I suppose there could technically be only TWO types of cafe racers:

1. Bikes that were built in the 50s and 60s that were specifically raced to and from roadside cafes,

and

2. Bikes that are cafe styled and have actually raced to or from a cafe.

There, if you want to get all technical.

Otherwise, anything goes; as in tires & oil.

If its not English base made then all the other brands are WANNABE's! IMHO

Foxy

Foxy wrote:If its not English base made then all the other brands are WANNABE's! IMHOFoxy

Funny, there is a photo taken of the 59 club taken around 61' and one of the bikes in front is a Honda Hawk.

Also, in that same photo, which has been widely distributed and printed in various books etc. covering the cafe phenomenon, all the two dozen or so bikes in it are in standard or near-standard trim.

This can only mean that the term "Cafe Racer" has nothing to do with type and style of motorcycle at all and everything to do with what some people do with motorcycles.

A Cafe Racer is a person, no matter what they ride, who rides for fun and sport between cafes and other meeting places for like-minded riders.

True, there were some classic Tritons and ex-road-race bikes here and there in use in the 1950's, but they were a rare exception and not the rule at all.



The Ace Cafe around 1962, notice all bikes are in fairly standard trim...



The Classic era for the Cafe phenomenon was also the classic era for British bikes, 1963 and earlier. Once BSA and Triumph adopted unit-construction, the factory singles racers were gone and the original Norton works was shut down the bikes and industry lost a lot of soul.

Also after 1963 instead of building a cafe bike with ingenuity, a hacksaw and maybe some cast-off genuine racing parts, a "builder" could simply go to Dunstall, Dresda or Tickle and buy the parts to bolt one together in not buy a complete bike ready to go. Quite a bit different than earlier.

The Neo-Cafe look, where everyone strives to make their bike look like a Manx Norton with polished alloy tanks to me is ridiculous and has no credibility and no history before the 1980's when British bikes became collector's items and commodities.

The most historically correct cafe bike is going to be a 1963 or earlier European bike in near factory trim with maybe the additions of some type of low handlebars and modified footrests and exhaust. If there is an authentic cafe bike with the look of a road racer, then it is actually made with parts from an obsolete, crashed or parted out period road-race bike, not some stuff someone purposely manufactured and labeled as "cafe".

Well, there you have it, the whole truth backed up by two, count them, two pictures... I'm flabbergasted

Jean

Jeandr wrote:Well, there you have it, the whole truth backed up by two, count them, two pictures... I'm flabbergasted

Jean

Don’t know why your flabber is gasted

As for a lot of the British Movies at the time that had motorcycle scenes with the ubiquitous
café racer in it, it was the exception rather than the rule.
Most of the teenage kids in the 50s &60s were on low paid wages and could only just afford a cheap secondhand bike and the expense of keeping it on the road.

grandpaul wrote:Sub- 30 HP.

No thanx.

Yes, it would need to be up around the 40 hp mark to make a 500 cc road single fun to ride. Would this be possible with a bit of tuning and de-restricting?? This is the new Enfield engine, and I wonder how strong it is. The old Bullets could be made to fly, but they had to be re-engineered. Steve Lindsell worked wonders with his racing Bullets over the years. He was 4th in the Classic 500 race at this year's Manx Grand Prix with a race speed of 102 mph!

swooshdave wrote:The last two posts make my head hurt.

A cafe racer styled bike is just that. Something that emulates the cafe racer bikes of yore. There are many interpretations of that but the general theme is well known.

we'll all just have to tune into cafe racer TV and have them tell us what it is i guess.................

and while i'm sure the exact definition is open for debate, i'm pretty sure all yellow bikes are excluded from being considered cafes !

mikegray660 wrote:...and while i'm sure the exact definition is open for debate, i'm pretty sure all yellow bikes are excluded from being considered cafes !

Damn!

daveh wrote:

mikegray660 wrote:...and while i'm sure the exact definition is open for debate, i'm pretty sure all yellow bikes are excluded from being considered cafes !

Damn!

nice! ok some exceptions will be made.............

i have to admit in a moment of cerebral lapse i fell into yellow - of course i had wished it was a honda with some low bars so i could really call it a cafe