Chooper vs Bobber vs Street Fighter

[Motu]

LOL... That Bobber is a non-stopper!!!

It was pretty common for early chops to have no front brake.There are a couple of reasons - early Harleys,like those that used springer forksoften had no front brake,so a chopper using those forks would have no front brake either.Up until the late '60's a race bike in the US was a flattracker,and they have no brakes either...no front brakes is a Yank thing - their trucks often don't have them either.

[degrom]

Okay... So now I have a new question.

Where does a cafe racer come into the picture?

[Motu]

The streetfighters would be desended from Cafe racers - these were what the English did,they stripped and modified their bikes,some just ordinary machines to emulate the race bikes they saw at the road race tracks.

Ton up boys,see my sig.

[degrom]

Ton up boys,see my sig.

Sorry for that... Thanks,I see the light now!

[Coyote]

That's one bastardized R1.

The guy got it as an insurance write off and spent a year and a half fixing it up. I don't like the tail but it does show just how good the R1's engine looks

This is a pretty neat site on Streetfighters. Parts, Forum (yet to join), How To's and a member's gallery: http://www.streetfighters.com.au/

[Waylander]

The guy got it as an insurance write off and spent a year and a half fixing it up. I don't like the tail but it does show just how good the R1's engine looks

Yea the engine looks good. Rest of it looks like shit. But good on him for trying lol.

[Paul in NZ]

The problem all custom bikes have is they generally belong in an 'era' and in my very humble opinion should strive to be evocative of that era. (within the bounds of common sense)

Bobbers and retro rods are making a come back because the association with roots rock n roll and the yearning for simpler times. Cafe racers the same...

Bloody good fun

[N4CR]

My friend is currently riding a 2006 ZX-10R 'Streetfighter' that looks quite the biz, was a real simple job, bought it as a crashed bike and fixed it up, painted it etc, looks like the GR Busa but in Bleck not fluro yellow.

YOU CALLED? Gr's busa is black again, it changes colour often.




A streetfighter is supposed to be a rather customised and modded sportsbike without fairings, it has in the last few years been stretched by definition to a naked sports bike that's been crashed as such and had some lights and other stuff put on it to make it go again, simply using stock lights/fittings does not count! Often they have high rise bars. Late 80's gixxer 1100's and the like were popular due to frame/engine combo.. look very good and go well when prettied up and modded to hell!

Check my profile for a shot before it was road legal.

[degrom]

YOU CALLED? Gr's busa is black again, it changes colour often.




A streetfighter is supposed to be a rather customised and modded sportsbike without fairings, it has in the last few years been stretched by definition to a naked sports bike that's been crashed as such and had some lights and other stuff put on it to make it go again, simply using stock lights/fittings does not count! Often they have high rise bars. Late 80's gixxer 1100's and the like were popular due to frame/engine combo.. look very good and go well when prettied up and modded to hell!

Check my profile for a shot before it was road legal.

Now that looks good!!! Number of horses?

[N4CR]

Now that looks good!!! Number of horses?

First ghost rider movie (gr1) was 417bhp, then it was further modified to 499hp+. That picture was taken at ellington straighliners speed festival in britain by a fellow kiwibiker. GR's busa recently set a speed record of 439km/h in sweden and made national tv (i'd say with the fairings) verified by 4 different LIDAR gun setups, don't know if it is official (eg guiness etc), probably not as the world speed record is still 260mph or 418km/h for a road legal street bike http://www.mrturbo.com/news/yancy.html

GR is most probably Fredrik Lindner from the Swedish wheelie team (looks and posture same) with the world record for high speed wheelies... 346 kmh. He was the one who crashed on nuremburg ring late '06 while 'ghost rider' was supposedly filming.


Specs and equipment:
ENGINE:
1298cc
McXpress racing turbo kit with everything + much more & bigger
Port & Gas Flow Cylinder Head
JE low compression pistons
Steel rods
Johnson race crankshaft
Kent cams, high performance camshafts
Laminova watercooled oilcooler
NBN hudraulic steel clutch line
TTS gearbox with 15% higher speed on 6 gear
Front sprocket, 17-19
Rear sprocket, 32-38
BODY:
Fuel tank, GSX-R1000 K2
Race seat, GSX-R1000 K2
Rear light, GSX-R1000 K4
Front light, Derbi senda
Carbon front Mudguard, vented
Carbon heelplates
CHASSI:
Special made frame by Andersson turbo system
Öhlins special made front forks
Öhlins rear damper
Öhlins steering damper
ISR dual 6-piston radial-mount calipers in front
ISR 6-piston caliper in rear
ISR dual full floating 320mm discs in front
ISR 240mm disc in rear
ISR radial master cylinder and lever
ISR clutch lever
Race brake pads in front and rear
NBM hydraulic steel brake lines in front and rear
Harris adjustable yokes triple bolt bottom fixing
Harris footrest kit with adjustable footpeg position
Renthal handlebar
PVM forged magnesium 10-spoke wheel in Y-spoke design, front and back
PERFORMANCE:
Power, 499bhp on the back wheel
Topspeed, enough even on one wheel
Performance, 0-300km/h 9.1 second



