TS185 cafe racer

[garry55]

another long-term project of mine..........

A USA-import TS185 in not very good, or complete, condition.......





as standard, the TS has a cable-operated rear brake. Obviously searching for more "feel" from the brake, a previous owner has converted it to rod-operated, albeit the rod is a tad too short. Not a problem to a genius bodger though...............



and the rear brake arm bolt.....................



sheeeesh!...................

had a rummage around the garage for some different handlebars - don't like the American high-and-wide ones that came with the bike. Couldn't find anything suitable, but did unearth a set of TS185 clocks I bought for the TS400 resto, so put these to one side for now...................



Went and had a rummage around my mates garage and found some suitable 'bars - much more European............



see where this is going?............................

back to the clockset - I only need a speedo so set about modifying the bracket that came fitted to the bike. Here's 2 standard brackets...............



the top one I have cut to size and measured and drilled 3 holes for the clock rubber-mounts and speedo cable connection. This is whats left..................



and with the speedo mounted............





and fitted to the bike...................

[garry55]

the cafe-race seat - I didn't have one in my garage, so had to buy one off t'bay................



I chose this one as it has an undertray.............



the new seat wouldn't fit, as expected, without some minor surgery to the frame. First to go - the rear frame loop..........





then the cross brace...............



and - oh the irony of it - the seat mounting brackets..........



even then, it didn't "sit" right, so time for some major surgery.............

[garry55]

the seat also required a bit of trimming..............





bit of tidying up required............



which allows it to fit like this...............

[garry55]

filed a notch in the side of the seat unit to clear the exhaust mounting................



with the leg-warmer fitted...............




off with the bash plate - it's off-roading days are over (I hope!)..........



the alarming lean angle afforded by the standard sidestand.............



a rummage in the toy box ellicited an aluminium Cagiva Mito stand left over from the RGV build - and the TS185 stand bolt is an exact fit - lucky me!.................

[garry55]

ah - thats better..................



and lighter too!..............



another rummage in the toy box and out came an RGV250 kickstart and - would you believe it? - an exact fit................



the new shocks arrived - these "Rarelins" make Ohlins look like economy shocks





My error - I forgot to specify the diameter of the mounting bushes so I received the default 12mm upper / 10mm lower bushes fitted. The mountings on the TS are 12mm upper and lower, so I pressed the lower bush out and, on a very slow speed (necessary when turning Titanium), bored-out both lower bushes to fit.





Here's some technical spiel from the spec sheet.......................
"the body is milled from a billet of Hastalloy (melting point 2417 - 2498 degrees celsius, with a density of 554.98 lb/ft). The damper rod is Inconel 625 grade which has an unsurpassed shear strength of 220,000psi. The remote cylinders are charged with a degenerative quantum gas of the Fermi family of high density, super-cooled atomic gasses. Springs are of Titanium and made to customer specification with regard to rider weight and intended use.













£80 a pair off ebay..........................

[garry55]

another ebay bargain - new 7" headlamp unit that comes with 17mm mounting holes but no hardware.............





so I turned a pair of these 17mm top-hat spacers, drilled with an 8mm hole to accept the mounting bolts and fitted to the shell.................



then, with a subtle tweaking of the original headlamp brackets, to the bike...............





more from the rummage box - Cagiva Mito throttle-side switch gear, modified to suit left-side operation..............



kill switch, lights off / lo / hi and the starter switch becomes the horn button - no turn signals needed.

[Alan H]

Nice little project that. Those shocks look the biz.
Have you got a lightweight person in mind to ride it or will you sidecar gear it? (Lets me out as well!!)

[garry55]

I am that person you mention, Al

[garry55]

the bike returned to my garage last night, so I spent most of today tinkering with it.

First off though, the mods made by my welders.

The new rear frame brace / mudguard mount



and the front brace / seat mount



the custom 2T oil tank bracket and strap



rear mudguard extension so taillight can be accomodated





like so

[garry55]

so back to today - first off, I made a pair of front mudguard brackets out of some alloy sheet



I'm thinking of drilling some holes into the parts of the brackets that show either side of the fork legs to reduce the "solid" look they have now.

Then I fitted the fly screen



modifying the brackets to prevent the screen from being blown back at high speed



with no bracketry for mounting the electrics, the rectifier now sits atop the air filter box



and the CDI lives under the seat



the battery will be housed in the seat hump.

and everything loosely fitted in place

[garry55]

the freshly built motor - re-con crank, all new seals and bearings, rebore and new piston.
Crankcases were de-greased and attacked with various Scotchbrite pads whilst the head / barrel / outer casings paid a visit to the powdercoaters to have a coat of satin black applied.

[Alan H]

Coming on nice.

[garry55]

cheers Al

[garry55]

today I drilled a hole in the 2T oil tank bracket for the outlet



so I could mount the tank



and test-fit its retaining strap



then I drilled 3 holes in the headlamp shell



and fitted the idiot lights - neutral /main beam / turn



whilst the drill was out, I attacked the front mudguard brackets too



and as the heat shield had arrived from the USA, I test fitted that too

[garry55]

received my "custom" graphics courtesy of the Image Works today.

I asked them to replicate the standard TS185K gas tank graphics, as shown below.....





but to change the colours so as to emulate the early Suzuki racing bikes scheme..........





The colour is a bit dull as they still have their protective outer film applied, but powder blue with a black outline on a gloss white gas tank it is. I'll have a matching stripe painted onto the seat hump.

Well pleased