For those into building "Cafe' Racers"....

It just got a whole lot easier. Turns out all you need is a bike (preferably one that is/was street legal) and 3 cans of Krylon flat black paint. The end result is your new Cafe Racer. Viola

wow....OL' Ace must be putting too much of that high-test Irish into his cup-o-joe....cafe racer heh heh heh

just where did the term cafe first get used???and why????

this'll be good...

anyone?

bar hopper

I could be wrong, but I believe the term was originally English, for bikes which alluded to bikes which ran from coffee shop to same, attempting to achieve the "ton" or 100 mph. a goal just barely achievible on period BSA's & Triumphs. thus they were "bobbed" and 'HOPP'ED UP" Giving way to our trimming/boosting stock bikes. G

i guess thats right on the money... i knew that once....lemme see whats my dogs name???what did i have for lunch??? why did i log again???

gane wrote:

I could be wrong, but I believe the term was originally English, for bikes which alluded to bikes which ran from coffee shop to same, attempting to achieve the "ton" or 100 mph. a goal just barely achievible on period BSA's & Triumphs. thus they were "bobbed" and 'HOPP'ED UP" Giving way to our trimming/boosting stock bikes. G

$1750 for a 550? Damn. The economy must be rolling. Thank goodness for Obama. LMAO :laugh: By the way, Krylon's the shiznit :laugh:

Some of those old BSAs could hit the "ton" without much trouble...

After a few bars it might not be too bad. But to Krylon something and call it cafe... Well, it is one of the reasons I don't like my bike being referred to as a cafe. I used decent paint, not krylon. :laugh:

The term is, as stated, from England. Started in the cafes around England that had juke-boxes, and where the "teddy boys" hung out. The original races were not cafe-to-cafe, but rather to a pre-determined location and back - it was then up to the racer to decide how fast he could do it, then select the appropriate record on the jukebox - the idea was to do the round-trip before the record ended!

This soon morphed into cafe-to-cafe races and even destination races (Brighton was popular) and the bikes developed based on road-legal racing bikes of the era.

You can still get the feel of the old cafe culture at the Ace Cafe in north London - if you are over there it is worth the trip!

Limey wrote:

The term is, as stated, from England. Started in the cafes around England that had juke-boxes, and where the "teddy boys" hung out. The original races were not cafe-to-cafe, but rather to a pre-determined location and back - it was then up to the racer to decide how fast he could do it, then select the appropriate record on the jukebox - the idea was to do the round-trip before the record ended!

This soon morphed into cafe-to-cafe races and even destination races (Brighton was popular) and the bikes developed based on road-legal racing bikes of the era.

You can still get the feel of the old cafe culture at the Ace Cafe in north London - if you are over there it is worth the trip!

Now that was informative. I never would have figured that one out without a little help.

I guess he forgot to paint the wheels.