It broke my heart the day I sold my beloved Honda Win to the Vietnamese "Cafe" owner for $60.
I bought the bike purely by chance in Saigon for 4,500,000 Vietnamese Dong ($200 USD) and I thought about importing her back to the UK but would just have worked out too expensive.
I'd started in Hoh Chi Min city in the south and rode the bike for 2.5weeks 700ish miles north, through jungles, villages, crazy busy cities, rivers, overnight trains and eventually ending up in Hanoi. (Pretty much the same route as that episode of top gear)
I'd never ridden a geared bike before and after I'd bought the bike from the tiny garage the Vietnamese mechanic taught me how to ride in the park.
Vietnam is one of the best/worst (delete as applicable) places to ride a motorcycle on the planet. Totally stunning. There were plenty of mishaps along the way, mechanical faults, fuel shortages, oil spills, cuts and grazes, let alone near misses riding along (unknown to me at the time) one of the most dangerous highways in the world. Ho Chi Min highway. (Apparently because of all of the unexploded bombs of the Vietnam war).
It all added to the experience and has now embedded in me a passion for biking (Vietnamese Cafe racer style) that I will take to the grave.
Hence the reason for joining this forum and hence commencing the project I'm about to start..
So yesterday I bought a Honda h100 s 1987 bike to convert into a cafe racer..
It cost £180 and is in need of a new big end and some substantial engine work. I really want to strip it back to the necessities and turn it into a classic cafe racer..
I was wondering if any of you guys/gals could help me out with places to buy parts? Firstly:
Handlebars (low rider ones if poss)
New exhaust (Classic look)
Cafe racer style seat
Rev dials
And also bigger tyres?
Hope to chat with you all soon.
Greg (the new boy)