Breathtaking Kawasaki Z650 Cafe Racer Is What Custom-Made Perfection Looks Like

Nowadays, tinkering with motorcycles is his primary, full-time occupation, and we’ve seen what Sir Simpson is capable of several times before. Not too long ago, we looked at his startling Moto Guzzi Sport 1100 street tracker here on autoevolution, but it is now time for us to admire the latest entry to have popped up in Foundry’s portfolio. As always, you’ll be in for one hell of a visual treat!

The donor for this project was an old-school Kawasaki Z650 – sort of. Tom’s client wanted to rebuild the Kawi’s inline-four powerplant himself, but the rest of the transformation process was to be handled by Foundry. The Z650 made its way to the workshop in pieces, and the only parts retained were its forks, wheels, fuel tank, and frame. Aiming to create an elegant cafe racer with UJM flair, Tom dug straight in.

Since he didn’t have to worry about an engine rebuild, the project’s author sourced a dummy motor to work around and proceeded to tackle the structural side of things. For starters, he made use of his vast metalworking know-how to craft a new aluminum swingarm from scratch. This bad boy was then paired with modern YSS shock absorbers featuring dual-rate springs and adjustable preload.

Up top, the rear suspension items are connected to a modified subframe, whose structure steers clear of the looped design you’d normally see on a cafe build. There are dual-function LEDs from Kellermann fitted in close proximity to the upper shock mounts, while a custom tail section can be spotted above the subframe tubing. Moreover, our protagonist also added a discreet inner fender to prevent any road debris from reaching the air intake.

Attached to the tail’s underside is a bespoke license plate bracket fabricated in-house. Tom stashed some of the Z650’s refurbished electronics and a lithium-ion battery within the tail itself, but there is also a Motogadget mo.Unit controller hidden beneath the seat. Speaking of the saddle, it’s been put together by Trim Deluxe using black Alcantara and contrasting white stitches.

The stock gas tank received a Golan fuel petcock and a shiny Monza-style filler cap, but the original Kawasaki badges were retained and freshened up for a clean look. Dynatek supplied a premium electronic ignition complete with youthful coils, all hidden well out of sight beneath the fuel tank. With these goodies in place, Tom turned his attention back to the machine’s running gear, treating its OEM forks to a comprehensive makeover.

He rebuilt the brakes fore and aft, while converting the front setup to a sturdier twin-disc arrangement with drilled rotors. The bike’s footwear still makes use of the factory wheel hubs, but these are now coupled with aftermarket aluminum rims via stainless-steel spokes. For optimal grip, the new hoops were both cloaked in Avon Roadrider MKII rubber prior to installation. There’s a lot going on in the cockpit area, too, with fresh clip-ons replacing the Z650’s original handlebar.

Of course, the handlebar supports were now redundant and have thus been eliminated, leaving no trace of their existence behind. Instrumentation comes in the form of a single Motogadget Chronoclassic dial, which does double duty as both a tachometer and speedo. It rests on tailor-made mounting hardware, fronted by a vintage-looking headlight measuring seven inches in diameter.

Motone switches, Biltwell grips, and a Honda CBR600RR’s control levers complete the equipment in that area, along with discreet Kellermann turn signals. The rider triangle is finished off with CNC-machined rearsets sourced from Tarozzi’s inventory. When the Kawi’s reworked four-banger finally arrived, it did so wearing higher-spec Keihin CR carburetors topped with Ramair foam filters. The exhaust fabrication was assigned to Tom, though, and he knocked it out of the ballpark.

This Z650 cafe racer exhales via four-into-two pipework made of stainless-steel, ending in tiny reverse megaphone mufflers right below the foot controls. Last but not least, the motorcycle needed a simple, yet effective colorway to finish things off in style. Foundry outsourced the paint job to S Jago Designs, a regular collaborator located just down the road in Chichester.

A dark shade of greyish blue was applied to the frame, fuel tank, and tail section. It’s a muted affair, for sure, but a bike that looks this good really doesn’t need a vibrant color scheme to stand out – quite the opposite. Its seamless proportions, minimalistic appearance, and classic charm are the name of the game here, so an overly complicated paint job would’ve been more of a liability and a distraction.