Rob’s Yamaha R1 Cafe Racer

I hate to say it however there’s a draw back to using a basic British cafe racer. Certain you’ll revel within the feeling of nostalgia every time you get on it, be intoxicated by the scent of oil and gasoline permeating from the engine and end up awkwardly aroused by that unmistakable, twin-cylinder exhaust observe. However your hopped-up Triton/Norvin/Tribsa won’t ever be the street-dominating beast that the Rockers of the ’60s needed it to be.

Again then, riders could be fortunate to crack 100mph and at these speeds, the suspension and brakes have been barely able to maintaining. As of late 100mph is simply a brief twist of the throttle away on any bike over 650cc. In actual fact, most trendy 250s can comfortably crack the ton with out the concern of them shaking themselves to items. Add to that the large enhancements we’ve seen in chassis design, suspension and brakes over the previous 60 years and people outdated Brits merely can’t sustain.

There are in fact exceptions to the rule; just like the closely re-engineered bikes constructed by the professionals, however these sorts of upgrades don’t come low cost and neither do these bikes. So for those who’re an on a regular basis motorcyclist whose dependancy to hurry ranks as extremely as your love of retro styling you’ll want to seek out your self a extra succesful trendy donor.

Robert Catanese of Chicago, Illinois confronted such a conundrum when contemplating his personal cafe racer venture. The 53-year-old blames Evel Knievel for his childhood obsession with 2 wheels. Since then he’s completed every part from motocross to pull and road racing and says he’s nonetheless as “bike-demented” as ever. These days he’s not obsessive about the death-defying stunts of Knievel although. As an alternative, it’s legendary racers like Agostini, Roberts, Lawson and Rossi that he blames for his infatuation with GP bike and cafe racer tradition.

On account of Rob’s bike affliction, he’s constructed a detailed rapport with some very gifted {custom} bike builders. Amongst them is the daddy and son workforce behind Framecrafters with whom he teamed as much as realise this considerably unhinged cafe racer venture.

“This bike was a private venture and constructed as a result of I consider I watched Mad Max method too many occasions together with GP racing,” says Rob. “It needed to be retro-looking however imply as hell with all of the know-how that the twenty first century affords. I wanted one of many quickest bikes on the road disguised as a ’70s cafe racer.”

The donor Rob elected most fitted for his venture was a 2012 Yamaha R1. With its full fairing bodywork, Deltabox alloy body and 4-cylinder 1000cc engine the YZF-R1 has nearly nothing in widespread with the cafe racers of outdated. However with 182 hp on faucet, the power to finish a standing quarter mile in below 11 seconds and a prime velocity of 185 mph it provided exactly the type of performer Rob had in thoughts. So whereas 1 of his necessities had been met attaining the opposite meant that the R1 would want to bear a critical retro makeover.

“We simply wanted the donor bike for the motor, ECU and a few geometry factors. So I offered all of the leftover components on eBay,” says Rob. “The gentleman that had owned this R1 handled it like extra of a trailer queen than something. He truly bragged that it had by no means seen rain. It was principally model new and had been spoiled its entire life. When he came upon what we have been planning on doing, he virtually backed out of the deal!”

Rob’s design method to this cafe racer venture was as unorthodox as its donor. “I’m a dinosaur in terms of 3D or CAD however I may all the time draw freehand. In the future my pal Walter and I designed the R1X on a serviette over a few beers,” he recollects. “I have a look at that tough sketch right this moment and truthfully my bike seems to be similar to it!”

After drawing up his dream and tearing down the R1, Rob headed to the Framecrafters workshop in Union, Illinois to share his imaginative and prescient with store homeowners Randy and Karsten. Step one was designing a brand new chassis to accommodate the R1 motor, which simply so occurred to be their speciality.

The 1000cc inline-four now sits in a wholly bespoke chassis. Framecrafters steered effectively away from utilizing any boxed aluminium as you’d discover on a contemporary sports activities bike. As an alternative, the complete construction is shaped utilizing Aviation Grade Chromoly Metal tube. Designed utilizing a harassed member configuration, the brand new body is constructed to race requirements to make sure it could actually deal with the output of the R1 motor and Rob’s aggressive using fashion. The swingarm is Chromoly too and the tubes have been bonded to billet aluminium axle carriers on the rear. To finish the basic look Rob, requested that the entire meeting be nickel plated as a hat tip to the frames produced by Rickman within the Seventies.

Subsequent got here the bodywork and as soon as once more there isn’t a touch of contemporary sportbike styling to be discovered.

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Up entrance, Framecrafters put in an iconic bubble fairing. The Ducati 750SS reproduction unit sits degree with the brand new bone line and has been modified the swimsuit the R1’s front-end geometry. The tail unit is a 750SS reproduction too fitted with {custom} rear-end lighting and a diamond-stitched leather-based saddle. As for the gasoline tank, it’s been hand-beaten from aluminium and holds an ample 5 gallons of gasoline. Tucked away beneath it’s an alloy air consumption that feeds the airbox and there are numerous hand-made alloy brackets and mounts holding every part in place.

With the R1 confidently satisfying Rob’s retro requests the construct may have been known as completed, however he had greater plans for its efficiency. “I used to be making an attempt to make use of the identical or related components as right this moment’s MOTO GP bikes however didn’t need to sacrifice reliability. Principally, it’s a street-going model of a Moto GP bike,” he explains.

To drastically scale back unsprung weight Rob has put in a set of premium BST Diamond Tek carbon fibre rims. These have been wrapped in Dunlop Sportmax sticky Q4s and fitted with ceramic bearings. Stopping energy comes by way of Berenger 6-piston entrance callipers and a single-piston rear and so they all chew down on Brake Tech rotors. The rear-end suspension obtained an Ohlins improve within the type of a TTX totally adjustable mono-shock. The forks sit in an Assault Triple Clamp Package and the clip-on bars put on Australian-made Moto GP controls. The GP Shift foot controls are by Vortex and there’s an extended checklist of upgrades from Lightech and Motogadget too. Then, as if 182hp wasn’t sufficient Rob fitted a {custom} titanium exhaust with a Bologna mid pipe and had the ECU chipped and tuned for optimum output.

It’ll come as no shock that Rob’s Yamaha cafe racer is an actual performer. “The Chromoly metal body has a nimble nature completely different from the inventory body which I consider helps to propel you quicker into and out of corners. I’m positive the light-weight BST wheels have one thing to do with that too!” he jokes. “Principally, my bike is approx 50 lbs lighter than a inventory R1. Energy to weight is every part with simply over 400 lbs and 200 HP. She’s gonna be laborious to beat, and I haven’t misplaced but!”

All-up Rob’s R1X took 2.5 years to finish as a result of easy undeniable fact that every part needed to be custom-made or modified to suit this ground-up construct. That’s a very long time to attend to get to understand all of the laborious work and cash that’s gone into the venture, however Rob is now profiting from it. His R1 is not a fair-weather trailer queen. As an alternative, it has grow to be his every day steed and will get put by its paces at each alternative.

FRAMECRAFTERS MOTORCYCLES