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So I can't for a long time only due to me wanting to deck out my VTX first...but at home I have a run down '81 CB 750 and its been a dream of mine to eventually (sometime in the next 5 years) rebuild it and make it a nice bike to throw around in the twisties...

I'm interested in knowing how much you think it may cost to transform it into a cafe racer.

The tank is a bit rusted, I would probably need a new one.
The engine works fine, just needs some mantainance and upkeep, so I may need some new parts here and there but the engine works fine.

How much do you think for all those cool parts, new tank, headlight, brakes and stuff.

SO if I already have the bike to build with, how do you think I could go about making the cheapest cafe racer possible out of it?

thats basically an impossible question to answer not know what your skill level is, what "cafeing" a bike actually means to you, what tools you have, etc etc.

Cafe racers were normally stripped down to get rid of a lot fo dead weight. do you plan to change gearing, run pod filters, do any engine mods, ?

are you going to run the stock forks, or get something lighter?

clipons or clubmans?

stock exhaust?

you have a lot of choices, there is no formula to build a cafe and therefor no set price. You could buy a fairing, lower bars, and a cafe solo seat and call it a day, or you could completely tear the bike apart and basically rebuild from scratch.

Basicacly, do some research.

There are cafe sites dedicated to the cb750 out there, as well as the cafe racer forum on scooterbbs.com. Do a google search, then come back with some more specific questions

Good luck!

Check out this thread. He is Mr. Cafe. Actually Mysta2.

http://totalmotorcycle.com/BBS/viewtopic.php?t=5844

It all depends on how far you want to take it.

Cost depends 1) on how far you want to take the customization, 2) how much work your willing to do yourself

cafes can be pretty cheap to build if you keep it reasonably stock mechanically, and just modify other stock bits to achieve the look.

tradional cafe racer look would be, clip-ons, solo seat, stripped of anything unesscessary, breadbox style tank, spoke wheels, open exhaust, basically imagine what a 1960s sportbike might look like. britbikes are the most common base for cafe racers but UJMs make excellent (and reliable) cafe bikes.

scanevalexec wrote:Check out this thread. He is Mr. Cafe. Actually Mysta2.

http://totalmotorcycle.com/BBS/viewtopic.php?t=5844

yeah, I'll tell you when I'm done. My 750's a bit older than yours and I might be swapping out the front end for a more current setup (the present one seems to be bent somewhere) I also plan on building a seat and tank from scratch (we'll have to see how the tank goes... I've never done one before) cropping and stripping the frame down to the essentials (much along the same lines of how I did 69s frame, but without the loud paintjob) updating the rubber, simplifying the harness, ditching the electric start, ditching the clocks, finding a new headlight, relacing and cleaning up the wheels (we'll see if I feel like ponying up for some alloys when the time comes), replacing all the oil, fuel, and drain lines with hardlines, adding clipons with NOS grips, machining out some new triples and rersets, and dressing out the motor.

...oh and I have this crazy idea in my head for a whacked out mh900e style exhaust... but I'm not married to it yet.

Well, I need to get new sprockets for the chain on both ends (wheel and gearing), so if that means I can change the gearing a bit when I get new parts, that would be sweet.

I already have that 80's fad black mini fairing...which I wouldn't mind getting rid of or altering to get a more classic cafe look.

What I mean by cafe racer is that I'm going for a cafe racer look...like these

I like the low bars and tank on this bike
http://www.cb750cafe.com/bikes.php?cat=2&id=20

LIke I said, my tank is a bit rusty, but If I can get away with buffin it down and just painting the bike a matt black that would be cool.

How much does a set of low handlebars cost?

I want to keep the cost really under 2k tops...so I can't go all out.

I don't have a whole lot of technical knowhow but I'm not a bad wrench and I'm not afraid of digging into this machine cause its my 2ndary bike.

Any ideas or pics would be nice, thanks.

Did you go to the forum link I posted above. He's done a great job of documenting many steps along the way. Check it out.

i paid $13 bucks for my new bars...
about $48 on air filters...
$18 for blinkers...still have stock ones on back...
$0 for the cheesey blue neon blinkers on my air stems.(thank you fastbikes)
$32 on charcoal grill paint for that matte black look(yet to be applied)

so really i just need to make a sweet single seat/tail fairing combo and im done. then paint it.

Where did you get your bars? Any links?

The only bars I've found so far were in a "Cafe kit" which had bars, rear shocks, and that crappy black fairing