Personal issues with your cafe racer!

G

Gordon

Been Around the Block
A cafe racer is actually a very impractical motorcycle. You may make it a single seater, and then you cannot accomodate another person. You lean towards the front and get annoying aches in your back every 30 mins of riding. Gets worse in traffic. What general issues do you "personally" face with your cafe racer?! I don't mean "technical" issues like: "the brake doesn't work", "bike is not smooth", etc.

By personal issues, I mean ...... well consider mine for example:

  • Your complete weight comes onto your palms, which is why they get quite uncomfortable. And by the end of the ride, your palms get red and painful.
  • :-[Due to the seating position, its a pain in the crotch area lol
  • In my Enfield, because of the handlebar and headlight cover, the clutch cable gets bent in two places. Which is why the clutch lever is just too hard. In traffic areas, this can easily fry your fingers.

What annoys you?! and what do you do about it?!
 
No question these bikes are totally impractical from a comfortable riding perspective. What do I do about it? Easy answer - 2 bikes :)

A 'cafe racer' is like a 2 seat convertible car. Unless you have the perfect circumstances (live in a nice warm place where it never rains and the passenger you have with you in the car is there because you invited them, not because they have to be there) it makes no sense as your only car.

If it is your only bike, chances are you're using it for what it was designed for - quick runs from point a to b. Not necessarily for riding hours on end. Ask Loco Leon - he only has cafe bikes and never rides for more than 30 seconds at a stretch ;)
 
Tintin said:
Ask Loco Leon - he only has cafe bikes and never rides for more than 30 seconds at a stretch ;)
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And I have 2!!.. ;D So thats about 15 seconds on each bike!! ;D
 
LOL. Yes, but I don't have two bikes. In fact, I'm planning on getting another cafe racer ::) Another Enfield. Probably, after we are done with that, we'll get YETTTT another Enfield and give it the classic comfortable look and stance for everyday use.
 
Huh...the ONLY thing ive found annoying about riding mine is the lack of ability to carry anything except in a backpack. I suppose a tank bag would work too...I have clubmans on mine, still using the standard peg arrangement, but have a set of rearsets coming. We'll see if that makes it more uncomfortable, but at the moment ive ridden mulitiple hours at a time and not found it to be all that uncomfortable. A touring bike it is not, but i would ride it out of state within reason. I plan on riding mine to the GSR Brown County Rally, in Indiana next spring. Granted im a pretty tall guy, so i dont have to bend over as far to reach, and i did install some risers on my clubmans, more for clearance than anything, but it may have helped in that department...as for the one upness of a cafe...i prefer it...my girl should have her own damn bike...HEHEHE
 
I concur on the one-upness. I took my wife for a short ride ONCE. One and only time I took on a passenger.

My BMW is my long-ride bike. The 650 will be the flashy toy I ride when I get tired of everyone ogling Noel's bike.
 
On empty roads and odd hours, the bike is beautiful to ride. No problems whatsoever.
Butttt at peak hours and traffic situations, since I live in the city - its chaotic!!

About one person on the bike, I prefer it. I just HATE taking a pillion on a cafe racer at least!! Still, because the situation may come up, I'm planning on a removable cowl.
 
When I first got the BMW on the road, I had to buy new gloves because my hands were raw. My back hurt, and I was getting beat up by wind.

After riding for a while on it, I'm actually quite used to it now and can comfortably don hundreds of miles on it in long stretches.

The only real issue is the lack of luggage space. I've ridden with back packs but when it comes to long hauls, am reconsidering getting side-saddles.
 
I rather like riding in the city. leastways my city. That's where you get to show it off. No, its not a good place for riding pleasure, but for the pleasure of getting the looks that make you feel good about the work you've done or are doing to it, no better place than the city. I like pulling up next to modern cookiecutter sport bikes and watching them stare at it. Of course then they feel the need to show me exactly how much larger thier wee-wee is as they speed off in a wheelie...In actuality im not going to pretend my bike is faster than thiers, cos i know its not, but ive taken a few on in the light to light and with that monster sprocket on the back of my bike i hang with them and even dust a couple off the line. Not that it matters. I built it to ride for me, cos thats what i wanted. Thats what i like. If i wanted to go 197MPH with my hair on fire i'd buy a 'busa or a ninja14. Nope...i just ride on by them as they twitch in the middle of the road after being involved in a head on cos they lost control of their bike acting like a moron. Too bad *MY* insurance rates suffer...lol
 
Personal issues? Don't have any. I have a Norton/Weslake spl. A '74 500cc speedway motor and all the usual cafe trimings. It was timed at 129.917 on gas. There is no way I could have issues.
 
