Cafe Racer

Hello and welcome from the Wallswerk Headquarters in Hockenheim. Today we are starting with the first part of a doc We had received a lot of letters from you in advance, or you also expressed your wishes in the videos we posted previously, that you would And we have thought about that, and as I said, we want to start with the first part today. It essentially involves dismantling the motorcycle, the donor motorcycle, and sorting out the parts that we will reuse, rework, or the parts that we will more or less scrap or throw in the bin or buy from buyers. Based on or starting with, the beginning is always one of these donor vehicles that we see here, which you can see here. These are usually always BMW monolever models. They were built from 1984 to 1995. The predecessor models, which were the so-called Twinshoe models, as the name suggests, are the vehicles that have two shock absorbers. We actually only use them for our Bobber conversions. We don't use them for Cafe Racer, Scrambler or Roadstar. For those, we only use the BMW M3. We don't use them for Cafe Racer, Scrambler or Roadstar. For those, we only use the BMW monolever models, the successor models to the BMW monolever models from 95 onwards or, I think, the production period was from 92 onwards. These were the parallel ever models. They also had a shock absorber, but had completely different swing arm kinematics or a torque support and a longer, larger, more solid swing arm. And we hardly build any of these vehicles. Many customers or potential customers are not aware of the relatively big difference. The engines and mainframes are identical, but the rest is quite different. The reason why we use the monolever models is that the aesthetics of the motorcycles, when they are disassembled or reduced to the essentials, are simply 100 times nicer than the parallel models. With the TwinShop models, it'some people prefer the more classic, so they naturally choose the TwinShop models, but 99% of the vehicles we build here are based on the monolever model. We usually always have a year's production of the donor vehicles you see here in stock. That means we always have between 70 and 80 motorcycles of these vehicles on site. That means that if someone has a specific year of manufacture, we are completely open to fulfilling that. Provided that one of the model years is actually available. We are happy to accommodate requests without additional costs if someone wants a specific model year. As I said, we always have enough vehicles available and in principle we buy all vehicles nationwide and now also throughout Europe. Up to a certain price level, we always buy the vehicles blindly. That means that there is only one step other than locating the vehicles online or on the platforms, making an appointment with the sellers and then picking up the vehicles. We usually buy an average of four vehicles a week. That means a driver with a trailer is constantly on the road and, as I said, buys the vehicles throughout Europe. I would suggest that the market pulls one of the donor vehicles forward. Puts it on a lifting platform and then we start dismantling the vehicle. You have to imagine that a complete dismantling of such a motorcycle or an old BMW usually takes 4 F hours. We'll compress it a bit with a time lapse and I would suggest that we meet again shortly afterwards. In reality, as I mentioned at the beginning, it takes about 4 F hours to completely dismantle such a vehicle. And what's actually left over or what we can reuse, we've put together here on the lifting platform. So, these are actually the parts that we can reuse and that are completely reworked. The very first thing we start with is the frame. This is the main frame here. Ah, of course, the very first thing we do is sandblast it and remove the paint. And then we start with all the brackets that we no longer need. That means all the battery holders, the original exhaust system holders, the horn holder here in the front, these holders here are the occasional relay holder here. These are all components that we no longer need. Here also some tabs and so on, they will all be separated, sanded down cleanly. We will re-welled one or two welds to reinforce the entire frame later. And then the frame will be blasted again, sandblasted and then powder coated. We have our own powder coating here. That means we do all of this in-house. As I said, this was the main frame that will be reused. The brake calipers will also be used. Of course, this always depends on whether it was a single brake disc or a double brake disc. In this case, it is a double brake disc. These are Brembo brake calipers. They will be completely dismantled, new pistons, new seals, new pads and so on will be installed. And of course the housing is completely blasted and also powder coated again. So the next thing that is reused is the fork, namely the two lower fork tubes and the two stanchions. The stanchions, as you can see, are still the long version. They are shortened accordingly depending on the type of vehicle. In this case, there is a CFF racer. The fork is shortened by 120 millimeters. The inner tubes are completely replaced. New progressive fork springs. The fork lower fork tubes are completely stripped of paint, also blasted and also recoded. New slide rings are installed and of course new screws everywhere. The stanchions are usually reused, However, we also have vehicles where rust spots have already developed on the sliding surface. We then have to replace them because they will no longer seal with the oil seals. In these cases, new stanchions are used. The triple clamp is reused at the top of the fork. The lower and upper triple clamps are al The triple clamp here is first completely blasted and the area here at the front is milled over. A thread is inserted and a mount for the headlights is installed. This is not available on the standard triple clamp, so it has to be made first. And of course it is also coated accordingly, Yes, and this is of course the engine. This is what it looks On this vehicle here, there is of course a pro version, where the engine will be black in the end. This is an 800cc engine that we are converting to 1000cc. How we do that with the engines, or rather what exactly happens to the engines, I will talk about in more detail in one of