I've wanted to do a cafe racer conversion for ages. Two issues prevented me from going ahead:
- Money. While I could afford to buy the bike, I couldn't afford to finance a conversion that I'd be 100% proud of. But more importantly,
- I have no idea what I'm doing. Seriously - I don't really know how an engine works and I haven't ridden a motorbike since 2001 when I sold my much loved Yamaha DT50.
So, after doing quite a bit of research I decided it would probably be best to park the dream for a while. Needless to say, the universe got to work on it and a few weeks ago my folks were visiting an old family friend, Oscar, who mentioned that he was keen to do a cafe racer conversion. Oscar knows a lot about cars and bikes and engines and how to take them apart and put them back together. So we partnered up and after a couple of chats, some serious trawling of online classifieds - behold!
Our BMW R65 1981 Airhead
We were mainly looking for either a Honda CB or a Yamaha SR, but they proved really difficult to come by (especially ones with up to date papers). Oscar decided to loosen up our search criteria a little, and praise the motorcycle gods that he did because we soon stumbled across this 1981 BMW R65 at a great price and fell in love. We made the offer there and then, and immediately started to feel bad about having to tear apart such a pretty bike. Not bad enough to not do it, though.
We decided to put off the conversion until the new year, and use the holidays to enjoy her in her original state (photos to follow). I took her for a ride this week (we share custody) and it was epic. Having not ridden a bike for over 13 years - with the last bike I rode being a Yamaha DT50 (unless you count a bit of offroad scootering in Thailand last year) - jumping onto a 650cc airhead was scary as hell but absolutely exhilarating.
Some info about the bike (and possibly an unwitting demonstration of how little I know):
- The odometer is broken, so we don't know the true mileage. We suspect it is quite a bit more than the +/- 20 000 km claimed, though.
- The clutch was recently replaced.
- There is a small oil leak which appears to be coming from the left underside of the engine.
- Suspension and breaks are in poor condition.
Please drop us a line if you have any questions, comments, advice, or just to say howzit!
Cape Town Cafe Racer Conversion.
Cape Town Cafe Racer Conversion.