I have yet to ride a cafe (working on mine this winter) so this is an interesting post for me. I was wondering the same the other day when I just layed my clubmans on the bike to see how they looked. I then began to wonder how my almost 40 year old body and buldging disc in my neck is going to like this stance. Figure I'll try it out and if it's too much I'll just switch to a little bit more upright bar.

I was also wondering about grips. I have to buy some new ones, any one have any recommendations for grips, or which ones to avoid?
 
I've got Clubman bars and GSXR rearsets on my KZ650 and have not had any problems with leaning over too far. I've got long arms being just over 6 feet tall, so the reach is easy enough. I'm just over 40 myself.
My Clutch hand did get quite sore for two seasons before this last one, but switching from heavy duty clutch springs back to stock, and a new clutch cable really helped this last season.
 
Yeah ill second that...my most recent daily rider was my lil KZ440...good little tooling around surface street save big bucks on gas bike...EASY lil clutch..lol first few weeks of riding my cafe project produced a very sore clutch hand...mostly due to the new but not unfamiliar position my hands were in on the clubmans...easy fix to alleviate some of the pain was to find a better reach angle on the lever...helped a bit.
 
Sore and numb wrists seem to be a common complaint with a forward riding position. It helps a great deal if you can position the angle of the bar ends AND the angle of the control levers so that your wrists are in a straight aligned position. The more your wrists are "cocked" inwards or outwards, the more it's gonna hurt.
Granted, it's no always possible to find the perfect angle when clubmans were not designed to be on your bike in the first place.

Dam TonUp.....you beat me to it.. >:(
 
I've always liked rearsets and low bars. Race clipons can be too low on some bikes, maybe Clubman bars are more practical. I'm ordering rearsets for the Triumph and see how it feels with both drag bars and clubman bars. Most of my riding is city and if set up to "fit", cafe racers can be comfortable. I never carry a passenger so having a solo seat doesn't matter to me. Hey, I'm 55 with 2 pair of crushed vertebrae and 2 slipped discs in my neck - what are you complaining about!!? :D
 
Hell, I'm 52, if it hurts I'll just take Advil ;~)))) But to be honest I doubt I'd be riding mine more than a couple of hours at a time anyway with many rest stops to take in the sights around Prince Edward County. I plan on building a dirt tracker version of the same bike ( 250/350 Ducati) just for the hell of it, and to ride when I'm on my way to buy more Advil ;~)))
 
Geez...I thought I was the only old geezer on this forum. I feel so much more at home now! ;D
 
Gordon said:
  • Your complete weight comes onto your palms, which is why they get quite uncomfortable. And by the end of the ride, your palms get red and painful.
  • :-[Due to the seating position, its a pain in the crotch area lol
  • In my Enfield, because of the handlebar and headlight cover, the clutch cable gets bent in two places. Which is why the clutch lever is just too hard. In traffic areas, this can easily fry your fingers.

What annoys you?! and what do you do about it?!
Click to expand...

you shouldn't be putting weight on your hands, you should take the weight of your upper body in your back and keep your arms and hands light for better steering. (at least thats what i've gleamed from watching interviews with racers)

seating position? if the seat hurts change it. cafe bikes don't have a different seating position than any other non-comfort specific bike.

personal issues with my bike? it doesn't go fast enough (appx 115mph)
 
xcaptainxbloodx said:
you shouldn't be putting weight on your hands, you should take the weight of your upper body in your back and keep your arms and hands light for better steering. (at least thats what i've gleamed from watching interviews with racers)
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Thats mostly in traffic, coz your legs are not on the footpegs but on the sides of the bike and you're trying to make your way around. So at this time all your weight, does come on your palms. And the hard clutch will ensure that.

xcaptainxbloodx said:
seating position? if the seat hurts change it. cafe bikes don't have a different seating position than any other non-comfort specific bike.
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Yes I have a BSA Goldstar style seat. But with your legs behind, and body leant towards the front - the gentlemans area gets smashed in the seat :-[

sideyw1.jpg

*The seat looks inclined in the front because of the angle of the pic and the brackets. Its actually straight.

pic3hk7.jpg

*This is an old pic taken in October this year. Front mudguard has been changed and rearsets have been installed.
 
oldog said:
Geez...I thought I was the only old geezer on this forum. I feel so much more at home now! ;D
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Got my first bike in 1969 and surprised I've survived. I'm probably the only person to have ever
fallen asleep while riding , a result of a very hot girlfriend, working double shifts between trips to
hot girlfriend and riding home at 3:00 am ;~) Alas youth has flown, the hot girlfriend last I heard
weighs in at about 220 lbs, but the urge to ride ( at least the bikes) is as strong as it ever was.

Thumper
 
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