What is a Cafe Racer......discuss.
- Thread starter beachcomber
- Start date
DrJ
Over 1,000 Posts
Okay fellas, I was waiting for the right time to post this. I'm not going to argue what constitutes a cafe racer but I have my own idea of what a cafe should be like. I'll call it, "The Proper Cafe Racer". As opposed to listing what the Proper Cafe Racer should have, here's a list of things a Proper Cafe Racer shouldn't have. Don't get me wrong, there have been lots of amazing builds on DTT that have these features but they're just not my cup of 10-40.
A few things that I feel do not belong on a Proper Cafe Racer:
Radiators
Wheels smaller than 18 inches, larger than 19 inches
Upside down forks
Dual front disc brakes
Monoshocks
Digital gauges
Carbon fibre
Titanium
Wood
Coloured spokes including black
Checkerboards
The words "Cafe Racer"
Exposed zip ties or hose clamps
More than 2 main colours in the paint scheme
White wall tires
drag bars
shaftdrive
Comstars
A few things that I feel do not belong on a Proper Cafe Racer:
Radiators
Wheels smaller than 18 inches, larger than 19 inches
Upside down forks
Dual front disc brakes
Monoshocks
Digital gauges
Carbon fibre
Titanium
Wood
Coloured spokes including black
Checkerboards
The words "Cafe Racer"
Exposed zip ties or hose clamps
More than 2 main colours in the paint scheme
White wall tires
drag bars
shaftdrive
Comstars
DrJ said:
Yeah, DrJ, I have to admit, this is sniffing way too close to the rim of the purist cup for me.
If you want to go there, you might as well not call anything on the entire site a cafe racer. Then, I don't mind if my bike isn't one. There are maybe one out of 100 bikes on here that don't have one of those things on it.
Hey man, I appreciate that we're all different, I just hope that we don't all develop this mentality, because then most of us aren't allowed in the cool club anymore!
Hell, honestly, I'm with Swagger, I'm just gonna call the bikes I love "specials". That's what they are...something way cooler than most things out there.
Besides, Starbucks is NOT a cafe.
DrJ
Over 1,000 Posts
I knew my words would ruffle some feathers but they're not meant to diss anyone's bike. Again, just a personal ethos. Yes, I suppose I am a bit of a purist when regarding what I consider a cafe racer. Hell, I never refer to my bike as a cafe racer because it isn't. It has some styling cues of a cafe and may have been built in the cafe racer spirit but it's just not a cafe racer. It's a vintage Honda done up in an early 70s Southern California style.
I think thaty defining a cafe racer is impossible. The way some of the posts read you would think that everyone in the 60s had Dunstall Dommis or Chuck Triumphs. An awful lot of what were called tonup boy on cafe racers were nothing more than broke ass guys with beat up POS that had clubmans and alloy fenders. The range of what qualifies as a cafe racer is huge. I bult this Triton in the late 60s. I was one of those broke ass dickheads that wanted to be cool. I had about $130 in this. Note the stock bars, gas tank, battery holder, oil tank, rattle can spray job, stock front brake, etc. The Triumph primary cover got chopped up because I had an AMC trans and that was the only way I could get it to fit. Meant the primary chain ran dry. The coolest part of that bike was the swept back pipes (trade), mufflers (no idea where I got them). And one of those butt ugly glass dual seats. You with what you had. To list a minimum rquirement for a cafe is wrong. Equally I don't think ultra modern machines should be called cafes. It was a period and while there is a huge amount of flexibility I do believe there are limits.
By weslake at 2007-03-25
By weslake at 2007-03-25
DrJ said:
Oh no man! No feathers ruffled at all!
I just really never got into the purist side of the cafe racer thing because I couldn't afford it. Mostly because to be true to form, you need a British bike, and they are just out of my price range for a base platform. In fact, it's kind of funny that we all build so many japanese bikes, because really, they were the death of the original British racer. But now we're nodding to the British culture with that very bike.
I completely agree with you man...a TRUE cafe racer is exactly what you said. I just don't want one because I'd want to "improve" it with the list of no no's you mentioned! Haha.
