Wheels Laced

The owner of the bike had a good suggestion. At first i wasn’t too into the idea but now that I am seeing everything come together, I really like it.
He suggested that we powder coat the hubs in white:

We are going with some wide shoulder Akront/Morad rims. I can’t wait to see these on the bike.

I took them to Johnson and Wood in North Hollywood to get laced. They bought the spokes for me and laced them for a very affordable price and a reasonable turn around. I’m surprised when I receive responsive and courteous customer service these days and the wheel guy, Al, was great to talk to. He and I traded a few faxes and phone calls talking about the proper offset. He was proud to give the wheels back to me and offered to re-adjust the offset if i felt that anything seemed incorrect.

Test fit and I’m dying to get some rubber on these dubs.

Rub a dub dub. New Battlax BT45 Bridgestones ready for the roads!

It feels like Christmas. New rims and mufflers.

Not to much build progress has happened on the Cafe bike lately.    However, i have gone on a bit of a shopping spree.

In the mail, i got some pleasant packages from across the pond in Europe.

The gentleman i am building the bike for wanted to steer clear of all the traditional exhaust.  I couldn’t agree more and wish i could take credit for his idea.  Though it will complicate the build process, i am more then willing to take on the task.  After some hunting, we discovered some pipes from a R12 BMW motorcycle.  The R12’s were made in the 30s and 40s by BMW… and have completely different dimensions of a 70’s BMW pipe size and mounting region… but adapting it is all part of the fun!

Vintage Exhaust from a VERY old R12 BMW

But then the mother load came!

box from england... oh boy...

nice wrapping job! definitely like chirstmas!

Wheels!  Wheedo!  I ordered a set for my bike too (one rim is back ordered)… and hot damn, they sure look SWEET!

TASTY!

Yep! That's what we ordered. Spain's Akronts... via England.

I can’t wait to lace these on some clean, powdercoated hubs.  this bike is going to look so tasty. the wide shouldered Morad / Akront wheels are definitely the vintage, bad ass touch…