"Cafe Racer" style bikes

[Taz]

My project......
http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/sh...ad.php?t=89837

Will look a little different when finished.....

[jonbuoy]

96 600ss: You would call that one I guess. Problem is that all anyone ever does to a cb750 to make it a "cafe racer" is ad clip-ons, maybe a different headlight and guage and a cafe racer rear set. Mind you, you could say all anyone ever does to make a chopper is make a ridiculous rake, tiny tank and hardtail chassis or just take off the fairings and add an ugly headlight for a streetfighter etc etc

The original idea of a cafe racer was to turn a cruiser/commuter into a "racebike" - clip ons, streamline the bike, remove anything not really needed. All done on a small budget, mostly fabricated by hand.

[Paul in NZ]

Only really just noticed them. Seem pretty cool, and look a lot like classic GP racers (well some do anyway). Obviously aren't the fastest bikes on the road compared to race reps but you don't need that for the road huh. Also seem pretty cheap. '75 CB750-$2000, put some clip-ons, cafe racer style rear, some loud upswept pipes and a few performance mods. -Can't cost more than $2000 or 4k all up for a really nice bike. Anyway, I was wondering what other riders (you guys) think of them? Gay? Cool? Nice but you'd never own one?

Why do you care what others think of them? It seems to me that you need to find something YOU want because building a special requires commitment and a stuff the budget mentality...

And....

While I don't like to 'define' things and could not give a fats rats bum what you want to ride, the reality is a bike made in 1975 really can't be a cafe racer can it? The cafe scene was well dead by then, choppers were withering and yet the endurance racer thing was taking off. Things belong in their era (apart from Neil Young and Bob Dylan)..... No rocker ever built a CB750 cafe racer....

As for a 750 Guzzi? Same deal except when the brit bikes dried up the bad boys that could not handle japanese bikes hopped onto Guzzis and Laverdas while the panty waisted adopted Ducati... A proper Guzzi makes a cafe racer for some reason (out of era) but NOT a small block 750 and cutting up a proper big block 750 could just cause you to be kicked to death by the euro Guzzi Anorak Klub....

[wbks]

Well considering a the bikes were defined "cafe racer" by their style, anything with the same style falls under the same category regardless of age. I don't care if people would think I'm a raging homo for riding a type of bike that I like, I was just wondering what the general perception of them was. I think a Bonneville cafe racer would make a better looking one than any japanese bike ever made despite probably being slower than a lot of japanese bikes made at the time.
Its about 7 months before I can actually legally ride a 750 Triumph though so no serious decicions here. And nice bike anthrax.

[James Deuce]

I think a Bonneville cafe racer would make a better looking one than any japanese bike ever made despite probably being slower than a lot of japanese bikes made at the time.

Ride them back to back, then think carefully about what constitutes "faster" in the real world. We have corners here.

[Ixion]

Well considering a the bikes were defined "cafe racer" by their style, anything with the same style falls under the same category regardless of age. I don't care if people would think I'm a raging homo for riding a type of bike that I like, I was just wondering what the general perception of them was. I think a Bonneville cafe racer would make a better looking one than any japanese bike ever made despite probably being slower than a lot of japanese bikes made at the time.
Its about 7 months before I can actually legally ride a 750 Triumph though so no serious decicions here. And nice bike anthrax.

GB500 ?

Rule with cafe racers is : closer they look to a Manx Norton, the more the cred.

Go look at some pictures of a Manx, and try to imagine a CB750 in the pic. Just doesn't work.Yeah, I know about Ago and the MVs. And the Gilera V8. Still doesn't work.

Oh, and a picky soul would point out that none of the 750 Triumphs would really classify for Cafe Racer status. Needs to be a T120 . Or, even better an all alloy pre unit 500.

And yeah, what the binary gentleman said. Back in the day, in NZ, the T120/650ss/ etc were probably faster point to point that a CB750. Yamaha RD350 - maybe not. RZ350, nope, but that was 10 years after the end of the cafe racer era.

[Big Dave]

Triumph Thruxton.

‘Yeah Baby!’

If I could do a halfway decent Austin Powers impersonation I would have let dozens more rip than the humble quota I did manage.

It was still enough to drive the Co-pilot spare, but I just couldn’t look at this Red and White striped honey without a ‘Yeah Baby!’

Much of what I found attractive about it harkens back to my images of motorcycling as a youth – embodied, right there in its classic line.

I’m too young to have experienced the halcyon days of British motorcycling. Just.

Back then the British icons of cool in my formative years were priced beyond my reach.

How I used to drool at the bikini babes draped over Norton Commando Interstates, or wished I had the shtick of the Café racers that personified the image of the motorcycle ‘rebel’ I felt inside.

Unfortunately a second hand CB450 was all a copy boy from the south side of Sydney could muster, but the images were burned longingly and deep.

And now they give me one!

The main change from the ’04 tested (in June KR that year) - to the ’07 is a bump to a claimed 70 Horsepower and changes in the livery.

