San Jose BMW R75 Cafe

[barryg]

I've been reading the OTL article on Chris Hodgson's R75 cafe bike. Reading then rereading, then looking a little closer at the bike's pictures. Finally went to their web site www.sjbmwracing.com to get a little more info. Neat bike; obviously, really enjoyed seeing the pictures of the development of the bike. Maybe when I get thru building my classic BMW bagger to be apart of the 'Nation of Baggers'; I'll make a meager attemp at my on old school BMW cafe bike. Good job Chris.

[ebeeby]

Definitely way cool. Way.

[tkdan235]

I have seen this bike at SJ BMW. It is looking badass! Tomorrow I will check it out again when I go pickup my parts!

[yngswen]

:brad :brad :brad

Oh you beautiful piece of aluminum and steel!

[danielroth]

i watched the bike run at Bonneville this year.

fast and loud.

has r65 cylinders with a spacer to make it a nikisil R75.

this bike is not a cafe racer. this bike is a RACER.

<a href="http://imageshack.us"><img src="http://img155.imageshack.us/img155/840/dscf5013qi8.jpg" border="0" alt="Image Hosted by ImageShack.us"/></a><br/>

[hobbywhore]

WOW. That is the most exciting BMW I've seen in a long time. Gosh, I wonder how a kit would sell?! Nice work SJ!

[Bigrider]

Where does one get a beautiful tank like that? Wow.

Dave H
Drooling in San Antonio, Tx

[vanzen]

Where does one get a beautiful tank like that? ...

There are a number of sources where one can have a hand-hammered alloy petrol tank fabricated. But they are not cheap.
Mine was built to Laverda 750SFC design, but to fit a Type-247 BMW's frame by EVAN WILCOX (http://www.wilcoxmetal.com/index.htm):
http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff169/53vanzen53/tankd_by_EW.jpg

Here is a pic of one of Evan's NSU Sportmax tanks:
http://www.wilcoxmetal.com/images/sportmx.jpg

The TANK SHOP (http://www.thetankshop.com/) makes a BMW rennsport replica tank:
http://www.thetankshop.com/bmw-long-and-short-2.gif

and there are others. Being that they are hand-crafted, most fabricators will work with you as to design & fit.

[rpeckham136133]

Thanks for the post and the link... that San Jose bike is quite something....

Question though: how the h did they make a metal tank using a foam pattern? Or was the foam simply to give the metalworker an idea for the shape they wanted......

Inquiring minds want to know! :blush

[barryg]

I don't know the answer to that, but those hand crafted Al. tanks are quite impressive. My hats off to those metal craftmen that can do that kind of work.

[vanzen]

...how the h did they make a metal tank using a foam pattern? Or was the foam simply to give the metalworker an idea for the shape they wanted...

good question.
I have seen panels hammered free-hand
and wooden forms used to establish a prescribed shape,
but foam?
my guess is that either the foam was used as a visual 'reference',
or that somehow it was transformed into something that could be beat upon with a hammer – without distortion.
i.e. a mold taken from the foam and a 'hard' form cast from that,
or, less likely because I don't see it working well from my experience, the surface was coated with a resin / hardener such that hammering wouldn't destroy it.

[tkdan235]

I stopped by SJ BMW today to pick up some parts. I asked to go checkout the bike while I was there.

Yea it is pretty much badass. The rider said they got it up around 136mph on the flats. That tank was just amazing.

The best part though was the way it sounded. They fired it up for me while I was there, and the sound was crazy! I could hear that Airhead typical rhythm, but it was a racer!

Fun stuff!

[barryg]

I stopped by SJ BMW today to pick up some parts. I asked to go checkout the bike while I was there.

Yea it is pretty much badass. The rider said they got it up around 136mph on the flats. That tank was just amazing.

The best part though was the way it sounded. They fired it up for me while I was there, and the sound was crazy! I could hear that Airhead typical rhythm, but it was a racer!

Fun stuff!

Good for you. You have one fine looking /5 yourself.