Cafe Racers - Am I wrong?

[rastuscat]

I browse TradeMe (how unusual) for stuff I can't afford fairly regularly. I look at old bikes, new bikes, and everything in between.

One day I'll buy an old GPz550H2 like my first real bike.

Meantime, I cringe when I see some of the classic bikes that people are raping and turning them into grotesque examples of their own desires, then expect someone else to buy them. There are some real classics being trashed by folk who apparently have little respect for the original form, and who turn them into a poor version of what they once were.

Am I just a grumpy old bastard?

[Katman]

One day I'll buy an old GPz550H2 like my first real bike.

Not if I see it first.

[merv]

You say cafe racers, there is also the bobber thing and man do many of them look ugly and really impractical compared to the bike they have been trashed from.

[R650R]

If you want to see the true horror browse the optimistic sellers thread on here.....

This has prob always happened, its just visible now via trademe and the likes of supercheap making welders and stuff affordable....

[pritch]

Am I just a grumpy old bastard?

Yes. But you are also right. The two are not mutually exclusive.

[KawasakiKid]

Meantime, I cringe when I see some of the classic bikes that people are raping

Most of the older bikes that people refer to as Classics were pieces of shit when they were new, now they are simply older pieces of shit. The true Classics should not be 'tampered' with.

The GPZ550H2 was a great bike, hope you find one.

Only gripe I have is absolutely everyone restoring a real H2 (750 Mach lV) uses the high cowboy style handlebars that we all changed out immediately. They are impossible to hang onto at race speed and uncomfortable at best on the street.

[husaberg]

I browse TradeMe (how unusual) for stuff I can't afford fairly regularly. I look at old bikes, new bikes, and everything in between.

One day I'll buy an old GPz550H2 like my first real bike.

Meantime, I cringe when I see some of the classic bikes that people are raping and turning them into grotesque examples of their own desires, then expect someone else to buy them. There are some real classics being trashed by folk who apparently have little respect for the original form, and who turn them into a poor version of what they once were.

Am I just a grumpy old bastard?

Not really, i am slowly accumulating parts to put together a Cafe racer RD350A in an TZ esk mold
Not wanting to trash the origional bike, as it's so complete and origional.
Thus i are building my cafe bike up out of a trashed RD250 frame but just borrowing the engine for now.
I have always wanted to do a coffin tanked RD400 cafe racer, good luck finding one of those.
With regards to the bobber, cafe trend, well at least they are getting ridden, i guess.
I actually cringe when i see some of the bikes. Esp the chopper ones.
Just think ,how many hundreds of people out there that are just itching to turn those GPZ550's into a ELR.
Bikes are of course made to be ridden, not be locked in sheds and only have their covers removed, to have their rivots counted.
i think the cafe/bobber/chopper craze is being driven by the cheaper regos for the older bikes, plus the usual mid life crisis

[AllanB]

Depends on your definition of a classic.

If you are talking a gen 1 Kawa 900 or Honda 750/4 then yeah - time to preserve them.

If it is one of the later variations of the same - meh, cut em up.

[Virago]

Successfully building a cafe racer or bobber is quite easy. But there are some key issues to take into consideration for a successful build.

Select a bike. Preferably one which was utter shite when it was new - now that it is old, it's now a desirable classic.

The bike should be as rusty as possible. Once the bike becomes a cafe racer or bobber, rust is now called patina - it adds value to the bike.

Remove as many parts as possible, especially those required for a Warrant of Fitness - indicators, mudguards etc. Every part removed adds value to the bike.

Remove the existing seat and install a single seat. The more uncomfortable and ugly it is, the more value added.

Replace the rear light with something that emits less light than your average glow-worm. The less light the better.

Finally, mount the number plate sideways.

You're now ready to list the bike on TradeMe. Put a ridiculously high price on it - because someone will actually buy it.

Good luck.

[caspernz]

Am I just a grumpy old bastard?

Not at all, the café racer and bobber thing is lost on me, so does that qualify me as a grumpy old man? I like my bikes practical and largely as they came from their maker.

[Moi]

Surely, if you want to do something like that - café racer or bobber, then you'd want something that was better than the original after all that effort? And something you'd want to park in the driveway?



I know that neither are bikes, but I'd give driveway room to either of these... if Uncle Lotto would be really nice to me!

[Moi]

Successfully building a cafe racer or bobber is quite easy. But there are some key issues to take into consideration for a successful build.

Select a bike. Preferably one which was utter shite when it was new - now that it is old, it's now a desirable classic.

The bike should be as rusty as possible. Once the bike becomes a cafe racer or bobber, rust is now called patina - it adds value to the bike.

Remove as many parts as possible, especially those required for a Warrant of Fitness - indicators, mudguards etc. Every part removed adds value to the bike.

Remove the existing seat and install a single seat. The more uncomfortable and ugly it is, the more value added.

Replace the rear light with something that emits less light than your average glow-worm. The less light the better.

Finally, mount the number plate sideways.

You're now ready to list the bike on TradeMe. Put a ridiculously high price on it - because someone will actually buy it.

Good luck.

Here endth the gospel, according to St Virago...



And you know this from personal experience?

[Oakie]

Am I just a grumpy old bastard?

Well if you are, I am too. To my eye, cafe racers / bobbers - call them what you will, are just an image thing. They're not 'better' modified ... they ust look different to all the other bikes on the road ... and I think that is why some people are attracted to them. To each their own and at least they are two wheelers ... but they're not for me.

[tigertim20]

there are three kinds of motorcycles.
stock motorcycles. self explanatory.
tastefully modified motorcycles.
and 'Art' motorcycles. - like cafe racers and 'custom bobbers' etc, which are not made to be ridden or enjoyed, just, looked at.


Art, of course is an abbreviation for 'poorly ARTiculated pile of overpriced shit'

[pritch]

A well executed Norvin or Triton is a sight to behold. The bobbers and cafe racers on TM are a whole nutha thing. Most are truly awful.

Of course now that Triumph have decided to do a bobber you can get one straight from the factory, which bends the definition somewhat. Like that Yamaha 900 Custom. Somebody should lend Yamaha an English (American?) dictionary so they can look up "custom".