-
Enjoy XS650.com? Consider making a donation to help support the site.
XS650.com receives a small share of sales from some links on this page, but direct donations have a much greater impact on keeping this site going.
What is a cafe racer?
- Thread starter Juicyk
- Start date
-
- Tags
- cafe racer
It is what ever you say it is, IMHO #1 no-ish #2 mostly #3 is a Honda
CDNTX650
XS650 Guru
lighter than stock, hopped up performance, and actual handling/braking mods. not stock with clubmans and a seat with no rear sets.
Like Gary said #2 is the closest.
What "I" think makes a Cafe racer bike.
1. Bubble seat. Like what you see labeled as Cafe seats on MikesXS.
2. Low Bars, can be clip-ons or Clubmans
3. Rearsets, foot pegs behind the rider, like a sport bike.
4. Optional, tank that is either long and narrow or has knee pads/indents.
Those are the aesthetics, more importantly is it's modified for performance.
What "I" think makes a Cafe racer bike.
1. Bubble seat. Like what you see labeled as Cafe seats on MikesXS.
2. Low Bars, can be clip-ons or Clubmans
3. Rearsets, foot pegs behind the rider, like a sport bike.
4. Optional, tank that is either long and narrow or has knee pads/indents.
Those are the aesthetics, more importantly is it's modified for performance.
The origen of the Cafe racer wasin Europe, England mostly. They started with a stock bike and removed the extra weight and improved the engines and handling. Then when you and your buddies were hanging out in a cafe you found a long song on the jutebox and then had to race to somewhere and back before the song ended.
Some times they raced from cafe to cafe.
So any bike that looks like one of those cafe racers is a cafe racer.
Leo
Some times they raced from cafe to cafe.
So any bike that looks like one of those cafe racers is a cafe racer.
Leo
Attachments
Juicyk
Retro
I'm liking the feed back so far. Before it gets too busy anyone know what tank that is on the second one or a similar tank?
XS750 maybe.
Leo
Leo
The cafe racer was Europe's version of the bobber, stripped down, light weight and made to handle better than stock. Anything that would come off was tossed. Cafe racers differ from bobbers for 2 main reasons: 1. Back in the 1940s and '50s it was very hard to know what the style was across the pond and 2. Most cafe racers were built on British made vertical twins and most bobbers were built on American made Indian and H-D V-twins.
I like 1 and 2 as cafe racers but 750 Hondas are not known for great handling and therefore don't make good cafe racers even if they look the part.
That said, these days the various styles are so intermingled who knows. I'm currently working on a pile of parts that will someday be a bobber/cafe crossbreed of sorts.
More on bobbers: http://billysmotorcycles.blogspot.com/2011/09/bobber-history-101.html
I like 1 and 2 as cafe racers but 750 Hondas are not known for great handling and therefore don't make good cafe racers even if they look the part.
That said, these days the various styles are so intermingled who knows. I'm currently working on a pile of parts that will someday be a bobber/cafe crossbreed of sorts.
More on bobbers: http://billysmotorcycles.blogspot.com/2011/09/bobber-history-101.html
#1 looks more Americanized like say a bobber but could be considered cafe.
Juicyk
Retro
I agree I'm a huge fan of both of the first 2, and I plan on doing a sort of hybrid as well with my xs. They seem nimble and light like British bikes, but tough like a lot of American bikes.
Marvelicious
Naturally Aggravated
I hate genre rules... Everybody mentions rear sets, but if you look at vintage cafe pictures you won't see many. The big thing was to make your bike fast without much budget.
The truth is that the style has evolved. Just like a modern chopper doesn't look like one from back in the day, the modern interpretation of the cafe bike has changed. There are so many influences, especially with access to the internet: street fighters, flat/street tracker, even chopper styles have changed what might be considered cool.
My advice is look at a lot of pictures, and eventually you'll get a feel for what you want to build.
The truth is that the style has evolved. Just like a modern chopper doesn't look like one from back in the day, the modern interpretation of the cafe bike has changed. There are so many influences, especially with access to the internet: street fighters, flat/street tracker, even chopper styles have changed what might be considered cool.
