where did you first hear the term "café racer"?

[alexcb360t]

Hey Guys,
I was just thinking the other day about the first time I ever heard the term Cafe Racer. I know a lot of people had heard it from some movie, but I had first heard the term on a carpool ride home from work this past summer, when I was reading a book called "Kingdom of Fear" written by no other than Hunter S. Thompson. He wrote about how when he couldn't sleep at night he would jump on his cafe and go for a cruise to get his blood pumping. I'm pretty sure that when I got home I searched the term and thats what brought me to this site!!

now, similar to the Doc, when I can't sleep at night I wasted hours on this site! hahahahahahahahaha!!

 

[Flugtechnik]

I was looking for a bike I could ride around on for the summer. I only had $500 to spend and quickly realized all I could afford was an old metric bike. When they would pop up on CL, I would look up the info on them. While contemplating a CB750 I saw, I ran across Carpy's site. I thought those looked pretty cool. One of the guys I works with is an older guy from London who used to race bikes back in the 60s and 70s. He has a Manx Norton, a 40th anniversery Norton and a very rare New Imperial. Carpy's bikes reminded me of my friend's old racing photos. But I decided I wanted something smaller than a 750.

When a cl350 came up for sale, I ran across Mysta2's thread on TMW for loudbike and realized that was exactly what I was looking for. It is clean, simple, no fancy stuff, no chrome, hell, his tank isn't even painted. I have a very Bauhaus, form follows function, kind of taste. As things turned out, I got a CL450 but I am really just using it to get my feet wet with simple mods and learning to do the maintenance myself. Now that I have a bike to ride, I can patiently wait for a 350 or 360 basket case to fall into my lap so I can do a real build from the frame up.

 

[Greaser]

Probably 20+ years ago from my late Uncle who was not only a bike nut, but also a car nut and, even a heavy equipment nut too. I can't think of a time he wasn't rebuilding something....

 

[904cafe]

Hey Guys,
I was just thinking the other day about the first time I ever heard the term Cafe Racer. I know a lot of people had heard it from some movie, but I had first heard the term on a carpool ride home from work this past summer, when I was reading a book called "Kingdom of Fear" written by no other than Hunter S. Thompson. He wrote about how when he couldn't sleep at night he would jump on his cafe and go for a cruise to get his blood pumping. I'm pretty sure that when I got home I searched the term and thats what brought me to this site!!

now, similar to the Doc, when I can't sleep at night I wasted hours on this site! hahahahahahahahaha!!

Funny you say this... one of my first encounters with the term was with Hunter S. Thompson's literature "Hell's Angels". He rode a BSA A65 Lightning while riding with the gang... I'm not a big reading guy, but I had to do a book report in school and one of the books was "Hell's Angels". Been hooked ever since!

 

[Hoofhearted]

The term has been around since the 50s. In England cafes were referred to (and maybe still are) as "caffs". Racing from cafe to cafe brought on the term cafe racer. I remember reading about cafe racers in the early 60s. Hunter S. Thompson didn't invent the term.

 

[Represto]

I wasn't around in the 50's. I first found this world when I was looking for a bike a few years back. I had a tight budget and wanted an older bike...as I knew they'd be much simpler to work on. This led me to Honda CB's...and then to Carpy and this site. Now I find that my hands always have a tinge of black grease embedded deep between the crevices.

 

[spanners]

Hey Guys,
I was just thinking the other day about the first time I ever heard the term Cafe Racer. I know a lot of people had heard it from some movie, but I had first heard the term on a carpool ride home from work this past summer, when I was reading a book called "Kingdom of Fear" written by no other than Hunter S. Thompson. He wrote about how when he couldn't sleep at night he would jump on his cafe and go for a cruise to get his blood pumping. I'm pretty sure that when I got home I searched the term and thats what brought me to this site!!

now, similar to the Doc, when I can't sleep at night I wasted hours on this site! hahahahahahahahaha!!

over here in good old england in the 50/60s the rockers would hang out at roadside cafes,there was one near me (near Brands Hatch race circuit)called Johnsons,and a record would be put on the jute box,and riders would race to the roundabout at the bottom of Death hill and try and make it back before the record finished,i would say i think cafe racers are making a bit of a comeback here

 

[TDC]

First time I heard the term was from my father when I was 13 or so. We were touring on our bicycles and were pretty heavly loaded. We would go from one town to the next and rest for a little while at the conveneance store or local eatery. My dad joked that we were "Cafe Racers". From one cafe to the next.

Josh

 

[904cafe]

The term has been around since the 50s. In England cafes were referred to (and maybe still are) as "caffs". Racing from cafe to cafe brought on the term cafe racer. I remember reading about cafe racers in the early 60s. Hunter S. Thompson didn't invent the term.

Oh trust me by no means did I mean he came up with the term. That's just the first time I had ever heard it. I had to do extensive research on this once I heard "cafe". Something about VINTAGE anything catches my interest. I read article after article on the REAL racers of the 50's and 60's. I hope one day I can visit ACE Cafe!

 

[brewtown16]

Oh trust me by no means did I mean he came up with the term. That's just the first time I had ever heard it. I had to do extensive research on this once I heard "cafe". Something about VINTAGE anything catches my interest. I read article after article on the REAL racers of the 50's and 60's. I hope one day I can visit ACE Cafe!

aka our "mecca pilgrimage"

 

[jason teamshralp]

I've been riding BMX bikes for like 15 years and a couple of friends of mine had cafe bikes. and they just look awesome. Cafe bikes can look really clean and simple. I like bikes to look like their is barley enough parts their to make it work. Nice clean bikes, kind of like bmx bikes. plus these 30 year old Jap bikes are cheap and in my opinion the best way to get into motorcycles, if you've never ridden one before.

 

[Ease]

When I was looking for my first motorcycle I wanted something to wrench on... Came across the term Cafe Racer in my research... ended up on caferacer.net, got tired of it there and found this place.

 

[alexcb360t]

yeah to back up 904cafe,
The title of the post was simply where you had first heard the term!!

I don't want to turn this into a book club site, but all I have to say is that Hunter S. Thompson is an amazing writer! hahahahaha!! I'm not one who is much for books, but when I started reading his book I couldn't put it down.

Anyways, cafe racers kick ass.

 

[jonescafe72]

My dad has always been into Yamahas, and I grew up with XS 650s in the garage. In '91 my dad came to visit, and I was just getting into motorcycles. We went to a local Honda shop, and I fell in love with the GB500. The salesman was a track nut, and educated me on the whole cafe racer thing. I have been hooked ever since. Just wish I could have afforded that bike.