The 1972 Z50 Cafe Racer nears completion: new windshield, belly pan, and more.

The neon yellow windshield is gone. Originally, I was looking for a green one, but could not find the right shade. Yellow was a second choice, but once again, finding the right shade was the key.

A cover was made for the oil cooler from .050 aluminum, and the belly pan was made from .090 . There is brass mesh under the cooler guard.

The belly pan is a requirement for most vintage racers, and must have the capacity to hold all the oil in the engine. Looking at picture of the bike before the pan and fender were made now look unbalanced.

Engine oil has to be able to find its way into the belly pan, hence the dimple-die holes under the cylinder..

The bike also got safety wire or cotters on the footpegs, handlebars, axles, shocks, and other parts.

A quick release mechanism uses a single red bolt in front and a quarter turn clip in back to secure the pan.

Some of the safety wiring can be seen on the handlebars and fork bolts.

The oil cooler cover is secured with safety wire and brass brackets. The side profile of the bike shows how the muffler is tucked in tight around the rear shock.

Sunset in Texas.

Front Fender for the 1972 Honda Z50 Cafe Racer, 1974 Norton Commando license plate mount.

Just finished this alloy front fender for the 1972 Z50 Cafe Racer. The mount for the fender act as a fork brace and the lower mounts for the coming fork dampers. The wheel spacers needed to adapt a CRF50 wheel to the Z50 forks are part of the mount, making wheel removal and install easier. The mount is kept from rotating by brackets that lock into the flat lower portion of the fork legs, and the brake stay, which passes through the mount.

Because the Z50 uses what are referred to as “upside-down forks,” any fender stay either has to be from the axle or suspended high above the tire to account for suspension travel.

People will sometimes ask if there are any in-process pictures of metal forming, but I usually forget to. This is the result of several rounds of pounding and annealing. Starting with a flat sheet, pounded on a shot bag in the center and strategically shrunck around the edges to get the desired shape.

Part way through the build, there is a lot of fitting and checking to get the shapes and alignment right.

Once fitted, the fork brace all but disappears. The mounts for the external fork damper are on both sides, but still not sure there will be more than one used.

The fender stripes were scaled down slightly to match the dimensions.

A license plate bracket was added to the 1974 Norton Commando. An LED light sits at the top. There is very little left to do on this bike as far as building.

Paint, side stand, and other mods on the 1972 Honda Z50 Cafe Racer.

Did some stripes, numbers, and hand lettering on the 1972 Honda Z50 Cafe Racer. First off, I do not claim to be a painter or a pin striper, but this bike is a little raw, so my level of skill will do. So far, everything else on the build has been done in-house, with as few parts purchased as possible.

In addition to the stripes, the underside of all the body parts, the chain guard, inner fender and a number of brackets were painted black. The rear panel for the tail lights was also blacked out

Usually, the stripes are taped up with the parts on the frame, but these were done individually. Fortunately everything lines up nicely.

Takegawa of Japan makes some beautiful parts like this forged aluminum side stand made for the Honda Monkey. I have used a number of these stands on previous builds and always liked how they look and function. The stand mount is removable, with a thick rod that extends into a receiver on the engine cradle. A single bolt, seen just forward of the mount, holds it in place.

The side stand removable mount. There is a plate that is welded to the rod base, with a tab on the bottom to keep the mount from rotating, and a hole on the other end that the securing bolt passes through. I like to keep brackets shaved off previous builds and will sometimes re-use them later. The kickstand bracket used to make this one came off the “Cabracer 360” Honda CL175.

The side stand tucks up nicely under the linkage, with plenty of clearance. The petcock is a Ducati style from Italy.

Trying to reference some seventies styling, when bold and loud was cool.

Lining up the black at the bottom of the tank with the seat pad was not altogether intentional, but sometimes things just work out.

The black-out on the lower portion of the body parts is more evident from this view.

A couple side views prior to application of the badges.

When to stop…The last picture before adding tank badges. With fifty year old paint, you can’t undo new mounting holes needed for the badges.

The brass inserts to mount a pair of 1969 Z50 tank badges. They were turned down to one quarter inch and press fit into holes drilled into the side of the tank, and then silver soldered.

A little discoloration around the badges from the soldering flame, but it goes with the rest of the bike just fine.

Next up, a front fender and fork damper… As soon as the damper arrives from Japan.

Waiting on warm weather to epoxy the tank, then it will be time to test this bike out!