Café racers were always close to my heart and admire the way older folk adapted bikes to suit their riding style in their hay days. I bought my naked Suzuki SV650 way back in 1999, aiming to eventually turn it into a good contender to the genre. Although the bikini fared SV650S comes with clip-ons as standard, all those extra plastic bits are not to my liking. So, by constantly browsing on the internet what other SV guys were doing about this (especially in the States as they only got SVS¹s after grumbling to the dealers for about 2 years) I started to build up an idea of what should be done.

A look through e-bay revealed a pair of SVS clip-ons, which were quickly acquired. These were cleaned from all unnecessary bits that are of use on an SVS, but of no use whatsoever to my project. Hacksaw and files were used to do this, along various grades of sandpaper. Autosol polish gave that final polished look. Here's what should be done if you wish to carry out this job.

Start dismantling

• The bar end weights.
• Remove headlight front, disconnect wiring connectors inside headlight, remove headlight bowl complete with triangular brackets and bottom adjuster bracket.
• Unbolt the gauges from the top yoke.
• Unscrew control switch units from both handle bar ends.
• Remove the left rubber grip. This is a little tricky but not impossible as it's glued to the handlebar, so carefully insert a round screwdriver and prize a section at a time, whilst going round the inside of the grip systematically. A little WD40 helps here.
• Remove the handlebar, slide off the throttle grip, clutch and brake controls.
• Remove steering stem nut.
• Loosen top yoke.
• Remove top yoke by gently tapping with a rubber mallet. Be careful you don't damage that fine tread on the steering stem.

One does not need to be an intellectual to notice that stock SV headlight mounts are not going to share space with our nice clip-ons underneath that top triple.

Modifications

• Straighten the mounts using a large hammer and an iron vice.
• Give a larger diameter curve top and bottom (I used an inch diameter socket as a template for this bend). This is done so as to clear the clip-ons, which will mount within them.
• Use a file to round off the indicator holes (if this step is omitted the indicators will end up pointing skywards).
• Re-spray modified mounts.
  Buy four stainless 2mm diameter, 30mm long Alan bolts and 15mm spacers. These will be needed later on for mounting the headlight to the modified brackets. Also a pair of smaller length stainless bolts are needed to fit your bar weights to the new clip-ons as the standard handlebar screws are longer than the clip-on ones.

Mounting everything back

• Slip in the headlight brackets upside down (left is swapped for left).
• Slide SVS clip-ons into the fork tube between top and bottom of headlight brackets.
• Gently bend both tab ends of the small headlight adjuster bracket so as to decrease the angle between the tabs and the longer part of the bracket so as to bring the headlight closer to the frame and thus aligning the headlight to the triangular aluminum headlight brackets.
• Remount headlight using the new Alan bolts and 15mm spacers. Take time here to carefully position the wiring between these spacers and check that they are not hindering the steering action. I also added a little amount of silicon grease to the wiring cables as a lubricant.
• Mount the Indicators and align.
• Remount all the hardware that fit to the clip-ons, put a small amount of Pattex glue to the left handlebar grip. This makes it easy to fit whilst securing it in place after drying.
• Mount gauges to top yoke.
• Refit the top yoke and tighten pinch bolts to 16.5 ft-lbs.
• Angle the clip-ons so as they form a 120 degree angle between them and torque to 16.5 ft-lbs.
• Fit steering stem nut and torque to 47.5 ft-lbs.

Finishing off

To align the headlamp, measure the new height from the center of it to the floor and draw a horizontal line to a wall situated 3.8 metres away from your bike. When switched to low beam the circle of light should reside just underneath this line. Have a friend, with approximately your weight; sit on your bike to do this accurately.

Please bear in mind that although you don't have to be an expert mechanic to do this, you shouldn't risk injury if you are not sure of your wrenching abilities. Ride slowly on your test run and double check everything is bolted on securely.

You will notice that the bike now handles and turns much more easily than before and thus is more fun to ride. As everything else in life there is no gain without pain and you will notice that you may have to stop sooner on longer trips due to the crouched down position. Its no problem in long stretches of road as the wind lifts you up a little and makes everything balance out nicely. The lower position gets you out of the wind and stops your body acting as a sail making you more aerodynamic and faster. All this changes in town traffic, as you have to slow down and all the weight of your body starts to fall on your palms and your back starts to ache just that teeny bit. My friend told me this would be minimized considerably after installing rear sets

But I guess that's a story for another time...

Regards,
zunkus
Think positive and keep the balance

Cafe Racer Conversion (Part 2)
Making rear set brackets

My conversion would not have been complete without moving the footpegs one inch up and back ala SVS650. If you don't do this mod it would be harder on your back on long rides. You'll be more ergonomic and look cooler too, just like a proper racer.
Someone on the net is selling ready made aluminum plates complete with bolts and extender for around 55 bux. As I'm either a Scrooge or proud to do my own parts for my bike I decided to make my own. All you need are some bolts and a piece of 8mm thick aluminum. These are shown in the picture below. A template for the plates is also provided so stick this to the aluminum and just follow the lines when cutting with a jigsaw. Take it easy and you will cut it no problem; you can also do this by hand it just takes a bit longer. Remember to buy 10mm longer bolts than standard to fit the old footrests to the new brackets. I am not going to give step by step instructions on how to fit these plates as I think this would be an insult to anyone's intelligence. However if one desires there is a good article on http://www.svrider.com/tips/rearset-lifters.htm

Regards,

zunkus
Think positive and keep the balance