cafe racers on HD Theater

mike1969 · Post by **mike1969** » Thu Oct 14, 2010 9:59 am

Watched what I think was the first episode (2009) of Cafe Racers last night on HD theater. The opening minutes of the it showed a biker riding an old Moto Guzzi. I was amazed to see it was filmed just a few miles from where I live.

After watching the show it seems that the Superhawk was actually designed to be a cafe racer (with the low bars). Am I correct with this assumption?

davomoto · Post by **davomoto** » Thu Oct 14, 2010 11:29 am

Mike, thanks for the reminder! I forgot to add itto my DVR list, so I haven't seen it yet. I'm pretty stoked about the series!

mike1969 · Post by **mike1969** » Thu Oct 14, 2010 3:20 pm

A couple of guys on the show purchased a 68 cb450 that they are going to turn it into a cafe racer the next few episodes.
They bought a nearly complete bike for $700.00 (with a lot of haggling). Seemed like a bargain to me,it was pretty nice.

teazer · Post by **teazer** » Thu Oct 14, 2010 4:00 pm

Mike,

Back in 61 a cafe racer had a large tank, rear sets, clip ons and maybe a top half fairing. The CB arrived with a whole different approach. It had two positions for the pegs so they could be rear set and the bars in Europe and Australia were almost dead flat with a slight rearward bend.

For the US market they arrived with a slight rise to suit the more upright riding position preferred in the US at the time.

It was never a café racer but could be converted into a real racer with a race kit of optional parts. I hope that people who don't know the facts are not re-writing history again. Seems to be a popular pastime.

mike1969 · Post by **mike1969** » Thu Oct 14, 2010 5:36 pm

Teazer, Guess I should have said the Superhawk was designed to appeal to riders who liked cafe racer type bikes. I don't know a lot about cafe racers but see a lot of similarites with the low bars,adjustable foot pegs and twin cylinder engines and the fact that they look a lot like English motorcycles.

teazer · Post by **teazer** » Thu Oct 14, 2010 6:04 pm

The term Café Racer has been adapted to almost any resto-mod type bike with low bars. On DTT they seem to think that low bars and a fat front tire plus pleated, flat version of a stock seat equals a Café Racer.

The More pseudo British the better it seems. I don't quite get it, but then again, I don't think I'm teh intended audience.

It's an interesting trend. maybe it represents the desire to get away from the excesses represented by chopper$$ and back to simple and cheap built around a myth of what Rockers were all about. It's interesting and I'm sure someone will get rich.

JJJake · Post by **JJJake** » Fri Oct 15, 2010 3:26 pm

That was a pretty cool show. I was excited to see a CB77 on there. I watched episodes 1 & 2 and have 3 & 4 scheduled to record. The Billy Joel interview was quite entertaining. It'll be neat to see the progress that they make on the CB450.