Is it just me or are Cafe Racers just....

locOleoN

locOleoN

Is that the best you got? OK.. now my TURN...
getting to the point that they all look the same? same alloy tank, same seat, same clipon or clubman bars, same black spokes with red rims, all shiny and new, same led turn signal or visor on the H4 conversion headlight ..etc..etc... mabe a mono shock here or there or the usual inverted gsxr front end on spoked wheels... bla bla bla...

I used to think, (and even joke), that all sport bikes look the same, that I cant even tell them apart.. same for Harleys and crusiers... mehh.. all look the same, same colour, same fairrings etc..etc.. nothing special or unique about them... Heck even the power rangers riding them all look the same...

5-10 years ago, cafe racers were unique, i'd barely saw them on the street and when I did, I'd personally know the owner. Now They are just as common as your typical R6...

I was looking at the latest cafe racer magazine, (which incidently was in the dentist waiting room), and I noticed that 99% of the bikes in the mag looked basically the same, (except the feature spread about cafe'd out ducatis')... pic of old dudes in reliving their youth all dressed up in their rocker gear, (all patched up with Ace Cafe patches, riding boots with the little white socks over the top...etc..etc..) - Im not ready to be those old dudes yet reliving something of their past youth... I've event felt compelled to remove some of the patches on some off my vintage jackets as Im starting to feel a little embarassed to be "screaming" motorcycle brands or cafes on my gear like those old dudes.

As I walked out of the dentist office on friday, on the street were over 6 cafe racers lined up which I barely noticed, (all looking the same), next to usual crowd of other shiny gsxr's R6's, harleys, and Ninjas...

Dont get me wrong, its great that the cafe racer is a growing genre, (its now officially another choice of motorcycle that a noobie rider rider can go out and buy from craigslist other than the R6 or sportster), but Im now absolutely convinced that the cafe racer is by no means unique and special anymore...

Sure, years ago we use to brag "yeah, we build our bikes, not buy them"... Unless you were Jesse James who builds bikes from a block of alloy and straight tubes, that posturing really ment that we were too cheap and too inexperienced to work on anything other than a 30+yr old bike".

The reality is, you can practically, (if you know where to look), buy a negligected, smacked up, beat up sport bike for just as cheap as any barely running cb550, xs650 or triumph project bike... and build/rebuild it for almost the same cost considering the parts for vintage bikes are going through the roof vs. parts for year 2000+ sportbikes are dime/dozen anywhere!...
This is what I've been doing lately it since they seem more readily avaliable these days...

Anyhow, Im not shooting down old bikes or the riders that ride them, (me included). I love my collecion of vintage brit and jap bikes just as much as anyone here loves theirs, but Im just finding that cafe racers aren't as special or unique as they used to be... (even up to as recently as 5 years ago)

heck, even all the new young wannabe hipster-rockers swagging on them look the same... really no different than the powerrangers on sport bikes or dentists on harleys... (or on cafe racers now adays)...

just my lameting reflection on the decline of the once unique cafe racer genre that I loved... or am I just looking for something new and inspiring? Now take Stunt riding for example... now thats Talent and Skill at its finest!..


It seems to be this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GvWBXHRIauA&list=PLBAF374E26CD20EB3&feature=mh_lolz

or this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PonKeBVyABI&list=FL9rdc_l0TFUnG9psOdf2x0A&index=5&feature=plpp_video


70 Tooth sprocket, dented tank, cowl cut out and 12:00 bar, here I come..
 
Naw, you felt like this for a week last month, and the month before, and the month before that... ;D
 
Got it one Leon. Cafe is a style. Like Bobbers, trackers etc. It defines a style and that style has parameters. When I was road racing I raced in the 500cc class. Well, I'd be on the grid looking around waiting for the start thinking damn!! these are ALL 500s. And they all have fairings and rear sets and little humps on the back of the seat. And all the gus are wearing black leathers.

Cafes aren't declining. They are becoming more popular and within the confines of what defines a cafe they tend to look alike. Its just theres more of them.
 
