During all these years of economic recession, Builders Ryan Rajewski and Casey Stevenson at California Ryca Motors have found a very profitable niche. Offering a CS-1 Kit costing between $2,600 to $3,000 which converts a Suzuki S40 -aka Suzuki Savage – into a lightweight, reliable, and fuel efficient Cafe Racer.
All parts are included and the duo claims that in one year they have sold 300 of these kits with 95% of them being built by customers in their garage in less than 48 hours! You just need a used Suzuki 540 (average price with low miles is 1200/$1500 and eBay is full of them) and some hand tools. Instructions included via downloadable PDF and no welding required!
American Suzuki Motor Corp. was so impressed with the assembled kits that they are actively promoting them to the brand’s 950 U.S. dealers as a showroom lure to increase sales… Strong of their success, Ryan Rajewski and Casey Stevenson are now working on street tracker, scrambler, and bobber kits to be released very soon. Can anyone do better for a total assembled motorcycle costing less than $5000. Ryca Motors.
Not a bad looking ride at all
Clever Americans.
I want one, but eBay currently has only 4 donor bikes listed and they are all over $1800. I have a feeling that my “project” will end up considerably over budget by the time it’s finished.
Great idea. Congrats to you!
Make it with a Limey donor would be better
Great find, Cyril.
This is brilliant . The tie in with American Suzuki … shear genius . Two thumbs up !
Very neat idea, but you can buy a used Sportster for 1500 to 2500 bucks and make it cool for another grand…..a total 2500 to 3500 invested….and with all the aftermarket bolt on stuff out there for them these days you can build any style you want without welding a thing.
That is so sweet. I’ve always liked the Suzuki 650 “Thumper”, best first bike EVER! Gobs of low end torque for newbies with their first clutch yet very forgiving and it can cruise easily at highway speeds. Everything the Buell Blast coulda shoulda been. Great project bike and without a back jug there are lots of options.
Cool scoot…a bit small for my carcass, but very well done. Gotta agree with Rodent on using a Limey donor bike though, but cool that he used what he had available at that time.
I’m guessin the , fat tire , long front end , 20K paint job craze is officially over ?
Its a good idea if you have a bike already but I dont understand why they built it on one of the worst bikes ever made by Suzuki. The Savage,LS650, S40 is a slow and high maintenance bike.
I agree a older Sportster would be a much better bike especially if you spend any time on the freeway.
Great idea. This will get the younger riders involved with custom cool bikes & it’s in there price range.
Gosh, I can’t believe we are reverting back to bikes that look like 1950-60’s. Imaginations going backwards. Who here can build or wants to build at these prices unless it’s all off shore part poop, and make a living, and get it financed, and warranty it, and, and ,and and,
and !!!
Back to basics.
“…being built by customers in their garage …”
And a more interesting class of scooter jockeys….. Bonus!
Perhaps the country is actually getting back on the right track.
Now, if we could only get rid of OhBummer.
-nicker-
I built one of these. It was an easy and fun uncomplicated week of evenings in the shed. The bike is fun, reliable simple unique and fun. You can make it as custom as you want, but the point of the kit is to have an easily repeatable build, and end up with something that truly transforms the stock machine. Some of you guys will scoff at that favoring re-constricting a scrapyard dog or digging for rare iron in barnyards. But there is a market for this sort of thing – as evidenced by the many hundred kits sold around the US and Europe.
The RYCA boys have taken a cool direction and the market is ready for more of this – they have promised a street tracker and scrambler variant, and I’ll be signing up for the latter. I found a Craig’s list S40 for $1800 and knocked the kid down to $1500 due to the damaged exhaust and missing side cover (that get pitched anyway).
Thanks Cyril for covering the other end of the custom spectrum as well as higher end builds like the Zach Ness Judge. Both are cool, both are unique and both are cafe bikes. Roll up to the local pub and see what gets more attention these days.
I hope you all get out and ride something this weekend. I hear the Internet is just another fad anyway.
I ride Harley because that is what I like. I also really like seeing what all customizers are doing. When I see stuff like this I am encouraged to think that not all the the younger guys are as worthless as what I see walkin down the street with there pants fallin off. There are a whole lot more folks that can afford to go ridin this way than can pony up for showroom new. More people ridin means less people tryin to run over us…..we all win.
Almost forgot….looks very cool too!
Must have blasted my first post into cyberspace…anyway, its good to see the different solutions to a common problem; how to ride on the cheap and look good doin it. Bravo gentlemen.
That’s it Ben get more Bikes out there! and Rub that is funny as Shit “20K paint jobs over, Ha Ha! That is and should be the Truth in this Economy. You know Guy’s what ever works. This is all about a Great Bunch of Computer Illiterate Bikers becoming Literate Bloggers sharing our Fear’s, Hope’s and Dream’s of Riding and looking to see what everybody else all over the World is thinking and doing, to make Motorcycles Cool forever! And a Skinny 150 lb. Frenchmen bringing this all together so we all can talk about it over a Qwerty Keyboard!
P.S. Good Job Ryan & Casey! Great Idea and a good Program to put it together! Great Idea to make this happen with a Buell or Sportster!
@ capt john There’s a lot of merit in doing custom Sportys but for this particular look, the back jug of a V-twin just doesn’t work IMO. A single like this or an inline twin, tripple, four, whatever just looks “right”, from the first Cafe British Twins to these current ones. There’s a lot of cool Sporty customs still to be made, but they will always be a different look than this. Not bad just different.
The anchor-pin boss addition to my knuckle frame allows a later 1949-59 front clip (fork assembly) to be used on 1936-1947 knuckle frames.
Made possible only under the assistance of that often used, but mostly then painted-over and kept secret, (g’wan admit it, we’d find tubes of the stuff if we were granted a warrant of access to “search and toss” your shop) …. comforting ol’ bromide…. J-B Weld®. Champion!!
Will J-B anchor pins open a new chapter on knucklezation? Quite possibly. Hydra-glides are smooth action bump dampeners.