Full Throttle 8

Shed Find
Café
to
Racer
By Andy Malham, Thunder City Motorcycles
Flicking channels on the telly I happened
upon the programme Café Racers. After
watching all of series one and half of
series two, I decided I needed an old, unloved
Japper, two or four cylinders, 500cc or above.
A barn find would be ideal and a runner
would be best.
As luck would have it I
was dropping off a Harley at
a customer’s house and I saw
the back wheel of an old
Japper poking out from
behind his shed. A quick
shufty revealed an old and
very rough-looking Yamaha
XS650 US Custom.
It was pretty much all there apart from the
clocks and the seat and it had been hand
painted a yucky blue, but it wasn’t sitting in a
pool of oil so that was a good sign. Money
changed hands and half an hour later I had it
on the work bench.
The look I was going for was old and new. I
wanted a bike that looked like a traditional 60s
café racer at first glance, but had some modern
features to enhance the reliability and
rideability. It also had to look minimalistic, the
accent being on the Racer part of Café Racer –
“I saw the back wheel of
an old Japper poking out
from behind his shed”
functional rather than pretty.
I hope we have achieved this and I’m pretty
sure there is nothing on the bike that isn’t
absolutely necessary to make it go and stop. I
don’t like to see oil tanks and battery boxes but
my old bones needed an electric start, so I put
the battery in the seat hump along with the
voltage regulator and the
solenoid. The wet sump XS
motor doesn’t need an oil
tank so we could get away
with that lovely big empty
space under the seat.
The Mikuni carbs and
electronic ignition are spot
on and the bike starts on the first prod. The
first ride was a revelation. The riding position
is somewhat extreme and the Tomaselli quick
action throttle is all or nothing. The pickup
and acceleration are very good and the gear
change is very positive. The brakes are vicious
and need a light touch, and I am very pleased
with the handling at all speeds. It really does
corner like it’s on rails but it is still easy to
steer at very low speeds.
So that’s our first café racer. I am up for
doing another one but I probably won’t spend
as much money next time.
FullThrottle 23