Handlebars and risers

When I bought the ZRX, it came with the stock handlebars, the stock slanted risers, with aftermarket one inch spacers and top clamps. The risers angled back and the spacers put me into the standard "sit-up-and-beg" riding position. It's a very comfortable position, but cafe racers aren't supposed to be comfortable. If I wanted to be comfortable, I would drive my car. I did the cheap mod to begin with. I removed the 1" spacer and spun the slanted risers around 180 degrees and angled them away from me. This put me into a slightly more angled forward position, that felt much better. But it was going to take a change of handlebars to put me into a more "aggressive" position.
It's amazing how many different motorcycle handlebars are out there to choose from. While old school ace/clubman bars would be period correct for a proper cafe` racer. I had a pair on my Honda Ascot. They look really cool, however they were originally designed for bikes that had cable operated clutches and front drum brakes. So you don't have worry about keeping master cylinders covered in fluid when mounting them. They can also be tough on the wrists having no adjustable. Drag bars were a viable option, as were clip-ons. While clip-ons would also be very period correct for a cafe racer, today they are more associated with modern sportbikes. Drag bars are always cool, but I just didn't jive with the look I was going for.
I don't remember exactly where I heard about them, perhaps in a classic motorcycle magazine or on some other website, but I believe Italian motorcycle manufacturer Laverda made a factory cafe racer in the 1970's that had adjustable clubmans that worked great and looked pretty cool, although they're heavier than other handlebars. On an old bike shedding dead weight was the best way to gain speed, but weight isn't an issue with the ZRX. It makes more than enough horsepower and torque, and more weight on the front end wouldn't exactly be a bad thing. Finding these bars wasn't exactly an easy thing, after a good week of searching for them, I found them on two websites. One was in Europe, while one was in the USA. So for simplicity's sake I ordered a set of black ones from the US distributor. It took a little time to get them but they were worth it.
Next time I'll drone about mounting them.

Cafe "Bling"

If you've ever looked at some pictures of motorcycles in the UK, you've probably seen a tax disc holder. It's usually a 3 to 3 1/2 inch circular metal bracket to hold a three inch paper disc that proves you've paid your road tax and can legally operate your bike on British roads. They kind of serve the same purpose as the registration stickers on US license plates, but are rather similar in appearance to our motorcycle safety inspection stickers and are pretty much hated across the pond like our safety stickers are here. Personally, I don't hate our safety inspection stickers. Alot, if not all, of the "cruiser" riders attach a metal plate to put the safety sticker on. It's supposed to be put onto the front left fork, like on mine (because I like the way it looks), however the metal plate is a legal option so the cruiser guys don't mess up their chrome. As long as it's attached to the left side of the bike so it can be seen from the street. The rule for the tax disc is the same, except that it must be attached to the left side of the bike so it can be seen from the curb, (they really do drive on the left over there you know). Well, I found an old school one on eBay, and I really wanted to use it and put it on my bike, but our safety sticker won't fit inside it and be legible. So I had to find something cool to put in it so I could use it. Alot of cafe style bikes put a 59 club patch or sticker in one, I'm not a member and I don't plan to be one either. So putting a 59 club logo on my bike ain't gonna happen. Another cool item to put in a tax disc holder would be an Ace Cafe logo. However, I've never been there and my chances of riding there are pretty much null. (I did make it to Portsmouth, England once, but that's another story). In my mind, it would be similar to a harley guy with Sturgis stuff who's never been there. Too poser-ish, not gonna do that. Maybe if I ever do get to the Ace Cafe I'll get a pin or patch, but if the bike never gets there, it's not going on it. So I let in languish in my tool box until I found something I really liked.


On my one of my web surfing safaris, I ran into Steve "Carpy" Carpenter's http://www.cb750cafe.com/ a totally cool cafe racer site. He has alot of really awesome stuff, mostly for '70s CB750's, but he's also got some cool shirts and decals. I got a decal from him for my tax disc holder and mounted it on the right (curb side) of my bike. I dig the look. Thanks Carpy.

Turn Signal Relocation and Gold Delete

I'm not a fan of gold. While I suppose it looks good on some bikes, I certainly don't want it on mine. Sadly, the ZRX comes with alot of gold on it. I have my work cut out for me in getting rid of it all. First off, the tank emblem is gold, and there is a pinstrip of gold separating the white and violet stripes on the tail and tank. A quick search on eBay yielded a set of OEM Kawasaki tank decals in black and trip to my local auto parts store netted a roll of 1/4" black pin stripe tape. I removed the gold emblem and replaced it with the black Kawasaki decal. The gold pinstripe took a little more work. It went fairly easily, I placed a small piece of masking tape at the beginning and end of the gold stripes and carefully laid the black 1/4" pinstripe over top the gold. When finished I trimmed the excess black pinstripe at the edge of the masking tape and VOILA! I think it came out great and looks almost stock. I also removed the passenger grab rails leaving two big holes in the tail. I pushed the rear turnsignal stays through the rear holes and remounted the lights there for now. I found some automotive intake manifold plugs in my toolbox left over from some other project. They were the perfect size to fit in the front holes. Again stop gap measures, but good enough for now. I turned my attention to the rear shock reservoirs with more gold to get rid of. Another trip to the auto parts store, and I picked up a roll of stainless steel rocker panel tape. I measured, cut the tape to fit, wrapped it around the reservoir and no more gold. I'm not totally pleased with how it came out. It looks better that the gold, just not exactly what I wanted. For good measure I wrapped some checkered tape around it too. Gotta have some checkers on a cafe bike.

