Motorcycle News - Lean, mean and green: A new Le Mans from Kaffeemaschine
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Axel sticks to what he knows, and doesn’t reinvent the wheel with every build. As his reputation has grown, so has the Kaffeemaschine business: he’s hired two staff to help him, moved to a bigger workshop, and one of his clients is now a business partner.
It’s based on a 1984 850 Le Mans Mark III, which means the air-cooled V-twin was upgraded with tighter machining tolerances, different cylinder heads, a new intake system, and squared-off cooling fins on the barrels.
“Then he moved to VW, but still wanted to use the red-and-white color scheme of the Porsche 917 that won Le Mans in 1970. That was number 23 too.”
The hard parts and frame would be monochrome: grey, silver and black. “The client was happy with the new proposal and gave me his OK.”
A lightened flywheel and Dell’Orto PHF carburetors complete the performance package, and the elegant exhaust is one of Kaffeemaschine’s own in-house parts.
Rather than mess with the old school look of the Le Mans, Kaffeemaschine have kept the fork outers and replaced the internals with uprated springs and dampers from FAC. The new shock absorbers are custom-made Wilbers units.
Modern reliability comes from a new, custom-made wiring loom, electronic ignition, and a modern alternator and rectifier/regulator.
There are new alloy components everywhere—all made in-house—and all existing parts have been refurbished. “Every screw was reduced on the mill and pearl blasted, and all alloy parts grinded and galvanized.”
“It’s made from Kevlar aramid fiber, to get the ultimate in lightness and strength,” says Axel. “The biggest issue was building the fairing.”
“It almost seems to glow in the dark,” says Axel. “But I was a little disappointed after taking the studio pictures—it’s one of those bikes that looks better ‘live’. Maybe it’s because of the grey frame in front of the grey background.”
“I rode it several times and really fell in love with the look, performance and sound,” says Axel. “It’s hard to let it go. But I know that ‘she’ will lead a happy life; the owner is a true gearhead and bike fanatic.” Kaffeemaschine | Facebook | Instagram Motorcycles via Bike EXIF http://www.bikeexif.com April 27, 2019 at 12:32PM Leave a Reply. |
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4/27/2019
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