Red with white stipes and no checkered tape will make some pundits happy. Unlike the full-faired 1967 original it has to be one of the best looking bikes on the road. The old one had some nice angles – but it also had some ‘steamer’ ones too. The new one is drop-dead-off-the-showroom-floor gorgeous.

So, it was grab the Davida Jet Classic open face helmet - or the Arai Union Jack Viper, don the plain black Rev-it leathers, adjust the aviator goggles and thumb the beastie into life. (Stopped short of the socks over boot top look though).

The stock Euro-compliant pipes have a quiet sort of note, not quite in keeping with the ‘Rebel without a Clue’ on board. It sounds fine on the move, a little ‘Jetsons’ off the gas.

Easily fixed with a de-baffle or a selection from wide range of aftermarket reverse cones available, but other than that there is much to like.

It’s not one of those ‘lazy’ 130hp bikes where all I seem to do is idle about everywhere; you have to ‘ride’ the Thruxton. Its 70hp and 204kg requires rider input to extract the best.

But when you get it on song it’s a mighty sweet tune. Lovely torque and it really pulls out of the corners. The way the big twin pulses dares you to drop it down a gear and nail it on exit.

And unlike the big litre bikes – you can nail on the street it in third gear without fear of instant disqualification. Beautiful! Fun as well as looks.

The ergos worked OK for me this time around. It induced some knee ache after an extended stint in the saddle, but apart from that it was pretty comfortable as a round town and short hop machine. The big grin factor made up for the knees. I’m too big to tour on it, normal height riders could put in a longer day, because unlike the early Hinckley Bonnes, the saddle is great. Even the back seat is pretty good. With the seat cowl removed the co-pilot rated it as ‘Surprisingly comfortable’.

It was having the best time, punting it around the Auckland Bays on a blue Saturday morning, glorying in all this Café racer imagery and costume, dining out on the associated nostalgia, that it struck me that I needed to find out more about the era and the machine this bike tips its lid to.

First I consulted Ian Chadwick’s Triumph Time line online (Google it):

‘1964 saw the first Thruxtons produced. ‘This year only eight Triumph Thruxton machines are made, basically standard production Bonnevilles pulled from the line and sent to the special projects department for upgrading. They produced 54bhp and many of their modifications become standard on later production bikes.’

‘1965.
This year, 52 Thruxton Bonnies are made in May, the most ever produced. Triumph is making 600-800 bikes a week, 80 per cent of them bound for the USA.’

’65 was also the year Hugh Anderson won the 125cc World Championship on a Suzuki, the final season of Hailwood’s four in a row and the year before Agostini won seven of the ‘500cc big dances’ in succession. (Seven!)

Cool, the Thruxton name has an impressive pedigree.

Endurance racing was also popular at the time and a Thruxton notched wins at Brands Hatch in 1966 and won the IOM TT in 1967.

By the time I got back on board I was ready for ‘Mike the Bike’ and ‘Ago’ - anytime baby!

As the flag dropped on the Ellerslie on-ramp grand prix it was on - all the way to Mission Bay. But was that the spirit?

I had the bike, the gear and the vibe…but an Al fresco Latte overlooking a sapphire blue harbour and volcanic ramparts next to a drop dead gorgeous bike was about as tough as it sounds, but it wasn’t exactly the Ace Café. Was it?

You can’t study the history of motorcycling without seeing some reference to the ‘golden age’, the Ace Café, aces of clubs graphics and imagery. Iconic.

Peter Jenks runs ‘Jenks Bolts’, a Specialist Bonneville parts and accessories business, in Salisbury. He now rides a new Thruxton.

I asked him about the Ace Café ‘Now and then’, and for his recollections of the ‘Halcyon days.’

‘Back then it was one of tens of thousands of transport Cafes where truck drivers stopped to eat. In those days bikers and the ‘young’ weren't welcome in pubs, or anywhere.

They found a welcome in the transport cafes. Although there was no drink, just cigarettes, very bad coffee made from ‘Camp Brand Coffee Extract’ and strong tea.’ He reported.

All of a sudden I had a handle on the ‘Café’ in ‘Café racer’. Rather obvious, David.

‘The Ace happened to be on a road that allowed some interesting road racing. In the NW London outskirts it was easily accessible by bus to many, many young kids who aspired to a bike, but couldn't ever get one.

All Transport Café’s had juke boxes so music was a key part of the atmosphere: food, tea, music, bikes, noise – it was a place to be.’ Continued his insights.

Meantime, I’m getting misty eyed and ‘yeah baby’ all at once.

I imagined tearing around on machines that performed quite similarly to the 2007 Thruxton.
Just that the new one is not hampered by Lucas electrical and copious oil leaks. Nonetheless, I could see the Bedford vans and Tobacco cards and Joananna Lumley pinups in my minds eye.

We don’t need no steenkin’ muscle cars.

But then he concluded: ‘Now: It’s a pastiche of a lot of memory cues and other than being in the building it started out in, not much is like it was.’

‘Not so the bike.’ I thought. Give me nowadays and the reliability of the new one.