Then again, if I ever find a Norton I can afford, I'm buying it.
midnightcafe
Been Around the Block
Hoofhearted said:I think thaty defining a cafe racer is impossible. The way some of the posts read you would think that everyone in the 60s had Dunstall Dommis or Chuck Triumphs. An awful lot of what were called tonup boy on cafe racers were nothing more than broke ass guys with beat up POS that had clubmans and alloy fenders. The range of what qualifies as a cafe racer is huge. I bult this Triton in the late 60s. I was one of those broke ass dickheads that wanted to be cool. I had about $130 in this. Note the stock bars, gas tank, battery holder, oil tank, rattle can spray job, stock front brake, etc. The Triumph primary cover got chopped up because I had an AMC trans and that was the only way I could get it to fit. Meant the primary chain ran dry. The coolest part of that bike was the swept back pipes (trade), mufflers (no idea where I got them). And one of those butt ugly glass dual seats. You with what you had. To list a minimum rquirement for a cafe is wrong. Equally I don't think ultra modern machines should be called cafes. It was a period and while there is a huge amount of flexibility I do believe there are limits.
By weslake at 2007-03-25
Hell, I've argued along these lines all the time. I see budget builds a lot, some worthy of praise, but a lot just suck. Anyone can take a hacksaw to a frame and call it "special," but in reality all you're doing is decimating its resale value and perpetrating against the performance engineered into that design. But then again, I'm sure a lot of ton up boys did the same way back when. So why can't we make due with what we have? Shaft drive, 17" tires, small headlamps, twin front discs, cast wheels- some of these amenities cannot be avoided, so we just make due with what we have. Isn't that the spirit of the cafe racer?
crazypj
Split personality, I fake being smart
DrJ said:
I agree with everything except this.
I saw a lot of 'cafe racers' /bikes with painted spokes, (and painted rims)
mostly black but also silver (and some with red or blue spoke nipples
)As Hoofhearted says, mainly built by people who were broke but still riding and trying to look cool
I couldn't afford the 200 quid for a tatty Triton in 1970 :'( ( I was only 13 though
)I would sell the 'imports' for a nice Enfield Constellation if one came along cheap enough though ;D
(BTW, Royal Enfield, not Harley, is worlds oldest and longest running motorcycle manufacturer, production started in 1890's)
The above post hit the nail with "make do with what we have". Its what we had to do. Not all could afford Dunstalls. And with the scarcity of of British stuff (of the genuine period variety that is) then todays cafe will be different to that of the 60s. My problem is that the Japs now make engines we could only dream of back then. The isn't a "rocker from the 60s" alive today that wouldn't chop off both nuts gladly for a Hayabusa. But as I said a lot of us didn't have two pennies to rub together so we did with what we have. This is a long time friend, Douggie Butterworth, with his "cafe". an old 250 Royal Enfield. A genuine dog but as Douggie will tell you it was that or nothing. The photo was taken around 1968.
By weslake at 2010-06-01
By weslake at 2010-06-01
djelliott
Real bikes are built in garages.
"make due with what we have" is the exact approach I took to building my bike. I felt that statement is exactly what the originators of the Cafe Racer movement had to do. Of course today we have a hell of a lot more resources available then they did 40 - 50 years ago. Can you imagine the bikes they would have built back in 1959 if there was eBay and DTT. Not to mention a million old Hondas that can be bought for next to nothing. I use the term "Cafe Racer" in a very general way. Although I'm really starting to get into the term "special" since hearing it in this thread. At the end of the day we are all really doing what "they" did. We are building bikes with the skills and finances we have available and trying to infuse that bike with a style we feel good about. Oh yeah, and I love my damn checkerboards, so there! Always have.
Always have.
locO leoN said:
I think you can see from my Avatar I have Scottish ancestory - Crawford - my 10th. Generation Grandmother was married to some guy called Wallace, who had a son called William.....................................
I can assure you that genuine Tartan would NOT be seen on a bike, and definitely NOT in Scotland - maybe in the Lowlands, where they were in the main peasants, but certainly NOT in the Highlands.
Stick with checkerboard - I think it must be an American misinterpretation of what an English bike should have been.
All in best possible tongue in cheek !!!! { The Crawford bit is genuine though]
Basement rat
Over 1,000 Posts
This would be "mine" if any and it would be EXTREMELY disrespectful to do anything of that nature with it.
Anybody have a clue "what" it it?
Question:
Would a Scottish cafe racer have a clear vinyl cover protecting the seat? ;D
Anybody have a clue "what" it it?
Question:
Would a Scottish cafe racer have a clear vinyl cover protecting the seat? ;D
Basement rat said:This would be "mine" if any and it would be EXTREMELY disrespectful to do anything of that nature with it.
Anybody have a clue "what" it it?
Question:
Would a Scottish cafe racer have a clear vinyl cover protecting the seat? ;D
Hey - I've got underwear in that pattern! I kid, I kid!
Basement rat
Over 1,000 Posts
Have fun masking the fucker for paint!
