Cafe racers

[Will Owen <nashwill912@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

im heney wrote:

"...A Cafe Racer was a term for a performance motorcycle up through
the 60's.
"Does anyone know where the term really comes from?  I dont, but I know
it pre-dates the 70's..."

Originated in England with a fad for tricking out street bikes with real
or faux racing details/accessories: clip-on handlebars, dustbin
fairings, solo racer seats and the like. It got to the point where
Rickman and others made road-going replicas of road-racer frames, to
which one could attach one's own engine etc. I believe that the name
came about either because the owners of these things would race from
cafe to cafe, sort of a high-energy pub crawl, or because they would
habitually park in front of such establishments, posing for the
wondering eyes of the populace. Or possibly it was both.

I was a big fan of all this, and was disappointed that it didn't catch
on so well on this continent. I did get to ride one or two such bikes,
including a Norton Domiracer replica with a very badly-designed front
disc brake conversion. A few Japanese bikes sought to copy the style,
most successfully the very nice Honda 305 Super Hawk. 

Italian content: the Italians were doing racer-drag street bikes long
before the English fad, and they weren't all fake. In 1959 I fell
hopelessly in love with a Ducati 200 Super Sport, a fierce little
confection with a madly bulgy gas tank, enormous brakes with airscoops,
a lightly-padded frame tube for a seat and a claimed 21 hp from its
single DOHC 200 cc cylinder. It sat in a shop, surrounded by such things
as Triumph Tiger Cubs, Harley Hummers and Ariel Square Fours, like a
pissed-off fairy princess in a sports bar.

Will Owen
Pasadena, CA
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