An explanation of these cafe racers.

After reading on here for months this strange fascination of taking a perfectly good motorcycle and turning it into a so called cafe racer I decided to research it. I believe I have found my answer. Cafe racers are the same ones who think the 01 on the side of the General Lee made the Duke boys have a race car. :blink:

Actually here is an article I found. I'd like your opinons after you read it.
www.ironcross.net/cafe.htm

Yep, IMO he's pretty well nailed it. He's obviously a rider "of a certain age" (read over 50) so has seen (or been involved with) lotsa cafe bikes. Cafe bikes seem to be making somewhat of a comeback. They've never been "out" in the UK and Europe but North America seems to go through cycles of interest in cafe bikes. Right now the interest is higher than it's been for a long time.....and I go back to the mid '60's with bikes.
IMO, a quite a few cafe bikes made from '70's and '80's Japanese bikes are built by guys that can't afford (or are not talented enough) to make a modern streetfighter, so the cafe bike made from that Japanese beater is the next best thing for them. Some of their creations are true ratbikes but at least they're trying....or maybe they're making some kind of an anti-society statement ?? Whatever.....but clean or rat, all cafe bikes are close to my heart. To my mind they are the most exact expression of what a motorcycle SHOULD be.....lean, mean, fast on straights AND in the corners.....the purest expression of motorcycling.

I think you're placing to much emphasis on assumptions and personal opinion (see my sigline on opinions:P) of these bikes you're refering to as being "perfectly good motorcycles". :S

A good portion of the members here who have gone the cafe' racer replica or chopper route on their bikes didn't start off with a pristine (or even close) bike to begin with.
Most have been barnyard/junkyard/garage sale/etc purchases, and are anything but stunning examples of what they once were. ran429's "Mossbeater" is a perfect example of this. A lot of folks would have ran away screaming at what that bike looked like when he first got it. :sick: But he brought it "back from the dead", and IMHO ended up with a really sharp looking (AND running) bike!

While the vision of taking an otherwise stock bike and personalizing it to ones own likes/tastes factors into a cafe' or chopper project, it's not always the only reasoning behind doing so. Availability of replacement NOS (or even repro) parts, proper tools, and of course the knowledge/experience to be able restore a bike to original condition plays a big part in it as well.


Nice article in the link you posted.
But people were customizing their bikes loooong before the chooper or cafe' racer bike era.
Most of those "customizations" were done for functional purposes - example: less weight to drag around meant horsepower was being used more effectively, and a lighter bike doesn't have to be "muscled" around either.
Sometimes the "customizations" just happened to have an asthetic appeal.

You just described a 2 stroke motocross bike. Pure joy without any extra weight.

RetroRiceRocketRider wrote:

I think you're placing to much emphasis on assumptions and personal opinion (see my sigline on opinions:P) of these bikes you're refering to as being "perfectly good motorcycles". :S

A good portion of the members here who have gone the cafe' racer replica or chopper route on their bikes didn't start off with a pristine (or even close) bike to begin with.
Most have been barnyard/junkyard/garage sale/etc purchases, and are anything but stunning examples of what they once were. ran429's "Mossbeater" is a perfect example of this. A lot of folks would have ran away screaming at what that bike looked like when he first got it. :sick: But he brought it "back from the dead", and IMHO ended up with a really sharp looking (AND running) bike!

While the vision of taking an otherwise stock bike and personalizing it to ones own likes/tastes factors into a cafe' or chopper project, it's not always the only reasoning behind doing so. Availability of replacement NOS (or even repro) parts, proper tools, and of course the knowledge/experience to be able restore a bike to original condition plays a big part in it as well.


Nice article in the link you posted.
But people were customizing their bikes loooong before the chooper or cafe' racer bike era.
Most of those "customizations" were done for functional purposes - example: less weight to drag around meant horsepower was being used more effectively, and a lighter bike doesn't have to be "muscled" around either.
Sometimes the "customizations" just happened to have an asthetic appeal.

Agreed, my 750 was as bad of a beater as I have seen to begin with on this site. I went neither Rat, Chopper nor cafe on it. Im gonna post some pics of the finished product as soon as I can figure out how to resize them.

Wildh2oskier wrote:

Agreed, my 750 was as bad of a beater as I have seen to begin with on this site. I went neither Rat, Chopper nor cafe on it. Im gonna post some pics of the finished product as soon as I can figure out how to resize them.

I'd love to see it!
If you're having trouble resizing the pics, you can email them to me and I'd be more than happy to resize and email them back to you so you can post them.

Having been around Kawi's since about '74 (my next-door neighbors owned a Kawi dealership back then), over the years I've built up quite a few "connections" (KZr was a great help in this) on where to obtain NOS and repro parts.
I'm also fortunate enough to have the knowledge and experience at my disposal of a Kawi service mgr who's being wrenching on Kaws since the early 70's. Back then he was the local 2-stroke guru in these parts, and could really make a Kawi triple sing! He was also instrumental in the R&D of the first Jet Ski, the '74 JS400. So to say he's dabbled in wrenching would be gross understatement! :pinch: :laugh:
A lot of newer KZr members are either new to KZ's, or new to motorcycles in general. So they may not have the knowledge or resources of where and who to get their parts or repairs performed just yet.
We're all here to share or learn more about our KZ's, right?

