Future Cafe Racers?????

O

oldmanninja

New Member
My Dad was/is the real deal when it comes to being a cafe racer, he was one. Back then doing the ton was difficult and dangerous, now it's easy . .so what's next? Do we wallow in nostalgia or build our own purpose in the spirit of the cafe racers? I want to lay down a new challenge . .We live in the age of environmental collapse (unless we do something), the fuel is going to dry up (55 years) . .So, I am going to build a cafe racer that does 100mph and 100mpg. . .that's the challenge. . message me if you want to have a go.
I am starting the project now and suggest a meet up of these new cafe racers in July 2017 at Ace Cafe . .
 
Ah . .should have wrote that clear! Be able to do 100mph. . . but also, be able to do 100mpg. . not at the same time! that would be REALLY REALLY difficult!
 
Great idea - I'd love to see some hyper efficient builds here. I'm not sure if anyone could get a pre-2000 machine into the 100MPG range but I'd love to see the attempts!
 
Small displacement > lots of gears in the tranny > really low (numerically) sprocket ratio

The question wouldn't be can you do the ton, but how quickly would you be able to do it
 
some people report getting almost 70mpg on the Ninja 250.......I wonder if any more weight could be shed to up that a little
 
If the same technology that is applied to new vehicles was applied to motorcycles, I don't see any reason why you wouldn't be able to get 100 mpg.
 
The new 390 duke is getting around 60-70 in stock trim. Not necessarily a café racer or old stock, but I think it has a lot of potential. Gotta be one of the best entry level bikes on the market, I've been lusting for a few months now. Quite inexpensive too at around $4k new I think.
 
Is this an Imperial gallon or a U.S. gallon? Can I assume Imperial since the meet is at the Ace?

I have a '14 CB500X that gets amazing mileage and know of some Brits that get in the 90's mpg and I'd bet 100 would be possible if they tried.
 
It's been done. Royal Enfield sold a diesel version of their bikes that comfortably did over 100MPG. I doubt you'd get one to do the ton without the aid of a cliff and gravity, but converting an Enfield to the café is a cinch.
 
coyote13 said:
Gotta be one of the best entry level bikes on the market, I've been lusting for a few months now.
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I keep imagining what it would be like to ride one on my favourite piece of twisty road!

The Limey said:
I doubt you'd get one to do the ton without the aid of a cliff and gravity …
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Even then, you would need a couple of miles run-up to get some launch speed!

Crazy
 
Fuel running out is kind of a moot point. Scientists and engineers have found a way to distill ethanol to its purist form, which is many cases, can be used as a fuel. As of right now, it's fairly inefficient compared to petrol, but it's a renewable source. So when we perfect the process of distilling to the point where it's easier than brewing beer, it'll be cheap and easy to get! Here's a big benefit, the emissions of pure ethanol have been recorded to be much less harmful to the environment than regular petrol or even E85. So what you should be doing is gear your combustion engine towards a pure ethanol fuel source, or all electric, which still has a ways to go before it's a fully viable and practical source of energy.
 
tdub said:
Fuel running out is kind of a moot point. Scientists and engineers have found a way to distill ethanol to its purist form, which is many cases, can be used as a fuel. As of right now, it's fairly inefficient compared to petrol, but it's a renewable source. So when we perfect the process of distilling to the point where it's easier than brewing beer, it'll be cheap and easy to get! Here's a big benefit, the emissions of pure ethanol have been recorded to be much less harmful to the environment than regular petrol or even E85. So what you should be doing is gear your combustion engine towards a pure ethanol fuel source, or all electric, which still has a ways to go before it's a fully viable and practical source of energy.
Click to expand...

Except that ethanol and other "green" fuels take land to grow the crops and usually use crops that also serve as nourishment for people. Land is running out faster than oil is.
 
Just wanted to thank you for your positive posts! I put this same topic on 'cafe racer.net' but it turned negative really quickly, so 'do the ton' wins my vote for members . . so, here's my plan, I've got an old cb250 'night Hawk' and that's what I will attempt to get up to 100mph and be able to do 100 mpg (uk gallon) this is probably quite easy really with some streamlining body work.
I will call the challenge "The double Ton". The bikes that can do it could be reasonably inventive . .electric, fuel injected . .who knows, two carbs, one for economy one for blasting. I know Mr Vetter over the pond has this challenge but not here in the UK.
Thanks again for support. I will post pictures when it's underway. . .Kind regards, Old Man Ninja (yes, my other bike's a ZXR 400, love it but can barely get on it, joints are going!)
 
But it didn't really. It turned into a whole different discussion about Cafe racers and custom bikes.

I love the idea of stretching performance of a small capacity bike to get decent performance and great fuel consumption. The problem with the thread on CR.net was that they picked up on the romantic image of "builds" which was never really what cafe racers were about until this current go around. That's where that thread got stuck - as they are wont to.

Cafe racers is a term that in this incarnation means something very different to what it did back in the day and that's probably a very good thing. It now seems to encompass almost any relatively low performance bike - preferably a twin cylinder 4 stroke and tolerates 4's and 2 smokes, but the mainstream is twins. Interestingly enough, it was last time around too, but for different reasons.

Having read posts on the first page, I think that I need to take the better half out to look at a KTM 390 Duke to replace her FZR400. Nice suggestion. We don't ride enough miles for fuel economy to be an issue, but a modern light bike that doesn't do a million miles an hour is appealing for her next bike.
 
That KTM 390 is plenty fast enough to have a lot of fun on. Wouldn't mind one for a track day bike to be honest, it's always fun getting faster lap times on a small displacement bike than 75% of the guys riding the 600's and 1000's. Done it many a time on my 525 single supermoto!
Anyway this could be an interesting thread, I will follow along to see what comes about.
 
Hydrogen is the new future. Fill up stations are starting to pop up. Just build yourself a hydrogen bike. Easy
 
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