Cafe Racer Update:Honda CM200 Twinstar

I found that it's pretty rare to see Honda CM200 Twinstar motorcycles converted into a cafe racer. In fact when I was trying to determine the size and type of seat I wanted, I couldn't really find any info on it. I even contacted a few shops and they said that they didn't have a specific cafe racer seat for my motorcycle.

It wasn't until I contacted Justin Cycles of La Habra, a local vintage motorcycle shop about a seat where I ended up meeting one of their mechanics who has a CM200 that he converted into a cafe racer. We chatted for a bit and he even let me sit on his CM200 to get a feel on how the bike would be like with a new seat.

Fast forward a couple months later, what you see is my seat mounted. I'll be providing more of an in-depth article on how I actually did it.

The shop was going to charge me $100 to install the seat for me. At the time, I figured it was a great idea and since they know what they're doing, things should go smoothly. But my budget got tight and I had to figure out how to install it my self. The problem I had with this particular seat was the width of my frame was larger than the actual seat. My frame starts at 5" then widens to 7". The seat is only about 5 3/4". So it basically sat right on top of the frame, not over it, but right on top. 

Dime City Cycles sells this neat kit that allows you to install a cafe seat by using a HDPE board that bolts right onto your frame and then you screw in your cafe seat onto it. The idea is great, but it was too big for my bike. It was meant for a CB750...way bigger frame than mine. 

So that kit actually gave me an idea that I'll cover during the installation article. For now, enjoy this other photo of my almost finished cafe racer CM200.