Cafe Racers

Cafe racers are both man and machine. With it's stunning appearance and aggressive riding style, it is one of the most favorite and lovable motorcycles around the world. This culture was born in the streets of Britain in 50s and still rocks the world. Without the tuning and modification of cafe racers for performance and handling in those days, the modern sport bikes that we see today may not be designed and manufactured. This culture may have born in Britain in the early days. But it has developed into many sub culture consisting of the passion and love towards motorbikes.

The riders of these machines were so young and they loved speed. Their main goal at that time was to achieve the Ton which means doing 100 mph. Do the Ton was the slogan used by the Royal Enfield for promoting their flagship cafe racer model GT650 these days. So, they have modified their street bike with those clipon handlebars, rear set foot pegs, humped rear seat, upswept exhausts and mainly tuned for max performance and handling. Basically the riders of these machine are with Built not Bought attitude.

The term cafe racers were born in the cafes of London. During 50s, young bikers in UK travel from one cafe to the another just racing with their friends. There they wait for other bikers to come by and challenge them for a race. Most of the cafes are occupied by the long distance truck drivers. They laugh at them and say that they were not a real racer. They were just a cafe racer as the race from one cafe to another one. Yes... The kids agreed and said that I am a cafe racer..! Thus the name cafe racers has born.

We know only the Continental GT 535s and 650s. But Royal Enfield made their Continental GT250, a factory made cafe racer at mid 60s itself. Other companies like Norton, BSA etc... also made their cafe racer models. Many companies today making their modern retro cafe racers. The world is moving towards technology and motorbikes also developed much a lot. No one is going to regret that point. But in my point of view, the soul has been lost. Some of the manufacturers still designing a model containing cafe racer elements. But what i'm trying to say is old is gold. Some of my favorites are The GT250, Desmo 250 and many other retro motorbikes. Today, most of the bikes are focused only on how it looks. Less importance has been given to the performance. But cafe racer consists of both looks and performance.

I basically like and love how these machine made a great impact with its aggressive look, posture and performance. In my upcoming blogs, will try to explain the geometry and design parameters of these beautiful machines.