Beauty or a Beast??

http://www.ghostridermovie.net
http://www.swt-racing.com
http://www.swedishfreestylefestival.com/

In french mind you..
http://www.turbobusa.net/forum/index...c=944.msg27048

[Colapop]

That's a 'busa?? That's the nicest one I've seen. Usually with all the fairings and crap they look 'too big' (bulbous) nice without all that though.

[El Dopa]

Okay... So now I have a new question.

Where does a cafe racer come into the picture?

Caff racers were a Euro variant of the '50's bike scene. Both the US and Euro bikers used what they had, or could get hold of cheaply. In the US, this meant ex-army harleys, which they 'bobbed'. In Europe and especially the UK, it was mainly Nortons and Triumphs.

Roughly speaking, the US has a lot of long, straight roads, so high speeds for long distances were the go. A longer wheel base (from longer forks and raked neck) is more stable at speed, but doesn't handle corners well. But that wasn't a problem on their roads.

Euro/Brit roads are narrow and twisty, so the caff racers tend to reflect that - they're built for those conditions - handling and speed. The racers used to take a powerful (for its day) Triumph engine, and stick it in a lightweight Norton frame - the 'Triton'.

I've seen a few old photos of caff racer where they've done a few other mods - lowered clipons and similar.

I think that the 'caff' part of it comes from racing between cafes and milk bars on the north circular ring road in London, which used to be open late (for long-haul truckers), and therefore made great hang-outs for juvenile delinquents on bikes. Look up 'Ace cafe' on google.

And, Wikipedia is your friend.....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cafe_racer

[Bonez]

Have a gander here if you want to see some nice old school custom jobs-
http://www.ace-cafe-london.com/php/f2_4.php?part=1

[Motu]

The racers used to take a powerful (for its day) Triumph engine, and stick it in a lightweight Norton frame - the 'Triton'.

Yes,the word is ''caff'' not the oh so gay caffay.

The Norton ''featherbed'' was much heavier than the Triumph,and the Norton engine was better in many respects too - the Norton frame was used for it's handling,the Triumph engine for it's backyard tuneability.

[Paul in NZ]

Yes,the word is ''caff'' not the oh so gay caffay.

The Norton ''featherbed'' was much heavier than the Triumph,and the Norton engine was better in many respects too - the Norton frame was used for it's handling,the Triumph engine for it's backyard tuneability.

All true... I always thought my Norton Atlas to be about the best british bike i ever owned and would have another in a flash if i could find one at a decent price.

There is considerable dedate about cafe racers and Tritons.... However popular opinion that I've read from people alive during the time was thus....

One of the most popular forms of entry level motor racing was formula junior which was basically a 500cc motorcycle engine in a small race car. (Cooper started in the class and made one of the best kits). The 500cc Manx Norton was possibly the best race engine but Nortons would not sell just a bare engine - you had to purchase a whole Manx Norton. During the 50's there was a fair few Manx Chassis minus engines when all of a sudden Triumph introduces the T120 Bonneville which was the GSXR of it's day. triumph also had the all alloy T100 (500cc) which was lighter and spun up faster than any of the other twins on the market... While the pre unit triumph chassis was OK provided it was well maintained, in terms of pure performance the all welded Norton frame was lightyears better and a genuine Manx chassis (totally different) was another whole step up again...

It was not long before some clever lad looked at an old Thunderbird donk and realised just how easy it was to bring up to T120 specs and slot into a featherbed chassis (the open twin cradle Norton frame is possibly the easiest chassis in the world to drop wierd engines into) and tritons started appearing on the clubmans ccts. When Dave Degens beat the factory stuff on his Triton in the 1965 (I think) Barcelona 24 hour race and could build you a replica - the legend firmed up and the Triton layout became 'established'.

In the day - most home built bikes were bloody awful things and nothing like the flash as Tritons we see today but thats maybe not a bad thing...