I have this idea that's been running around in my head for the past several weeks now. If you were to ask SWMBO she'd tell you it's dangerous when I get 'ideas' as invariably I have to see them through. I want to build a custom bike in the cafe race styleee. My 748 rebuild will be over in a few weeks, I'm at the 'putting back together stage' now (I hope I can remember where everything goes ), and yes, I will be posting a thread about that once it's finished. I'm enjoying that, I've learnt lot, and I fancy another project. I know there are 10 million cafe racer projects out there but what the hell, it's what I want do. Paying homage to the traditions of the Cafe Racer dictates it has to be lightweight and it has to be based around a twin rather than a UJM in line four. Further homage would dictate a British twin, but I'll ignore that part and pretend I'm Italian so it has to be an Italian twin and IMO preferably a Ducati. Being lightweight, it'll have to be an air-cooled engine as the base and something older so that the donor bike is cheap and has 'simple' electrics. So the question of any of you good folks out there who may have done something similar in the past is; in your opinion what would be the best donor bike to start with? I'm thinking Monster or Fugly.
The only trouble with most Ducatis as cafe racer donor bikes is that the frame does not lend itself well to the silhouette. Cafe racers tend to have a flat horizontal line from the tank through the seat unit, but the Monster frame is more like a deep V shape. I have seen it done though and there are plenty of pics on the interwebz to turn to for inspiration/downright plagiarism