H2RICK wrote:

IMO, a quite a few cafe bikes made from '70's and '80's Japanese bikes are built by guys that can't afford (or are not talented enough) to make a modern streetfighter, so the cafe bike made from that Japanese beater is the next best thing for them.

.....cafe racers and streetfighters are so dissimilar that your comparison is almost boredering on obscene. :woohoo:

The cultures, the styles, the aesthetics, the riding posture, the purpose... all different.

caffcruiser wrote:

H2RICK wrote:

IMO, a quite a few cafe bikes made from '70's and '80's Japanese bikes are built by guys that can't afford (or are not talented enough) to make a modern streetfighter, so the cafe bike made from that Japanese beater is the next best thing for them.

.....cafe racers and streetfighters are so dissimilar that your comparison is almost boredering on obscene. :woohoo:

The cultures, the styles, the aesthetics, the riding posture, the purpose... all different.

I have clipons. So is my bike a Streetfighter or a Caferacer? I think of it as a Streetfighter, but I don't really care what label someone wants to put on it.
I have built a coupla Featherbed specials - a NorBSA and a Triton, and there was a Velocette Venom Clubman complete with Thruxton gearbox, open primary etc. There were also a few "cafed" BSAs along the way. Having a solid grounding in caferacers for over 30 years, my opinion is Streetfighters are today's cafe racers. Not a lot of Goldstars around to build up, but plenty of Japanese bikes. Just the natural progression of things.

Yes technically your right but who cares. If you want to fix up a basket case or personalize your clean stocker go ahead and call it what you want, it's YOUR bike. My new 77 KZ650C1 had a custom paint job ,no rear fender a Z1 front fender and a 1/4 fairing in less than a year because that's how I wanted MY bike to look. The bike I'm building now is from a total wreck. I'm lucky to be able to do everything myself so I can do what ever I want. and I'm going all out with it. Lets just have fun on our old bikes and don't worry what the owner calls it, he did his best.
Mark

That author needs to do more research. "Originally, the term Café Racer was a derogatory reference to bikes that were only styled to look like racers". Not true. The term came from the fact thet the riders would meet at their local cafe and race their bikes. That is also where the term "Ton Up" came from. Any bike that could do 100mph could say they did the ton. The only bikes that could do 100mph back then were modified cafe racers (except the very expensive bikes like Brough Superior and such). They would pick a designated spot to race to. They would play a song on the jukebox and race to the spot and back. The object was to make it back before the song ended. Saying that "cafe racer riders are the same people who think 01 makes the General Lee a race car" is a narrow minded statement. Uneducated thoughts like that will not get you far in a forum like ours. I have no use for people who can not appreciate what others are passionate about. I do not like Harleys but I can appreciate the love that the Harley riders have for their bikes. I suggest you do you own research before you trust what a backyard chopper magazine says.

kawtoy wrote:

That author needs to do more research. "Originally, the term Café Racer was a derogatory reference to bikes that were only styled to look like racers". Not true. The term came from the fact thet the riders would meet at their local cafe and race their bikes. That is also where the term "Ton Up" came from. Any bike that could do 100mph could say they did the ton. The only bikes that could do 100mph back then were modified cafe racers (except the very expensive bikes like Brough Superior and such). They would pick a designated spot to race to. They would play a song on the jukebox and race to the spot and back. The object was to make it back before the song ended. Saying that "cafe racer riders are the same people who think 01 makes the General Lee a race car" is a narrow minded statement. Uneducated thoughts like that will not get you far in a forum like ours. I have no use for people who can not appreciate what others are passionate about. I do not like Harleys but I can appreciate the love that the Harley riders have for their bikes. I suggest you do you own research before you trust what a backyard chopper magazine says.

Hmmmmmmmm I quoted a backyard chopper magazine on a site that is devoted to backyard whatzit bikes and your chewing on me about it. Here is the shocker,,, for you anyway,,, I just believe we ought to just get them up and back on the road. BUT it is the anti-chopper, anti ratbike, cafe racers rule attitude on here that truly disturbs me.
Cafe racers are just streetbikes. Nothing special nothing fancy.
Choppers are just streetbikes. Nothing special nothing fancy.
Restores are just streetbikes. Nothing special nothing fancy.
Each and every one of us has put something of ourselves into our rides. Whether its a chrome doodad or a windscreen and set of clubmans.
Everytime you come on here (or in real life) and make fun of what someone else has done to "their" bike you are ignoring the fact that someone else is sniggering at how you spent the time to fix up that girlie ride of yours.
For a truly goodtime I'll take a 2 stroke MX or enduro bike on a truly fun ride anyday. But I'll take the KZ over my truck anyday too.

Post edited by: Wildh2oskier, at: 2007/07/22 17:31

Uhhhh, OK. I know you are new here but this site is not anywhere close to being dedicate to cafe racers. Cafe bikes make up a very small portion of the KZ's here. I like them, sorry you don't. I suggest you find another bike site that fits your tastes better