I don't get Cafe Racers

[TheDemonLord]

I'm putting this in Rant or Rave cause it's probably going to end up in a Flame war - but I don't get them

They seem to be infesting Tard me like an STD in Hamilton - they all seem to have piddly engine sizes, look ugly as sin, Claim LAMS approved (despite being altered from Manufacturer's specs which voids LAMS approval) and hideously overpriced

Maybe there is something I am missing?

[Gremlin]

Perhaps something more suitable for visiting all the coffee shops?

[MisterD]

What's to explain?

[Erelyes]

I don't get kids that wear their jeans halfway down their ass.

I don't get the people putting ski racks and air deflectors on top of cars that are 1 inch off the ground and have five degrees of camber.

I don't get rose bushes (there are plenty of colourful plants that don't make you bleed when you do something with them).

I don't get choppers (89 degrees of rake? sounds safe).

I can see how it might be someone else's cup of tea, though.

I'm Claim LAMS approved (despite being altered from Manufacturer's specs which voids LAMS approval) and hideously overpriced

Never let truth get in the way of a sale.
I had someone contact me about my bike asking if I was sure it wasn't LAMS approved. I wonder what he'd have said if I replied 'Hey, maybe you're right!'...

[imdying]

Maybe there is something I am missing?

Building stuff is a Kiwi bloke thing since we arrived here; our Maori brethren carved up all sorts of pounamu objects, built wakas, etc. Once whitey arrived he did other stuff, brought their hobbies with them.

Roll forward a while and the motorcycle showed up on the scene. Here they're been used as tools, entertainment, and of course art. Much like I enjoy Picasso's work, but find Warhol a hack, you too probably have tastes that are individual to you.

Some taste is inherent in your personality, some of it is directed overtly or otherwise) by fashion. For a wee while now the cafe racer has been the fashion. Choppers, street fighters, race replicas, they've all had their day.

I suspect that a certain amount of the cafe racers appeal is the minimal fabrication skills required, and the reduced costs when compared to building a more tarted up bike (look at street fighters or the ever popular 'restoration').

Art can be quite personal, and there is no requirement for anyone other than the creator to understand or even enjoy it. Ugly and under powered are both subjective. Take your own motorcycle for example; to me that is both ugly and underp owered, and I'd naught be seen dead on it, but you're quite happy with it... you dig?

[Voltaire]

I'm putting this in Rant or Rave cause it's probably going to end up in a Flame war - but I don't get them

They seem to be infesting Tard me like an STD in Hamilton - they all seem to have piddly engine sizes, look ugly as sin, Claim LAMS approved (despite being altered from Manufacturer's specs which voids LAMS approval) and hideously overpriced

Maybe there is something I am missing?

I don't get living in Gulf Harbour and driving/riding an hour each way to work every day.

Cafe Racers...whats not to like

[Big Dog]

It's about choosing form over function. Like choosing Heidi Klum over Oprah Winfrey as your charity ambassador.


Stupid phone / Tapatalk, apologies in advance.

[gjm]

I like them.

[willytheekid]

I BLAME HIPSTERS!

Love Cafe racers (well...REAL ones!)

...but this new "trend" of using a GN125 or some other poor wee donor bike to build them from??? da farQ??






...HIPSTERS!!...in my day we just referred to them as gays (Was so much less confusing )


(I SAID GAYS!...not aucklanders!...)

[Banditbandit]

Cafe racers were a 1960s thing to make a bike look more like the racing bike - add clip-ons, (the first road bike I saw for sale here with clip-ons standard was the Ducati 750SS) rear set pegs and probably a two-into-one exhaust were the basic steps.

Polished tank next, and smaller headlight - hotter cams and better carbs .. racing seat .. and you have a cafe racer.

Then you can start playing around with frames - so Norton probably made the best frame - and any Brit engine could be fitted into one ..

So here's a 1965 Bonnie ...



The bars are above the tank .. the footpegs are directly below the end of the tank .. almost in front of the gearbox ...

Here's a Triton (Triumph engine in a Norton featherbed frame ...)



This is like the ultimate cafe racer from that period - the pegs are behind the engine, clipon bars, not a two-into one, but swept-back exhausts .. polished tank ... racing seat .. probably engine mods as well

Partly it was a cheaper way to make your bike look like the racing bikes (though a Triton or Norvin was not cheap) ... and, for some, aesthetically pleasing .. (also louder and sometimes faster ...)

[Banditbandit]

Here's a Vincent Black Shadow (In 1936 these bikes would reach 136mph)




Here's the engine in a Norton Featherbed frame .. some would say the ultimate cafe racer ..

[Banditbandit]

But no .. I don't get the number of modern 250s etc out there being billed as "cafe racer" ... or even the CXs ...

And contemporary bikes are so well built and handle so well, they don't need that much modification ... if you buy one that does, then why did you buy it???

[Oscar]

Q: How many hipsters does it take to screw in a lightbulb?

A: Well, it's a pretty obscure number, you've probably never heard of it.

[Grumph]

This sort of "don't understand the appeal" is by no means new.
Phil Irving writing in the 1960's - probably the heyday of "real" cafe racers - lamented that a factory could produce a bike which was comfortable to ride anywhere, in all weathers,- but it would be outsold by a stripped version with low bars and a racey look which was in no way practical transport.

He didn't understand it then and i don't now. If you like that sort of thing, build a real racer and put it on the track.
The number of bastardised "cafe racers" for sale simply means IMO, the builders have discovered how uncomfortable and impractical they are - and want to get rid of them...

[Katman]

I like my cafe racers to look modern.