1972 H2 Café Racer Project

[72caferacer]

I am new to the forum and want to introduce myself. My name is Stephan and I am working for a while on a 1972 H2 project which I acquired as titled frame and set of matching engine casings. To build and restore these remains to a factory, number matching original was out of reach so I decided to make a cool Café Racer out of it. Here is my H2's story.

Frame cross braced and gusseted 



Swing arm from a Kawasaki Zephyr



SS Exhaust from Jim Lomas



Will post more soon...

Cheers,
Stephan

[72caferacer]

To give my project a real good suspension and stopping power that can handle to new output a modern GSXR front end had to be sourced. Triple tree is custom billet with stem as well as the wheels. Undimpled Rims from Japan in 4.25" rear, 3.5"with custom front and rear billet CNC hubs and stainless lacing. Rear hub is based on H2 with brake drum removed and Ducati Rear rotor mount Brembo front and rear brakes.
















Cheers

[72caferacer]

Found a nice set of rear sets which are directly bolted to the frame. No brackets here, I am trying shave off everything that could distort a clean Café design. Same applied to the rear brake master cylinder. The old rear footrest mounts were sleeved with a threaded insert to become the new exhaust mounts. . Spacers for new swingarm and pivot shaft turned.








Cheers

[72caferacer]

Continued efforts to strengthen the frame and steering neck. New rear axle turned. The Zephyr was only 17mm and was beefed up to original H2 20mm OD to retain bearing hardware and internal spacers. Found this real nice billet shifter arm which will go nicely with the rear sets.







Cheers

[zambia]

That's an amazing build. Please keep the pictures coming!

[Walms]

Very nice, welcome to the board!

[72caferacer]

Thanks Guys,

Here some more essentials that eventually find their way onto the bike. Motoscope Pro and M-unit blue with keyless inginition M-Lock. Zeel programmable ignition. Found a good looking weld on side stand and new engine mounting hardware.








Cheers

[72caferacer]

Got the rubber installed. Chose Metzler in 120/70-17 front and 160/60-17 rear. Side stand was integrated into the front engine mount.

[Curtis]

Very nice work - what material are you using for the axle ?

[72caferacer]

Mar 1, 2021 9:46:08 GMT -5 Curtis said:

Very nice work - what material are you using for the axle ?

Hello Curtis,

My choice was 1144 since it is stress relieved and has a high yield strength. 

Stephan

[72caferacer]

The new billet heads will help dealing with the new engine output.

[72caferacer]

I am having some serious fun entertaining myself with the old 72 engine casings. I  received one with the frame and found another later on Ebay which will be a spare. The studs are rusty as hell with one head stud snapped. Got them all out and found most new NOS replacements. So far I collected three sets of unported cylinders, an early 71 set which I acquired from Paul Gast and in serious need for new new sleeves which Paul also provided, a 72-73 set and a 74-75 set which both could be bored/honed to second over. Which are the best for porting and street tuning? Slowly but surely I need to start looking into finding an engine builder. Any suggestions is very welcome.

Cheers,

Stephan

[zambia]

Mar 2, 2021 9:42:01 GMT -5 72caferacer said:

I am having some serious fun entertaining myself with the old 72 engine casings. I  received one with the frame and found another later on Ebay which will be a spare. The studs are rusty as hell with one head stud snapped. Got them all out and found most new NOS replacements. So far I collected three sets of unported cylinders, an early 71 set which I acquired from Paul Gast and in serious need for new new sleeves which Paul also provided, a 72-73 set and a 74-75 set which both could be bored/honed to second over. Which are the best for porting and street tuning? Slowly but surely I need to start looking into finding an engine builder. Any suggestions is very welcome.

Cheers,

Stephan

You are definitely in this up to your eyeballs!! In terms of cylinders and cases: I would keep the '71 cylinders because they have value to early H2 collectors. I would work with the 72/73 set for porting etc..the '71 cylinders had a tendency to crack at the bottom because the "cut out" was high leaving less metal for strength.

If you're already working with Paul. he is a legendary builder.. you won't find him inexpensive, but he is one of the best engine builder/tuners of triples - ever.

[72caferacer]

Since the original clutch will not hold the power I was looking for solutions. I came in touch with Stephan Schaaf in Germany who owns SSO Motorcycle. He developed based on a Ducati 900 a dry clutch system that seamless fits onto the H2 via a CNC machined Billet housing. I fell in love with it and also purchased the billet heads with the squish chamber from him. The only modification is to open the rivets on the original clutch basket and used the drive

sprocket.






Cheers,
Stephan