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Custom Cafe Racers and Financing the Purchase of a Motorcycle

by Clarissa
(Long Beach, CA)

Honda CB550F from Benjie's Cafe custom built by Sarah T. from Washington. I want this bike or one very much like it.

Hello All,
Two parts to what I want to discuss.

First, I'm interested in getting a custom cafe racer. In particular I really like the look of this beauty that Sarah T put together that I've attached. However, I'm thinking of a Honda CB 750 for the base.
I'm in the Los Angeles / Orange County area of SoCal and can't seem to find anyone who I can hire to put this bike together for me. I've emailed several shops (Garage Company, Vintage Honda CB, Nostalgia Speed & Cycle) with no response. Does anyone else ride a custom cafe in this area who knows of a place, that has personnel experienced with building cafes or classic Hondas or both, that they can recommend to put together a bike for me?

Secondly, I'd love to hear from anyone who has experience with getting their bike purchase financed. I think I found a credit union who will do it but I want to know more about what I should look out for before I commit to getting financing through them. Any tips?

Comments for Custom Cafe Racers and Financing the Purchase of a Motorcycle

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Sep 14, 2012

Cafe racer
by: Susanne

If your interested in a ready to go cafe type racer look into Ducati. The Sport 1000 and the Sport Classic are very customizable and have a great look. They stopped making them a couple years ago and they are the most sought out bike for their look. They have new technology and handling with the retro cafe look. My local dealer got one in trade and sold it the same day. I would LOVE to get my hands on one. With the handling of a new bike and classic looks its just beautiful. Just a thought.

Sep 14, 2012

Thanks Judy and Donna
by: Clarissa

Donna,
Thanks for your input. Since I've never taken out a loan like this before, I was really interested in knowing more about what to look for with credit unions. I'm not even familiar with what a good rate would be honestly or other little financial/contractual things I should consider. Any further information on that would be welcome.

Judy,
I'm glad you feel empowered by building your own bike. I've always thought it would be. That's why when I got my first bike and I learned it had a few problems I saw it as a great opportunity to learn more about my bike. I replaced the battery and cleaned the carb and jets but it still wouldn't start.
Because I needed it to work fast, I took it to a mechanic who shamed me for trying to fix my own bike. That pissed me off so I never went back to him again. In a few days my bike wasn't working again (not the mechanic's fault, I don't think) and so I took it to another mechanic who cleaned the carb again, checked everything and I had a running bike.
Unfortunately, because I'm a commuter and my bike is my only transportation, I can't really go for speed alone. While I really like speed, I need reliability and ease of maintenance above all.
Also, I'm a renter so I don't have a dedicated private garage or driveway where I could take a bike apart to fix it or tool around with it.
Additionally, I don't know of any local classes that would teach me how to build a bike nor do I know anyone I would trust to teach me how without me having to occasionally put up with sexist bullshit. I don't have a high tolerance for that, which is why I'm on this board.
Ultimately, my aim is to get a new bike not a new hobby as empowering as that hobby may be. I have a full life where I frequently work late hours and arrive home after dark. I spend my weekends relaxing with hobbies I'm familiar with and have the means and facilities for. And I'd like to have a bike soon not years in the future when I finally get everything together to build one myself (assuming I don't quit in frustration and just end up with a lot of parts). That's why I'm really looking for someone who already has the skills, experience and facilities so I can contract them to do this on my behalf.
Thank you for your input, though. I appreciate that you have a lot of experience with these bikes and I'll keep in mind what you mentioned about how credit unions would view the purchase of a vintage motorcycle.

Sep 14, 2012

Thanks Judy and Donna
by: Clarissa

Donna,
Thanks for your input. Since I've never taken out a loan like this before, I was really interested in knowing more about what to look for with credit unions. I'm not even familiar with what a good rate would be honestly or other little financial/contractual things I should consider. Any further information on that would be welcome.

