exhaust system from a guy who was going to tear down a Seca II he bought and convert it to an electric. Sold it to me for $100. It was covered in surface rust and missing a couple of the exhaust springs; the can was stained and oily and overall the whole thing was snotty, crusty, but entirely salvageable. I called up V&H to see how much it would cost to order new exhaust springs, and much to my surprise, they offered to just send me a bunch for free. Now THAT’s service. I broke out the 120 grit sandpaper, steel wool, rust remover, high temp black paint, my latex gloves and set about refurbishing it.

Day 1: Refurb the Exhaust.

Refuribing the old rusty exhaust took most of the day. I finished it up and left the bike for the night. The next day I picked it back up by removing all the leftover fairing mounts, disassembling and removal old speedo / tach, removing the old turn signals, cutting out the original light bulb based tail and replacing it with a LED tail light I hacked together from a truck trailer LED light, and taking off the old bent handlebars and replacing it with a brand new club man bar. Needless to say, it was a long day in the garage.

Day 2: Turning an old Japanese sport-tourer into a badass cafe racer: the beginning steps.

Next steps: Install the freshly rebuilt 7″ round headlight, install LED turn signals (front and back), rewire bike’s front end electrical system, and install & calibrate a new speedometer/tachometer. Plenty more to come.

So back in February I got hit by a cage (car for the non-riders). Hit and run actually. Banged up my 96 XJ600 Seca II pretty bad (I walked away unscathed; take the MSF course and ALWAYS wear gear). Lost my front fairing, scraped up the exhausts on both sides, bent the handlebars (not the fork or trees thankfully), and generally turned my once pretty bike, into a mangled mess.

At the time I was unemployed so I just took the money and pocketed it, and fixed the mechanics on the beast to keep it running until I had some money to buy a new bike. I’ve since been working again but instead of a new bike, I decided that a new computer is more important (I’m an aspiring director so I need good tools) so I’ve decided to make a cafe/rat/hooligan bike out of my old SECA II, and since I love the project threads so much, I’ll be making my own.

For posterity, here’s how my baby looks right now:

She’s in dire need of a bath, but mechanically she’s pretty solid. Could use a carb cleaning and all, but that’s part of the plan. I have it pretty much worked out that I’m going to rebuild her in stages.

Stage 1 – The Basics
In this stage, I’m replacing the dash cluster with an Acewell Unit, 7″ headlight, LED turn signals, LED brake light, black clubman bars, grips, and bar end mirrors. I went online and purchased a bunch of stuff and it’s slowly arriving. Hopefully by this weekend I’ll have all the parts I’ll need for this stage.

Stage 2 – Performance
I’ve recently come into a V&H Supersport Exhaust full system for my bike. They usually go used for about $500, but I picked this gem up for 1/5 of that. The thing is super light. I can effortlessly lift it with one hand. Definitely a departure from the heavy and gargantuan system currently weighing my bike down. It does have some surface rust and scratches, but I’m going to refurbish it (more on that in another post). Anyways, Full 4-into-1 Exhaust System, black heat wrap, silicone sealing spray (for the wrap), a 20mm Pilot Jet, FactoryPro Jet Kit, and a good ole fashioned carb cleaning and (if needed) valve adjustment.

Stage 3 – Suspension & Propulsion
For Stage 3 of the Hooligan conversion I’ll be getting a new rear shock (progressive 420, or an OEM), going with a heavier oil on the front forks, getting some steel braided brake lines, going down 1 tooth on the rear (48 -> 47) and going up 1 tooth in the front (16 -> 17), new Pirelli Sport Demon Tires (upgrading from a 130 to a 150 in the back), POSSIBLY do a FZR front end swap so I can get dual front breaks (and better stopping power), and a partridge in a pear tree.

Stage 4 – Spit and polish
Re-black the engine, matte black (or graphite grey) paintjob for the tank, side panels, and rear plastic.

I’m budgeting ~$2k for this upgrade. I know I can buy a faster, better bike etc, but I’m doing this because it will be awesome to build my own custom bike, I’ll learn a buttload about bikes, I’m an artist so this kind of thing appeals to my creative side, and I think those mad max looking bikes just look badass (if done right).

A lot of my friends from D.C. talk a lot of shit about visiting me here in L.A. I’ve been here since March 5th, 2008 and none have made good on that promise until this past weekend when my friend Tricia from D.C. came to SoCal with her roomate Roxie to visit their friend Steve in San Diego for a week (whew). The following Friday they all drove up from Steve’s place in S.D. to spend the weekend in L.A. I had myself my first visitor and lots of fun ensued. There was yelling, screaming, drinking, a dude with a Magnum P.I. stache, faux boob grabs, and I was even able to spread the joy of drunk jenga to new people! Flickr gallery after the break!

( more )