When does a trend become boring or a Cliche?
When I first joined this forum years ago, cafe racers were HOT! The "in thing ". While I don't thing traditional British bike cafes will ever go out of style (or well done UJM's), that fad seems to have cooled off.
Then came the Brat Style. Everyone in the world was screwing on a flat seat and calling it done. And I'm a very big fan of the shop in Japan.....the REAL Brat Style, from where the name derived.
Along with the flat seat came brown seats. Then that was done to death. I've recently been building a bike in my head and the color combo would lend itself to a brown seat. But I hesitate....
Now all the "cool kids" have moved on to Harley Davidson's. Some of the Japanese or Euro customs that would have brought bidding wars a few years ago aren't selling that well now.
I build bikes because I enjoy it. I build what I like and if someone else does too, that's great! A bonus!
I also try to build stuff that I think will look good years after the latest "big thing" goes away.
Why am I bringing this up? Because I recently acquired a frame that's a stalled "cafe" project. You know.... chop off the rear loop and a bunch of frame tabs, then throw in the towel.
I've got to figure out how to make a bike with CV carbs run well when the air box attachment points are gone. How to use a pristine 4-2 exhaust and not have it stick out past the seat too much. How to route some wiring and where to put a battery.
But that's what we do here, right? And it just might be a green cafe racer with a brown seat!
When I first joined this forum years ago, cafe racers were HOT! The "in thing ". While I don't thing traditional British bike cafes will ever go out of style (or well done UJM's), that fad seems to have cooled off.
Then came the Brat Style. Everyone in the world was screwing on a flat seat and calling it done. And I'm a very big fan of the shop in Japan.....the REAL Brat Style, from where the name derived.
Along with the flat seat came brown seats. Then that was done to death. I've recently been building a bike in my head and the color combo would lend itself to a brown seat. But I hesitate....
Now all the "cool kids" have moved on to Harley Davidson's. Some of the Japanese or Euro customs that would have brought bidding wars a few years ago aren't selling that well now.
I build bikes because I enjoy it. I build what I like and if someone else does too, that's great! A bonus!
I also try to build stuff that I think will look good years after the latest "big thing" goes away.
Why am I bringing this up? Because I recently acquired a frame that's a stalled "cafe" project. You know.... chop off the rear loop and a bunch of frame tabs, then throw in the towel.
I've got to figure out how to make a bike with CV carbs run well when the air box attachment points are gone. How to use a pristine 4-2 exhaust and not have it stick out past the seat too much. How to route some wiring and where to put a battery.
But that's what we do here, right? And it just might be a green cafe racer with a brown seat!