Morini Cafe

BUILD DESCRIPTION

IN PROGRESS, check back for updates! UPDATES: -The G5 seat is finished, looks great! Cafe bars look pretty swag! -Everything is mounted up and ready to roll. The G5 had a 428 sprocket and the Morini runs a 420 chain, so I had to get the sprocket off the Cobra machined to fit the G5 hub, not to hard but set me back a few days. Chain is fitted now though! -Still need to get brakes on the thing... -Still searching for a lighting coil solution. Found the two pictures above on a motorized bike forum of a guy who was making these coils for S6 engines but has long since disappeared. I've been to several hardware stores and have not been able to locate the small rectangular piece that the coils are wrapped around in these photos. No clue what the piece is or what its actually used for. Anyone have any ideas?? Is it a moped? Not really... A dirt bike? Sort of... A cafe racer? That's the look I'm going for anyway... What you see here is a one off, Frankeinbike of sorts. Using a 70's dual sport mini bike frame and a modern 50cc motocross engine, my goal with this project was to create a cafe racer styled mini bike that's under 50cc so that it can be titled and registered as a moped. The frame: I had an old '74 Kawasaki G5 collecting dust in my garage and I decided that something had to be done with the bike. The thing was in really rough shape; it had sat in a friends yard for years after he had torn into the engine to see if he could get it running. The bike's engine case had been opened and screws had been lost, so it leaving it open to rain and dirt for years. I actually did get the thing started after messing with it a bit, but he little 89cc two stroke seemed to be more effort than it was worth, so I stuck it in my garage and there it sat.... until now. I stripped the G5 down to its frame and decided to use the stock forks, wheels, tank, and seat for the project. Plastidip was used in favor of paint to easily revitalize the frame, tank, wheels, and various other pieces of the bike. The engine: After an exhaustive search for potential 50cc moped and mini bike engines that would fit the frame, I finally came across a vertical cylinder 50 that looked like it would fit in the frame. I purchased a 2007 Cobra CX50 with a liquid cooled, 10.5 hp Franco Morini motocross engine to use as my powerhouse for the bike. Mounting the engine actually turned out to be rather simple; it just so happened that the front stock mounting hardware more or less lined up with the bolt holes for the old Kawasaki engine, and the rear mounting hardware was made to fit by simply cutting out a few pieces of steel bar to link up with the old bolt holes and suspend the engine. The exhaust: The stock exhaust off the Cobra wouldn't fit the new frame, and I wanted a more street style pipe as opposed to the huge dirt bike expansion chamber anyway. The solution: a Motobecane Gianelli Super Rock pipe from 1977. I knew some modification would be required to get it to fit, and in the end I cut the Gianelli pipe and linked it to a piece of flexible exhaust pipe from the auto parts store, sealed it up, and covered it in exhaust wrap. The electrical system: The Morini S6 doesn't come stock with a lighting coil and there's nothing aftermarket out there as far as lighting coils go. I need to run head/tail, turn signals, and instrument lights for street legality, so I'm still trying to figure this one out. Best option right now seems to be to purchase a performance stater for this bike (the ONLY aftermarket ignition available for this engine) because, as opposed to stock, there may be room to insert a homemade coil or a coil off of another bike... We'll see... If anyone has any suggestions, please comment!