Judy,
I'm glad you feel empowered by building your own bike. I've always thought it would be. That's why when I got my first bike and I learned it had a few problems I saw it as a great opportunity to learn more about my bike. I replaced the battery and cleaned the carb and jets but it still wouldn't start.
Because I needed it to work fast, I took it to a mechanic who shamed me for trying to fix my own bike. That pissed me off so I never went back to him again. In a few days my bike wasn't working again (not the mechanic's fault, I don't think) and so I took it to another mechanic who cleaned the carb again, checked everything and I had a running bike.
Unfortunately, because I'm a commuter and my bike is my only transportation, I can't really go for speed alone. While I really like speed, I need reliability and ease of maintenance above all.
Also, I'm a renter so I don't have a dedicated private garage or driveway where I could take a bike apart to fix it or tool around with it.
Additionally, I don't know of any local classes that would teach me how to build a bike nor do I know anyone I would trust to teach me how without me having to occasionally put up with sexist bullshit. I don't have a high tolerance for that, which is why I'm on this board.
Ultimately, my aim is to get a new bike not a new hobby as empowering as that hobby may be. I have a full life where I frequently work late hours and arrive home after dark. I spend my weekends relaxing with hobbies I'm familiar with and have the means and facilities for. And I'd like to have a bike soon not years in the future when I finally get everything together to build one myself (assuming I don't quit in frustration and just end up with a lot of parts).
Thank you for your input, though. I appreciate that you have a lot of experience with these bikes and I'll keep in mind what you mentioned about how credit unions would view the purchase of a vintage motorcycle.

Sep 14, 2012

Cafe Racer base models
by: Judy

I appreciate you like the look of that bike, but if you want something that is more "go than show" i.e., actually has the handling and performance that Cafe Racers are supposed to entail, a CB550 or 750 isn't that good of a choice. Sure, they're reliable and parts are very common & easy to find, which seems to contribute to making them a popular choice (because of the availability) but those bikes just don't have a lot of power for their weight. The addition of a larger front wheel on that one seems a bit bizarre to me - that will slow the steering response.
The first Cafe Racers were designed to have not just the LOOK of a racer but mostly to have the handling and speed of one.

I prefer lighter, simpler and much faster (by size) vintage two strokes like Yamaha RD models..these were one of the very few bikes of the '70s that handled well in stock form. I've ridden CB550 and 750s and they were PIGS in handling and performance compared to the RD.

It's not that difficult to learn how to do this stuff yourself. Instead of overpaying someone by several thousand dollars for putting $1500-$2000 worth of add-ons to a basically stock bike, why not do it yourself? Find a good running base model, add rearsets, clip-on or clubman bars, a bump seat or custom cafe seat, high performance exhaust, better shocks, etc. Learning how to rebuild & rejet carbs isn't that difficult, especially if you limit your model choice to a single or twin cylinder bike.

Here's a couple of my "mild" and "wild" Yamaha RD350 based Cafe Racers I've built. I guarantee they'll stomp any CB550 in handling AND power, even at their smaller size!

As to financing, you're on the right track using a Credit Union. However, trying to buy an overall expensive, already done Cafe bike might be problematic as they may not be willing to finance one priced considerably over the stock model prices from NADA or other price guideline references. Hence the idea of building your own; you can still farm out parts of it, if you have the money. For instance, I had to farm out some custom pieces I designed because I didn't have the correct machine tools.

Learning how to build and fix your own bike is VERY empowering. I was once to scared to even do minor stuff. What a difference a few years made!

Good luck!

[IMG]http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b233/Quicklimegirl/Current%202%20Smokes/RD350-glorious1-jimmy.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b233/Quicklimegirl/Current%202%20Smokes/ME262jpg.jpg[/IMG]

Sep 14, 2012

Nice!
by: Donna, IA

Very sweet bike! I likeeee! Unfortunately, I don't have any input on places in SoCal. Although, I did live in the valley for about 10 years in the 90's.

I financed my bike...it was no different than financing anything else, really. There are lots of great deals out there and you can get a good interest rate...shop around. I recommend a Credit Union. Get in good with one of those and that can benefit you for future financing endeavors.

Good luck!

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