Derek Peters, a career ‘Bobby’ doing his National Service during the first Thruxton era used to call in to the Ace.

His recollections began: ‘There, strategically situated, sat the Ace Café. A rather dowdy trucker’s cafe that stayed open 24 hours a day.

The cafe was a natural meeting spot for motorcyclists to slowly drink their beverage or soft drink and meet up with their female company.

The blare of the Juke Box, knocking out the music of the day, added to the atmosphere.

It was not a particularly attractive place and could never be described as comfortable, but the tea and hot food was consumed in the main by truckers and was therefore wholesome, to say the least.’ Was the picture Derek painted.

Now I was right in touch with the joint.

He continued: ‘I witnessed motorcyclist travelling at ‘highish’ speeds around the North Circular in an irresponsible manner, just like the modern sports bike riders.

I saw bikes leave the Ace Cafe driven by obvious idiots, but I can't honestly say that I ever saw riders trying to cover a given distance before a record ended. I think this is very much a myth thought up at a later date.’

Of course we weren’t racing Officer!

‘The Cafe was a useful acquisition in its day and certainly provided a meeting place for motorcyclists, but a lot of the glamour has been added since by people looking through those rose tinted spectacles.’

At this point an unmaned source online chimed in with a positive ’07 perspective: ‘Two redeeming features of the Ace: The Slovakian or possibly Polish bird behind the counter and the cheese omelettes.’

Contemplating this, the fern leaf pattern in the froth of my soymilk latte - served in the shadow of Rangitoto - and a shimmering blue south pacific brought me back to reality with a thud.

Unlike the romantic notions I harboured about the history of the Thruxton, the latest version is much more substantial than ‘a pastiche’ of its past.

It’s a solid, mid-power hunk of cool.

A bona fide ride on its own merits with dollops of feel good about motorcycle history, but most importantly it’s just really good fun to ride.

Peel away the reminiscences and there’s a tight, modern bike with globally sourced components, performance, brakes, cornering, handling and reliability.

It’s a nice, easy motorcycle that puts a huge grin on my face. And it taught me something.

Nostalgia ISN’T what it used to be.

Yeah baby!

[Ixion]

Yeah yeah. I rode one! I was underwhelmed. It so BIG and CUMBERSOME. And clunky. The T120 was a LITTLE bike. Lean. Lithe. Like a greyhound compared to the bloated offerings from Hinckley. And the Hinckleys arent even as fast I reckon, despite a lot more cc and a lot more (claimed ) HP. Mind you I may be biased, I never really though the T140 was as nice a bike as the T120. Or, for that matter, the 650SS Norton as nice as the Model 99.

I suppose the Hinckley Bonnie is a suitable bike for old men pretending to relive their youth, who nowadays want brakes. Old men, cruising into the sunset.

(Oh, and whoever came up with the Thruxton name should be butt raped by an elephant. There is only ONE Thruxton, the immortal Velocette.)

[wbks]

Thats a big read, I'll read it in the morning when i can take it all in. Xion- I was looking at one (manx) on trademe today, struck me as beautifull. Surprisingly (lol) it was starting at 60K. Wouldn't say that something which isn't a t120 cafe bike, I mean not every one on the scene was on one. Then there wouldn't be much individual about it would there.

[Sully60]

set.

(Oh, and whoever came up with the Thruxton name should be butt raped by an elephant. There is only ONE Thruxton, the immortal Velocette.)

By that logic there should only be one bike that uses the name Daytona.

[wbks]

So what could you expect to pay for an average condition T120?

[Ixion]

That was (is) a Manx Norton! And yes it is beautiful. And $60K is probably quite cheap.

Of course not everything in the cafe racer scene was a T120.

There were BSA A10s, A65s (and A7, especially the A7SS) - dunno that the A50 Royal Star every made it; Matchless G15s and CSRs and G80s; the equivalent AJSs; T100 Triumphs , even 5TAs. Oh, and T110s naturally . Goldies of course for the lucky ones (the ultimate cafe racer, probably) , and ES2 Nortons. Even (swoon) maybe a Vincent. Ariel Red Hunters were in there too. The occasional Renfield (though they didn't seem to attract that sort of person);

Lots of possibilities, and of course everyone always reckoned on the superior merits of the marque of his choice. Lots of customising options too.

[Ixion]

By that logic there should only be one bike that uses the name Daytona.

Of course. there can only EVER be one Daytona. The Meridan T100 twin carb.

Only ever one Thunderbird too. The Meridan 6T/6TA. Anyone else who tries to appopriate those names should be butt raped by an elephant. Same with Ulster. And Gold Star.

[Big Dave]

It's you who is getting old and fuzzy sunshine.

I rode mint condition examples of both on the same excursion.
I also owned a '76 Bonne.
There is hardly any difference in performance or handling.

Oil leaks reliability and electrical are another matter

[wbks]

So I take it the manx was a gp bike in the 60s... Not a lot of info on them so I dont know. Don't seem to be an awefull lot of those bikes you mentioned around these days.