Brutally honest critique of the cafe' racer craze.

Tom is right...less is more, no matter the genre of bike. I like modern "street fighters" almost as much as the retro cafe aesthetic. Cool is cool, cant just bottle it up by saying " Decade/Genre X is cooler than Decade/Genre Y "

4cylndrfury wrote: Tom is right...less is more, no matter the genre of bike. I like modern "street fighters" almost as much as the retro cafe aesthetic. Cool is cool, cant just bottle it up by saying " *Decade/Genre X* is cooler than *Decade/Genre Y* "

Yeah, this.

Ride-em, don't hide-em. I got a shirt that says that when I subscribed to some magazine.

Anyway - the guy is a tool. I didn’t finish reading his rant.

Honda made more CB whatevers then anyone can count. The bikes that are bing turned int cheap cafe racers are bikes that have been pulled out of barns and garages after years of non use. The fact that this is pulling the price up makes other people clean out their garage thinking that they can get a few bucks for the POS that has been doing nothing but taking up space.

Living in your own era sucks for the hipster age person he feels so superior over. Today’s sporting bikes are not cheap to own, to keep ($$ tires every 3-4k miles) and forget affording insurance.

I got 2 cb360's for a combined $500. I am making one into a cafe and the other I am keeping for parts. It is more fun working on this bike then on my Ducati and when I am done I will have between $2,000 and $2500 in it total. I could have done it for far less and insurance will cost next to nothing even for full coverage.

You do see a lot of E36M3 on the café racer boards, but these guys have to learn on something. Better to butcher up a crap UJM that cost $300 then to try to wrench on a $8k+ 600cc supersport. Making a 33 hp bike faster and handle better is better then trying to make your 130 hp bike faster and it already way better then 99% of the riders out there.

BTW: . I didn’t finish reading his rant, but at first I thought that it was someone from GRM with the Berkeley this and bullE36 M3 that. Then I realized that the person who posted it must have converted it. I would love a program that would edit out the foul language and replace it with the GRM forum equivalent.

Rusnak_322 wrote: I would love a program that would edit out the foul language and replace it with the GRM forum equivalent.

the forum software does that. (Thanks, Tim.) Just cut and paste the offending text into a post here, copy the text out of the post, and delete the post.

motomoron wrote:

oldsaw wrote:

DILYSI Dave wrote: Dude sounds like a douchebag. 80's bikes are ugly. 60's bikes are cool.

You got two out of three right, but are woefully wrong on the third point:

The late 70s are my faves - Ducati 750SS, Laverda 750 SFC, BMW R90S. But the 80s big bore Japanese bikes (specifically those immortalized in The Meatmen's "War of the Superbikes" are a very close second. I'm going to look at a Norton Commando tomorrow, but really should look for a nice 1983 Suzuki GS1000E. That Wes Cooley replica GS1000 is pure badass.

I just read an article in a motorcycle magazine about a guy in Colorado who was rebuilding restomod Norton Commandos and selling them for 30K.

Beautiful bikes.

I'll preface my comment by stating that I was born in 1980 and am a child of Miami Vice, Magnum PI, and Knight Rider.

Most bikes from the later part of the 1980s, and nearly all sport bikes since are too weird looking for my taste. The headlamp and fairing treatments make them look too insectile for my liking.

On the flip side, I like the look of cafe racers. I don't want one, because I'm not a track hound. A racetrack is about the only situation where I'd want clip ons. Sport bikes and cafe racers both tend to have awkward ergonomics and I don't find them comfortable for any length of time.

Finally, most of these old bikes would just end up in the scrapyard if there weren't someone interested in them. You can watch people come out of the woodwork when a developer wants to destroy a landmark to put up a parking lot. Same goes for old bikes. Interest in modifying them will spark some interest among preservationists for bikes they would have considered too common, and insufficiently European.

I am going to build a Moto Guzzi cafe racer one day.