My Guide Books

Before I write any more I'd like to tip my helmet to the two books that have provided me some invaluable source material. The first is Mick Walker's "CAFE RACERS of the 1960s" This book is chock full of black & white pictures of motorcycles from the UK. Although it is full of mostly British made bikes, all the pictures accurately protray the heyday of the rockers.







The next book is "Cafe' Racer: the motorcycle" by Mike Seate. Probably the most exhaustive tome on the subject covering the history of the cafe racer culture from it's roots in England all the way up to the modern street fighter movement. Full of b&w and tons of colour pictures of vintage and modern cafe racers.

Both books are still availible and are highly recommended for anyone interested in these style bikes.

Road Trip

I work six days a week. I don't really want to, but it's part of my job requirement. Atleast the bills get paid and I have some extra spending money. I lucked out in July 2009. Independence Day was on a Saturday giving me two days in a row off. My family had left a couple days before the weekend to visit family leaving me alone for about four days. After working Friday, I went home for a good nights sleep and woke up early. When riding, even long distance I believe in traveling light. I grabbed my motorcycle toolbag and my surplus army wool blanket. Inside my blanket I keep an 8'x12' plastic painting drop cloth and I tied the whole thing up a length of parachute cord (perfect for making a lean to or tent shelter). I also travel with a AM/FM/SW transistor radio which tucks into my tool bag. I didn't take anything else that wouldn't fit into my jeans or motorcycle jacket pockets.
I left around 6AM for a 400 mile round trip two day ride to my home town of Altoona, PA. I honestly haven't been back there in over 15 years. I only have distant relatives there who I'm not that close with them anyway. I really had no interest going there. My ride wasn't really about the destination, it was about riding. I rode up in the morning, rode around all day Saturday into the night visiting alot of the place I used to got and hang out as a kid. Hung out in a bar for the most of the night drinking diet cokes. I took a little nap and left for home around 4am. Stopped for breakfast in Breezewood and headed on home. I took these pictures behind an old abandoned next to mercy hospital on Saturday. I think a couple of them looked pretty good and wanted to throw them up here. Will I go back to Altoona? Eh, maybe in another 15 years. HaHaHa.

More Modifications

First off, I want to say that this bike is my daily ride. I have to fit my modifications in between riding, working more than full time, and spending time with my family. Also, I'm not a rich person either, I have to budget the money to do the mods I make as well. It's a work in progress. I honestly can't say I wasn't happy with how the real turn signals came out. I plan on changing the entire tail of the bike anyway, so bolting them into the stock location would have to do for now.
I did like the way the way the front of the bike looked. However I didn't like having to clean all the bugs off my gauges. The wind blast while riding that was hitting me square in my chest wasn't much fun either. So I decided that a flyscreen would look pretty good and cure both of those problems too. After doing some book research and digging around on the internet, I found a really nice screen, made by Dart, that looked really good and kind of like the ones they had back in the late '60s and 70s. Just one problem. The ZRX came with a bikini fairing, so Dart didn't make one for it. They do make them for the Triumph Bonnieville and Thruxton which has a 7 inch headlight same as what I installed on my Kawasaki. After looking at the pictures on Dart's website of the mounting brackets, I took a chance and ordered one for a Bonnieville. I figured if I had to, I could just make my own brackets. I didn't. It was a perfect fit and went on with any modifications and looked great!

Headlights and Turnsignals

I soon decided that it was time to turn my attention to the the rectangular headlight, turn signals, and bikini fairing. I have to say, that the bike in stock form is a very good looking motorcycle. Kawasaki designed a beautiful looking replica of a replica of an '80s superbike. I just didn't want a 1980's style bike and that rectangular headlight screams 1980's Japanese motorcycle. For a proper cafe racer, it had to have a round headlight and square turn signals would certainly look out of place. One other thing I wanted to do was I wanted to stay with Kawasaki parts. So I spent time doing some online research. I found from an online Kawasaki dealer that headlight bracket for a ZX-7 should fit with only minor modification. Next I was able to locate and order a NOS headlight bucket, NOS front and rear turn signals and turn signal stems for late 70s Kawasaki Z1000. Perfect! Actual parts from a 70s big Z would look great and give the ZRX an authentic look. So off came the whole headlight/turnsignal/fairing assembly and onto eBay it went. Installing the NOS headlight and turnsignal went pretty smoothly and really improved the look of the the bike immensely, however the rectangular mirrors just didn't look right. They looked very out of place with the round motif I was taking the bike in. So I did some more looking around and decided some round bar end mirrors would do the trick. Starting to get closer to that cafe look now.