K75rt Cafe Project - almost finished

[Markus77]

Hi Everyone,

So I thought I’d post up some pics of my K75 Café Project as it nears completion (not sure if these projects are ever truly complete!). A little background: I bought this bike – a 1994 K75rt - back in December of 2015 after a couple months of searching. I’d wanted to try a Café Project and am a fan of BMW bikes in general. Found this amazing forum and started doing research etc. and embarked on my first project.

Made plenty of mistakes along the way but was also very lucky – I just happen to live in the same city as RBM from the forum, and as most know who frequent the forum, he knows these bikes inside and out! He helped me throughout the build with all the tricky bits as well as helping me avoid some bad ideas. I learned a ton through his help and realize now that working on the project was as much fun as riding it. All in all, I doubt I would have completed this for years without his help.

The bike is not completely finished: I’m not really happy with the seat and will get some more work done on that over the winter. I’m also waiting to either polish up the exhaust tubes or heat wrap them in black – haven’t decided yet but in any case I’m still waiting for the replacement exhaust gaskets to arrive. Right now I’m just enjoying finally riding the bike a bit! Also thanks to all the forum members who helped me with some pretty basic info back when I started the project. Anyway, here’s the pics starting with a few of the original bike:

Mark

[TrueAce]

Beautiful! First class! So tell the truth, This is really RBM's cafe but he won't admit it cause the traditionalist would be upset! Where did you get that pipe and rear-sets?

[The Mighty Gryphon]

Wow!  Beautiful job!!! 

It's brilliant how you used the pinstriping to make that unfortunate angle between the lower edge of the tank and the horizontal seat base less noticeable.  To my eye, that angle is the worst part of every cafe/scrambler project, and yours is only the second I've seen that addresses it nicely. 

The seat/cowl is also very impressive.  The lines of the cowl flow nicely to the top of the tank, and contrary to cafe fashion dictates, the seat actually looks like it might be comfortable for a ride of more than a couple hundred meters.

Are you going to make it down to Fort Erie this Monday with Ed?   

[NickHeijman]

WAAAAAHAUW Markus, best job !

The bike/my project I have in mind would end-up quite the same. This is exacly what I have in mind for mine.
A few items will be diff, such as the seat, I will make a double seat + welding a loop at the rear and build under a headligt + licence plate.
Also I will go for MAT BLACK and oilive green stripes.

Do you have some detailed pictures of the jetronic and how you mounted it under the seat ?
Which battery did you used on the bike, it looks like a realy small one ?
Which speedo meter did you use on the bike ?

Thanks mate !

Again, what a wonderfull job

[Markus77]

Thanks guys! Yes getting the lines from the seat and cowl to distract from the frame lines was the idea. Again RBM came up with some great ideas to help with this in terms of how the seat/cowl secured to the frame. That aspect took a lot of work!

[Markus77]

Nick good luck with your build, I have some more detailed pics I'll send you of the ecu under the seat and acewell model etc. if you haven't already, you might consider getting a brotbox from Marulabs as it works well with the acewell's and other aftermarket speedos,
Mark

[Markus77]

Mighty Gryphon thx for the compliments - unfortunately I can't make the Fort Erie trip, I have my annual 5 day ride with a couple buddies in northern Ontario/Quebec. Hopefully next time I can make it,
Mark

[Markus77]

TrueAce the pipe is from Lossa Engineering and the rear sets from BSK speed works. The pipe has a baffle in it, otherwise it's just too loud:)

[Mike Flores]

Markus77, That is a beautiful K75! Well done!

[Filmcamera]

Great looking bike, I 100% echo the comments about the pinstripes - really cool - and the exhaust - wow!

[rbm]

Beautiful! First class! So tell the truth, This is really RBM's cafe but he won't admit it cause the traditionalist would be upset! Where did you get that pipe and rear-sets?

Ha Trueace! :hehehe

This bike is all Mark's.  I've got my Retro and my V7 Racer.  The Racer is the way I express my cafe side.  It was fun working with Mark and solving all the small problems that sprang up during the build.  Mark embodies the true spirit of a Classic K owner. 

Cheers Mark.  Those photos are awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

[Martin]

 :2thumbup: A job well done  :clap:

[TrueAce]

RBM..........I forgot you had the V7, yes, that definitely should meet your cafe bike hunger. Congrats on the beautiful bike you helped/coached to get built.

[jaxon]

Very impressive. Looks like a classic BMW after a shift in the space-time continuum.  Classic black and well done pin strip make it "Elegantly Brutal, yet sophisticated."

[Markus77]

Thanks guys for all the kind words 

[racket]

No coolant reservoir next to the battery?

[Markus77]

It's been relocated behind the radiator - if you look closely in the fist pic you can see a bit of bottle being used.

[racket]

I see it now. You made a custom bottle. I'd be interested to hear more about that design

[Markus77]

It's actually a "Coors Altitude" beer can recycled:) Hard to find a bottle to fit in that space. There is an excellent example of a properly made coolant reservoir in the K1 project thread if you're interested.

[NickHeijman]

It's actually a "Coors Altitude" beer can recycled:) Hard to find a bottle to fit in that space. There is an excellent example of a properly made coolant reservoir in the K1 project thread if you're interested.

well that's a very clever solution and it looks awesome!
Again many many thanks for sharing your bike Markus.  :2thumbup:

[Markus77]

Hi Guys,


Hoping for some opinions/advice here. Had some time over the holidays to try and deal with the exhaust for my cafe project. I thought I would try sanding and polishing to get a finish to better match the forks and rear sets on the bike, but now I'm not really sure. My other option is just to wrap them in black heat tape. It's probably one of those things that's hard to know for sure before seeing it on the bike, but just thought I'd throw it our there and see if any one has any opinions or pros/coms to either option? Thanks for any thoughts on this:)  (Sorry for the bad pics - I blame the light in my garage!)


Mark

[Laitch]

. . . My other option is just to wrap them in black heat tape. Thanks for any thoughts on this:) . . .  Sorry for the bad pics

Thanks for the bad pics, Markus. :giggles
I see no point in overheating the header with tape just for posing points. I think the exhaust looks pretty good as is in the bad pics.  :yes

[TrueAce]

Your pipes look good, but if you want a different finish, you might consider having them professionally coated with a ceramic finish. Comes in several colors, but silver or black work for me. I had a piece of header pipe done for about $80. I would not use heat tape.

[Markus77]

That's something to consider - hadn't thought of that thx. I'll look into it - I think I like the idea of the pipes and muffler being black, just not crazy about the black tape as the clean look seems to deteriorate over time. Will the ceramic finish change colour due to the heat?

[The Mighty Gryphon]

+1 on the ceramic coating.  While I've not done it myself, it has been done a lot, and all the reports I've seen have been positive.  One of the good points of ceramic coating is that it doesn't change with heat.

In my mind, heat wrap is one of those things that only makes sense between the head and a turbocharger to send as much exhaust energy to the turbo as possible.  Why people wrap pipes is a mystery to me.  Looks good when it's new, but goes to hell if the bike is used much.