the next sections. So, here we also have the transmission. In this case, it is a rare kicker transmission that was in the vehicle. Ah, that will also be completely dismantled and completely rebuilt, just So, no old component remains, or rather, everything is dismantled. The crankshaft is balanced on the engine, new crankshaft bearings. Here, the transmission is completely dismantled. The gears are checked, the synchronizer rings are replaced. Most of the time, the first gear is broken, so the first gear is replaced. So, it's practically a new transmission. When we're done with it, it will of course be completely blasted and black thermocoded. The clutch, which you can clearly see here, is also a component that is always replaced regardless of how much mileage the motorcycle has. That means a completely new clutch is installed. But as I said, more about the technical components of the G's engine in general will be discussed in more detail in one of the next sections. In a vehicle where the cast wheels remain in place, the cast wheels are of course also reused. As in this case, that means the wheels are also completely stripped of paint. The bearings come out at the front, completely stripped of paint. As a rule, we put the front wheel back on the lathe and then pull very fine spars over the contact surface of the brake discs, so that at the end or during assembly, the brake discs are 100% accurately aligned and have no imbalance. Of course, the wheels are always checked. Of course, you have to say that out of 50 wheels, 20 are crooked or have a deformation or something, but we actually have a lot of wheels here that we can fall back on, so that if a wheel actually has a deformation or an imbalance, we can exchange it for a perfect wheel or wheel that has been tested by us. The wheels are stripped of paint, put into a paint bath, then into a paint stripping bath, then powder coated, and are given the same fine black structure as the fork or the brake calipers. The frame, by the way, is usually always finished in glossy black. And in this case, the swing arm is also used. And the chassis drive here is still mounted in the swing arm. The swing arm is also removed, the chassis is blasted and powder coated in glossy black. The joints, in this case the chassis shafts, are checked. If there is even the slightest play in the chassis shaft joints, new joints are installed, and the swing arm bearings are on the right and left. There are also new swing arm bearings, regardless of the mileage of the engine. This is the rear axle transmission, which is attached to the rear swing arm, same procedure as the engine with transmission, it is completely dismantled. The bevel gears are checked for play. The thrust washers are checked and replaced if necessary, the gears. So, the same procedure is followed here as with the engine and transmission. Here too, the housing is completely blasted and painted with our own thermal coating, the black thermal coating. We also sell thermal coating in cans. That means it's the same, it's the same paint that we use here in powder coating, but from a can. And it can be processed very easily with the same result as we do with our engines and transmissions. So, what we still have here are the brake discs. The brake discs are usually completely worn out, as is the case here. They are worn through, they are undersized, and they can usually no longer be used. That's basically scrapped. What we continue to use is the inner plate or the inner part of the brake discs. We drill out the rivets here and then rivet on completely new brake disc rings, stainless steel brake disc rings, which are also floating in the end. That means you have a brake upgrade at the same time, plus the brake discs are made of stainless steel, no longer rust and have clean holes. As far as braking performance is concerned, this is the first recommendation if you want to optimize your vehicles brakes a bit. This happens automatically for us, or rather, it's done this way for every new motorcycle we rebuild. And last but not least, here is the original tank. It's completely blasted both inside and out. In this case, you can already see it. It's also been blasted down here in advance, because these are the first places on the tanks that rust through. Because as you can see here, everything looks really clean. There's no need to weld anything on the tank. It's now being cleaned and blasted inside, the outside is being blasted again, and then a completely new paint job begins. Of course, the tank is first completely resealed. For this, it has to stay here for about a week or 10 days before it's painted. As I said, there's not much left of the motorcycle when it's dismantled, or that we can reuse. You've seen the rest, we filmed it briefly outside in the yard. It actually ends up in the trash, parts There's no market for it. We basically throw them away, or in our case, or what do we mean in our case. Currently, we have to classify them as hazardous waste. Some components, such as the speedometer, for example, or the handlebar controls and things We have a buyer who comes once a month or every two months and takes all the stuff away for a fixed price. Yes, that's it for the dismantling of the motorcycle or the preparation. That means the next step in this case will be to work on the frame first and to start with a rolling chassis kit. That means frame, swing arm, rear axle transmission, wheels, brake discs and fork. This is the first part where we start, or rather, we are now working on the first parts. Then the thing here is on the wheels as a chassis and then we continue with the engine, transmission and so on. Then of course the electrics, small parts, exhaust system, footrest system and so on, one after the other. But we proceed according to the fixed scheme. And as you can see, this is also the order of the motorcycles as they are positioned here. This is already a somewhat structured process, how the motorcycles progressed from the construction to the next part. That means, in the next part, we will continue with the chassis. Yes, I hope you enjoyed the short s I would be happy if you could join us again for the next part, which will continue with the chassis, chassis and then the engine and transmission. On that note, stay healthy, stay clean. Until next time.