My advice is look at a lot of pictures, and eventually you'll get a feel for what you want to build.
Last edited:
Agreed, things like rear sets came along later and first developed on race tracks, not on cafe racers. Times change so unless you're trying for a authentic replica of a certain time and place I wouldn't worry much about it.
Chi2
XS650 Enthusiast
I don't think a "cafe bike" is a thing as much as it is a process, attitude and style of riding. Take a motorcycle, remove the unnecessary weight, modify it to go fast by adapting the riding position and engine/suspension performance to "do the ton!" (which is no longer such an ambitious goal). The genre emerged in England, so a British cafe racer has the lines developed by countless BSA/Triumph and Nortons, carried on with our beloved XS'es and other UJM's later in time.
racerdave
^ Gone not forgotten ^
I think Rudes bike is a excellent version of a modern day Cafe.
littlebill31
Smells of Raw Fuel
My uncle studied at Hinkley during the mid to late '60's. He still has several "cafe" bikes that he and his pals built during that time.
Most forget that after the war England was pretty poor. Kids didn't have cars, so an inexpensive bike was a bettter mode of transport. And, of course, they would hang out at the truck cafe's. I read an article were kids would bend their handle bars down by sticking them into whatever they had, like railroad tracks, to get that low look the racers had. Light, fast and cheap.
These kids were sick though. Drum brakes, old tires, night roads in soggy England with that 6v headlight showing the way. My uncle tells of some pretty crazy stuff. He wasn't a Mod or a Rocker, didn't belong to the 59 club, just a Yank. But he saw a lot of this happening. He actually gets a little pissy when you call a modern bike a Cafe Racer. "Oh ya, a Cafe huh?" "And what cafe do you visit?" lol. Of course he gets pissy when you use a cell phone too. "Too damn modern!"
It must have been a cool time to witness though.
Most forget that after the war England was pretty poor. Kids didn't have cars, so an inexpensive bike was a bettter mode of transport. And, of course, they would hang out at the truck cafe's. I read an article were kids would bend their handle bars down by sticking them into whatever they had, like railroad tracks, to get that low look the racers had. Light, fast and cheap.
These kids were sick though. Drum brakes, old tires, night roads in soggy England with that 6v headlight showing the way. My uncle tells of some pretty crazy stuff. He wasn't a Mod or a Rocker, didn't belong to the 59 club, just a Yank. But he saw a lot of this happening. He actually gets a little pissy when you call a modern bike a Cafe Racer. "Oh ya, a Cafe huh?" "And what cafe do you visit?" lol. Of course he gets pissy when you use a cell phone too. "Too damn modern!"
It must have been a cool time to witness though.
Tomterrific
XS650 Junkie
In 1972 I built my high-sided and tumbled Norton into a cafe racer. It had Tomacelli alloy clip-ons and headlight mounts, a 6 gallon endurance racing tank, Dunstall seat, Reg Curley rear-sets, a Gordon Blair design two into one into two exahust with twin Dunstall muffs and a little knife like front fender. I also replaced the tires with the new TT100. My Norton sucked like this but looked cool as hell.
Pretty much all those bikes above are not cafe racers because a stock bike would handle much better. A cafe racer is about making a copy of a racing bike that is street legal.(except the copper colored bike which looks like it can go, turn and stop) The current crop of socalled cafe racers is all about making a bike look cool to impress your buddies. I vomit a little when I see them and my first thoughts are how to strip them down and make real motorcycles out of them. But I've only been into bikes since the 60's.
Tom
Pretty much all those bikes above are not cafe racers because a stock bike would handle much better. A cafe racer is about making a copy of a racing bike that is street legal.(except the copper colored bike which looks like it can go, turn and stop) The current crop of socalled cafe racers is all about making a bike look cool to impress your buddies. I vomit a little when I see them and my first thoughts are how to strip them down and make real motorcycles out of them. But I've only been into bikes since the 60's.
Tom
Or the short version; a cafe racer is when it looks so cool that you can no longer endure the pain of riding it!