If the thrill you feel riding your bike is diminished because others ride similar looking or even identical bikes then its time to stop riding I figure. I could care less how many other XS650 cafe racers there are out there with 6 gallon alloy tanks etc. on them that might look identical to mine. My XS looked identical to 10,000's of others when it rolled off the factory line 40 years ago and that didn't stop someone from buying it and enjoying the hell out of it at the time.

Its hard to tell what a bike looks like at 100mph, and I'm certainly not paying attention to what brand of tires are on someone else's bike when I'm riding mine, so who gives a shit. More people on 2 wheels the better.
 
Hoofhearted said:
Got it one Leon. Cafe is a style. Like Bobbers, trackers etc. It defines a style and that style has parameters. When I was road racing I raced in the 500cc class. Well, I'd be on the grid looking around waiting for the start thinking damn!! these are ALL 500s. And they all have fairings and rear sets and little humps on the back of the seat. And all the gus are wearing black leathers.

Cafes aren't declining. They are becoming more popular and within the confines of what defines a cafe they tend to look alike. Its just theres more of them.
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I hear ya, Im not suggesting that the cafe racer genre is declining.. its growing no doubt! I even saw a Cafe Racer t-shirt that you can buy at the GAP!!

Im just lamenting on the decline of its uniqueness... so much so that it doesnt event turn my crank anymore... I see one on the street and I dont even bother to give it a second look anymore... its like "so what"... another chopped up tank welded or rivited to a stock seatpan.. big deal...I did that years ago...
 
Yep. It's officially a fashion - a trend and it will pass ..................in time. Hipsters are into the scene and talk all sorts of smack about "the Build" and rawness and naked pure function and all the other buzzwords that tell you it's a fashion trend. 90% of the bikes are not very good but that doesn't stop me form enjoying my bike/s.

I was here last time that cafe Racers were a fashion and I couldn't afford to buy the best stuff (Dunstall, Dreda etc) then either. :)

The way I see it is that lots of young people are discovering motorcycles and are riding older less stupidly fast bikes are learning to work on them and are learning critical thinking skills and that has to be a good thing. Problem solving skills and critical thinking and working with your hands are all good things that we have started to lose in our society, so I think it's good that we have more people playing with old bikes and getting their hands dirty.

Maybe there's hope for the country after all.
 
This is where I really admire the guys of outfits like Radical Ducati or others that are doing serious performance enhancing of already high performance machines (the true 'cafe racers' of our time). It takes serious understanding and skill to improve on the high tech stuff produced today. It's very different than building to a genre. Sure, adding low bars and a stretched alloy tank to a CB360 will improve its performance, but it is pretty easyand is being done a lot. This is very unlike the true performance mods like headwork, crank work, suspension tuning, frame geometry and the like.

I am rarely interested in a carbon copy genre bike (any genre) since they are all overdone, but I will always look twice at a bike that was built only for performance--they look different, even if some of the cues are the same. This rule is the same for any mechanized piece, and will always bring me a thrill....
 
teazer said:
The way I see it is that lots of young people are discovering motorcycles and are riding older less stupidly fast bikes are learning to work on them and are learning critical thinking skills and that has to be a good thing. Problem solving skills and critical thinking and working with your hands are all good things that we have started to lose in our society, so I think it's good that we have more people playing with old bikes and getting their hands dirty.

Maybe there's hope for the country after all.
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Well said.
 
The cafe noobs build to a template. They see a bike they like on a blog or forum and want to build one just like it. Multiply this by hundreds and you'll have many guys building to the same inspiration bike. Hence the endless builds featuring the same Firestones, pipe wrap, low profile Brat seat, blacked-wheels, Benelli tank etc.
 
Style is a very fluid thing, and as it changes, so do the looks of the bikes. But some things are just timeless, classic looking pieces....like cafe style bikes. They'll always be here and a younger generation like myself has found and appreciated the true beauty of this amazing style.
 
^^^
I hate this argument.
If it was all about go we would all be riding crotch rockets.
They are timeless, they are fun to work on, they look great, and you can ride them. That's it. Build it how you like it.
But if you think the only reason you build a cafe "racer" is for performance you're just lying to yourself. Your cb350 or hell rd350 etc doesn't even hold a candle to real performance.
 
