sr250 cafe racer – lunacy | garage project motorcycles

one month ago i profiled garage project’s kawasaki w650 track racer, “shaken fist.” rex then sent some pix and info of this nifty yamaha sr250 cafe racer he calls, “lunacy.”

according to rex, he and his crew were busy building “the brat” when he found a fellow perth street bikes forum member was giving up on his four year project to turn a basket case sr250 into a cafe. the forum member, ben, wanted to propose to his girl and needed the money from the sale to buy her a proper ring. he was very close to finishing it and rex, being the romantic boy he is, thought it was lunacy. other members of the forum agreed, as would have i, having once sold my motorcycle (1981 honda cb750f super sport – right) for a woman. it was a mistake. it seems the gist of the messages on the board for ben were as follows:

“man the f**k up and finish what you started,” “i hope whoever buys it feels guilty as **** about taking over someone else’s project,” and “NO!”

rex says he offered to finish the bike for ben but he was “over it,” so garage project motorcycles bought the 80% complete cafe two weeks before the 4th all japanese motorcycle show, determined to finish it and show it.

here is what they did:

+  speedo mount was reduced in size and dropped down to improve the lines
+  installed daytona instrument warning lights
+  moved the ignition under the seat
+  fabricated missing rear brake rod
+  fabricated rear light bracket
+  replaced hardware store bolts
+  made the seat
+  rewired entire bike
+  replaced the front hub with a twin leading shoe hub
+  replaced both wheels with 18″ cb350 wheels
+  replaced painted spokes with stainless
+  installed new bridgestone tires
+  replaced pod filter with velocity stack
+  ritted oil breather
+  added tank graphics

while the boys were busy finishing the bike the night before the show, ben was busy proposing to his girl. “lunacy” and “the brat” came first and second, respectively. ben was stoked with the result and the bike….

and his girl said yes, too.

sucker.

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