Would you be interested in a nice, brand new, lightweight, single cylinder cafe racer? You’re probably thinking, why bother asking, no one is making them, but maybe you’re just not looking in the right place. Former NASA engineer Casey Stevenson of Ryca Motors had the same idea, he wanted a lightweight single to cruise around L.A. but finding few options he figured he could design his own, something with a Japanese single cylinder engine and a sort of modern cafe style. Then he saw the Suzuki Boulevard S40, the little belt drive cruiser, but he didn’t see cruiser, he saw something else hidden right there, in plain sight.
The S40, previously called the Savage, has been around for over 20 years but you can still buy them new. His idea was to transform the Suzuki with his own custom made parts and accessories, creating a kit in the process enabling anyone with basic tools to build their own urban thumper. The CS-1 features a 650cc single with 5 speeds, good looks and up to 60 mpg.
Here’s how Casey describes it:
For the prototype, I started with the tank. The bottom was chopped off, re-welded, and the entire tank was lowered with custom mounts. I made a tank plate to cover the cavity where the stock speedometer was located, which now houses the keyswitch and indicator lights.
I then lowered the front forks and brought up the rear with longer shocks to level the tank and establish the horizontal line that follows through to the seat and side covers. This brought the rake and trail down a good amount, and I realized there was no need to build a custom frame like I had originally planned. The stock frame is narrow and kinda disappears into the background, making everything seem very sleek and light.
For the seat, I chopped off the ends of the stock tubes and made a metal seat assembly that attaches to the existing mounting points. The entire piece is isolated from the frame with neoprene rubber to reduce vibration and can be adjusted depending on the weight of the rider. The cafe seat was made from fiberglass.
I really like the belt drive of the stock S40, so I had the rear hub re-laced to a larger 18″ rim. A custom battery box was created which doubles as a mounting point for the electronics, and fiberglass side covers were designed to match the contours of the seat and tank. The exhaust was modded to fit the reverse cone muffler, and I created a foot-actuated lever from the stock shifter to replace the heavy stock decompression solenoid. Custom speedo/tach brackets, belt guard, sidestand mount, and license plate bracket were fabricated.
For the rearsets, I designed a one-piece bracket assembly: left and right cantilevers cross-braced horizontally with tubing, all TIG welded together. The bracket attaches to existing motor mounts. New grips, clip-ons, and air-filter complete the package. The Ryca CS-1 cafe racer is born!
I work with some talented guys at my shop, and everything (excluding re-lacing of the rear hub) is done in-house. We can build you a CS-1 from a new or used Suzuki S40, or you can build one from our kit which includes:
-Low profile tank and indicator panel
-Tank mounts
-Fiberglass seat and seat mount assembly
-Rearset bracket
-Battery box
-Fiberglass side covers
-Mini tach and speedo mounting brackets
-Belt guard
-Sidestand relocation mount
-Decompression lever rod and linkage
Here’s what we offer:
New Motorcycle
Everything is factory fresh. All custom components are new. The engine and chassis are from a brand new bike with zero miles.
$9500
Low-Mileage Motorcycle
All custom components are new. The engine and chassis are from a low-mileage used bike in excellent condition.
$8000
Conversion
You bring us your S40. We make it awesome.
$5500
Kit
The kit is for the do-it-yourself home builder and includes the custom parts made by Ryca. All components can be attached at existing mounting points. No welding required.
Parts are primed and ready for paint: $3200 Parts are painted and clearcoated: $3600
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Casey says this is the first in a planned series of bikes. If they can do a small run, instead of only one or two, the prices could come down. The idea is to invest profits back into the company and sell more bikes for less.
I like the direction they’re going here, start with an existing bike and transform it into a bike not available elsewhere. Sweet looks, nice price, I like it. If the CS-1 looks good to you, give Casey a call at Ryca Motors.
Link: Ryca Motors
Check out the Suzuki Boulevard S40 motorcycles for sale.
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