One of our favourite bikes is the XJR1300. We wanted to follow the feel of the squarish tank etc through the back end of the bike so rather than the standard looking loops and kicks that go on the back of cafe racers we decided to do a squarer cut off but still have the front of the seat look like it flowed straight down from the tank. The finished product on the back end we think is pretty spot on. The 2 wasp exhausts make an awesome noise and although we didn’t get it on the dyno, it felt smooth all the way from idle through the rev range and got there a lot quicker than stock.
All the electrics we were able to hide up under the seat and it has a really tough front stance and shows off the ohlin rear shocks nicely.
We’ve been making frame loops up for quite a few years now for custom applications on Cafe Racer frames, subframes etc. In this time we’ve made several dies to make this job easier.
Here’s a vid of how we make the dies.
When an order for a loop comes through we are able to make them same day like this:
Making lugs to fit inside the frame and loop
Unfortunately for us Australia doesn’t have the same access to imperial sized tubing that America does. We have struggled to find tubing that we can use for lugs when welding loops to frames. Not only is it impossible to source the snug fit needed for the loop in just about every case the frame inner tube diameter is different to the loop inner diameter.
Here’s what can be done with the enough time and energy.
Find a suitable solid round bar and cut 2 pieces 60mm long
Using a metal lathe bring the entire outer diameter down so it fits the larger of the inner diameters of the loop of frame
Now make a step in the stock by using the lathe to turn down approx 30mm of the stock to the smaller of the inner diameters.
That’s the best way but there is another way which is a lot less time consuming and will do the job.
Cut 2 sections 40mm long off an existing loop. (equal amounts each side rather than both off one side for obvious reasons)
along the length of the offcuts use a cutting disc to take out approx 5mm of the long edge
Now you can use a vice/hammer/clamp etc to shrink the diameter of the tube so it can fit inside the frame loop
Further modifications may be needed to make it fit inside the frame but you get the idea
Get Cutting!!!!
p.s. Here’s the page on our site if you want to order one of our loops..