Ho hum. Another purist trying to tell others what to ride. The upside of the Cafe Craze is that I can pick these unfinished puppies up for next to nothing and put 'em back on the road for myself and others to enjoy. I've got a patio full of those bikes right now, and they were all relatively simple, easy fixes. When I get tired of their underpowered, poorly-sprung tank-slapping nonsense, I'll sell 'em & buy ugly 80s Japanese Superbikes. Why? 1) It's what I like. 2) They're cheap, dead easy to fix, and there are millions of 'em for parts. 3) They go like stink. 4) They stop and handle way better than any 60s or 70s bike. 5) They're butt ugly, and will never be "cool." Screw cool. Cool is for fashionistas & losers. Let's RIDE.

I've had a lot of bikes over the years, including most of the big sportbikes.

I recently bought a 1990 Honda GB500 and absolutely love it. The classic looks, light weight, great handling and reliability are hard to beat.

I started reading the article but fell asleep half way through. Seriously, who cares about all your inner feelings, just post some cool Cafe Racer pictures. That's why I just read threads.

In reply to pinchvalve:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Honda_GB500_Clubman_Rechts.jpg

I've ridden my friends CBRF4i enough to know about modern sport bikes.

I've ridden dual sports, and vintage bikes.

The modern bike is great if you can afford them, but I can't.

I bought a XS650, running, for $500, and a excellent condition spare engine for..well...free. In fact, the spare engine came with some many awesome condition parts that I've sold most of those at a profit (can't use them on my bike anyway).

Cost of a replacement engine for a modern bike? Who knows. Chance of problems? Unlikely, but the chance of dropping the bike and messing up all kinds of expensive plastics? Price of tires? Price of insurance?

I'll keep my old hipster bike.

I keep seeing this "price of insurance" being quoted. Are you guys actually checking on insurance or just assuming it's high?

My 98 YZF 600 was 300 a year for full coverage. This is when I was in my mid 20s -early 30s. Single or married didn't matter.

My current 05 BMW k1200s is 314 a year for full coverage. This is on a 167HP sport bike. I'm 34 and married at this point, although I'm not sure if it matters.

As far as Cafe racers. I have an original 82 Honda CM450E with 12k miles. It's a decent running bike, but not the most attractive (imo) and I hate the seat and bars. I've been toying with the idea of turning it into a cafe racer style, so maybe I'd ride it a little more.

PHeller wrote: Cost of a replacement engine for a modern bike? Who knows. Chance of problems? Unlikely, but the chance of dropping the bike and messing up all kinds of expensive plastics? Price of tires? Price of insurance?

Replacement engine? Every squid and his brother has wadded up a GSXR-1000. Good take-out engines are around $600-800. Of course, properly maintained you will never need one. I had one for a while with 65k on it. A bit tired but would still run hard enough to scare the crap out of you.

Chance of problems? Well, considering my bike sits in storage for 8 months and starts just by reinstalling the battery and hitting the starter button, I would say extremely low. EFI is a wonderful thing.

Expensive plastics? Ebay is littered with knock-off race replica plastics that fit good enough for a daily rider. Plus there are plenty of "good sides" available on parts bikes after aforementioned squids lowside them. Or you can do custom paint or a vinyl wrap for cheap.

Tires? Figure $300 for tires every 5-10k miles. Not too bad. If you are not riding the bike at 10/10 all the time you can get some sport touring tires that wear like iron compared to the sticky ultra-sport tires most guys suggest.

Insurance? $240 a year. 2001 GSX-R1000, relatively clean record.

In reply to Chet:

Does anyone know if that bike was sold in the U.S.? I don't recall ever seing one. I wouldn't change a thing about that bike. That one is super

Graefin10 wrote: In reply to Chet: Does anyone know if that bike was sold in the U.S.? I don't recall ever seing one. I wouldn't change a thing about that bike. That one is super

Sold in '89 and '90 but with low sales numbers. Used ones are pretty rare and expensive, like you'll pay now what you would have over twenty years ago.