Nebr_Rex said:
Cafe racers are about go,bobbers,choppers,brats(?) are about show ie.POSERS
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There's a few old dudes around me that ride some old Ironhead Sportster chops, and I bet you dollars to doughnuts that any of them could out run and out ride 95% of the cafe racer folks.

Calling chops POSER bikes is a fucking cop out. A properly built chopper is light, fast, handles great, and is an absolute blast to ride.


*EDITED...

Some terribly unnecessary douchbaggery needed to be removed...

;)
 
Nebr_Rex said:
Cafe racers are about go,bobbers,choppers,brats(?) are about show ie.POSERS
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Please define "Poser"
A year and a half ago...My bro brought his 400four up from memphis, I had never heard the term "cafe racer" before that day. It was cool and fun. A couple months later the 360 was in my driveway. that eve I spent an hour looking at pics of old hondas online. (cafes, brat, bobbers etc etc) THE BRAT SEAT I WAS LOOKING AT LOOKED A WHOLE LOT MORE COMFY THAN THE LITTLE THIN FOAM PAD I WAS SEEING ON CAFES" And with A COMFY SEAT and COOL LOOKING PIPE WRAP BEING MY ONLY SOLID PLAN. The next day I started disassembling mine and ordering parts. A couple days after that...He and I made the front end swap w a 69 cl350...neither of us knew if it would even work. His 9 year old son...traced the wiring harness w me...I am color blind.
I DIDNT EVEN KNOW IT WOULD BE CONSIDERED POOR ETIQUETTE TO PAINT THE ENGINE RED. Which apparently it is....lol.
I didnt find DTT until after my bike was completed, painted and running.
I built my bike 98% myself. Yes, mostly through a lot of trial and error. Wasted parts and $. Learning as I went. Shes the first and only bike I ever owned. Im 45 years old, job, mortgage, wife, kid, dog...

I really enjoy my little honda. 99% of these bikes are nothing more than freakin tinker toys. Cheaper than dirt and funner than fuck.

Am I all about speed...No. I ride a 1976 Honda CB360 w FLAMES painted on engine and a toolbox shaped to look like a friggin NOS bottle and Coker Firestones for Christs sakes. LOL. Speed is the last thing Im looking for. 80 mph on this thing is fast enough for me.

Of course its about show, but even more about FUN for me...My bike brings back fun memories of Hotwheels and Plastic model car kits for me. Sure, most guys look at me crosseyed and ask about the NOS...I tell em its a toolbox and we both laugh, they say its cool, and just enjoy it for what it is.

If it were about speed Id fuckin finance a BMW 1200.

Is that a poser?
 
Well .. to answer Leons original question. Yes. There are more of them and they do start to look alike after a while. But then again ... I am looking for them. When you immerse yourself in something for long enough it dosen't seem special . It becomes the norm, it seems to be every where. You have been doing this for qute a while now so it's no supprise that it's lost its shine. You can always walk away for a while to bring the gloss back or move on to something that intrests you more. What I will guarantee is that one day you will look back at this time in your life and go " that was cool. I'm glad I was there when that was happening."

As for a cafe racer T-shirt at the GAP. I bought one at Wal-Mart. :eek:

As for the cafe vs bobber question:
The only reason to build or ride a cafe racer is because it makes you happy. It's not about looking cool. If you build a bike expecting to get a pat on the back you are wasting your time. It dosen't matter if its a cafe, bobber, chopper or stock, people will not swarm around you and tell you you are cool. The only reward is the bike. Do you go out to the freezer in the garage to get some bacon only to catch yourself staring at your bike? That is why you build.(or restore for that matter). No one can give or take that away from you. It's the self satisfaction that YOU built that with your own hands to the best of your ability. 8)
 
hillsy said:
Familiarity breeds contempt.


Doesn't matter what it is - bikes, music, films, whatever.
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Crap! I wish I had wrote that. Would have saved a lot of time.
 
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