(This is what it would look like after restoring)
Lusting
In reply to Spitsix:
HOLYCRAPIFIWASINFLORIDAI'DBEONTHATSOFRIKKINFASTYOURHEADWOULDSPINATABOUTTENTHOUSANDRPM.
Viragos inevitably come up in these threads, because there have been a handful of really good looking customs based on them. On the surface they're appealing: cool looking motor, decent power, really cheap buy-in.
But the last time I had one on my lift was for a terminal starter clutch problem that was the product of a faulty design across the whole line, eventually leading to a failure too expensive to justify repairing - not a question of "if" but "when," and basically not fixable beyond a not-cheap aftermarket band-aid and a prayer.
Has somebody come up with a fix for that problem, or is everybody ignoring it?
motomoron wrote: There's 1 cafe' racer on this page so far: the Dunstall Norton above, and the seat's wrong. The XLCR was called a cafe' racer, but it's a friggin' AMF era ironhead sportster. Here's a bunch of cafe racers. Want to build one? Find a Triumph parallel twin engine and a Norton featherbed frame, and Call these guys for pieces parts.
And JohnInKansas thought that HE was a motosnob. 
For your viewing pleasure:DTT CALENDAR GIRLS
I would ride those Calendar Girls hard!
Mother of God that's hot!
skierd wrote:
http://www.returnofthecaferacers.com/2012/04/yamaha-xjr-1300-custom.html#more
I like cafe racers in much the same way I respect custom choppers - the imagination and ingenuity that went into building a one-off bike.
Around here at least, bikers seem to be getting past the H-D vs. "everything else" syndrome. If I'm follwing a biker and another biker passes, they usually acknowledge each other, regardless of what they're riding, beit a H-D or a sportbike.
One of my co-workers recently bought a new Ducatti touring/cruiser/dual-sport. My god that bike is cool. And my god I think the thing has as many computer controls (more maybe) than my '03 TDI. ABS, Traction Control - temperature sensors that automatically adjust the traction control if temps drop to freezing...
Anyway... some day I'll have a bike. And eventually end up with my mother's husband's '73 H-1 to restore.
Damn you guys! I have a Honda 650 four just waiting to donate it's engine to an off road kart, but now you have me thinking bad, bad thoughts.
Man I would love to build one of these someday.
Rusnak_322 wrote: They were obsessed with street racing and doing "the ton". If they could have been doing third gear wheelies, they would have.
This is my thought process too.
They're neat from a historic perspective, but at the time they were stripper bikes to ride as fast as possible in their era. If the true spirit were created from scratch today... it wouldn't be based on outdated iron.
I had a "cafe inspired" old CB500 with clip-ons and such. While it got a lot of looks and was kind of neat to have, after owning even a fairly modern Yamaha YZF 600R (pre- R6 era)... I couldn't get over just how slow the old CB was in comparison.
Modern bikes are scary fast. While I have more fun driving a slow car fast and finding it's cornering/braking limits, and I can see the appeal in old tinkerer bikes, the modern day race inspired sport bikes from even the last two decades are apples to oranges for backroad carving and in my opinion are just a lot more fun. A modern retro cafe bike is better suited to scooter type duty, or looking fashionable while riding around a city/etc. Even a near 15 year old late '90's GSXR750/Ninja/FZR/CBR F3/etc. are all scary fast in the big scheme of things... and one needing work can be bought in at the part time high school worker income level, and they're a lot more fun to actually ride.
If you've watched Cafe Racer on Velocity, it seems there are a couple of different design styles. Some guys go totally for the classic look an feel with more emphasis on style than performance and using as much vintage parts as they can scrounge up. Then there are those who build more modern renditions - bikes with mono-shock swing arms, stiffer frame designs and inverted forks with huge brakes. Some even use water cooled engines.
The main reason I don't have a bike is the last thing the world needs is me on something that can go that fast, that easily (there's a reason I drive a 90hp diesel station wagon). So for me, as a guy in his 40's approaching mid-life crisis and with an ever increasing desire for a motorcycle, I lean more towards the "style" side rather than having a ballz-out performance bike that I don't (or shouldn't) want.
Basically: a custom chopper that goes a little against the grain of the typical H-D derived bikes.
I can not BELIEVE that nobody from this board has bought that '82 Katana at the top of the page yet!
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