The Donnor (the original motorcycle): Yamaha XJ550

 About the Motorcycle

This project was originally about a Yamaha XJ550 into a regular café racer, using its original engine.

The motorcycle was promising, only 550cc, but with 4 in-line cylinders (four carburetors, four valves per cylinder). Back in the day, around the early 80s, the XJ550 was a fast bike, reaching 175 km/h and making a quarter-mile in less than 13s, a performance only common to the 900cc at the time.

  

XJ550 Seca

Power: 50.46hp (37 kW) @ 10,000rpm
Top speed: 110mph (175 km/h)
Engine: 528cc air-cooled DOHC inline four
Weight (empty tank): 408lb (186Kg)

 

 

There are quite a few projects on the conversion of this motorcycle into a café racer. With a little love, the result can be very nice!

 

Here is an example of a nice built made by Eastern Spirit Garage

 

However, destiny had other plans for this bike. I removed the engine from the frame so I could sand the frame and paint it. In the meanwhile, the engine was stored at my shed. Much to my dismay, I found out that this engine was stolen during a short trip to Quebec.

So, I decided to make an electric café racer!  Another road begins, where I have lots to learn about building the whole electrical and electronic system for this bike, and this blog is about this story.