UTMC

I guess this is just late February in the Northern Hemisphere.
http://hellforleathermagazine.com/2011/ ... ntroversy/

People can be incredible snobs when it comes to style; they looove to be experts on things and style is a low-haning fruit because you don't have to know anything about it, all you need is an opinion. An informed opinion on something like this is entirely subjective, so it doesn't matter. For some reason the (I can't even bring myself to say it) crowd has gone all lifestylie and now they have an attitude about it. Hell with them.
I'm going to go outside to the shed and remove the low bars from the Triumph and put a big steering wheel on the top yoke instead. See what they think of that with my rearsets.

I don't see what all the fuss is about. I like the H1 just the way it is. And like the author says, it's all period. Just like that. Is it CR? Who cares but the CR snobs, and they come across as a bunch of dorks anyway.

somehow I think there was some sort of similar debate on this very board many, many moons ago. I say we fire up the old thread just because it's still cold out. On second thought , spring is coming and I'd rather put new sprockets on my cafe supermoto.

Maybe if he had "Cafe" painted on the tank, people would be more accepting.

That, too.

FLEE CAFE:BIKE:SADNESS

All the drama over what is or isn't a cafe racer makes me want to just stay away from them altogether.

I'll just stick to riding dual sports like my V-Strom.

Rabbit_Fighter wrote:All the drama over what is or isn't a cafe racer makes me want to just stay away from them altogether.

Yep


Fuckin new riders.... Why can't they just go buy a Harley and play dress up with those guys...

Ah yes, the cultural backlash.

This is why I don't call my bike a "cafe racer".

Is this a cafe racer?



How about now?



I don't race from cafe to cafe, so can it really be a cafe racer?
It's not even British, how can it be a cafe racer?

"Calling a horse a camel just confuses people."

How about this? Is this a cafe racer?



How about this?



Why call anything anything?

ORANGE:

Rabbit_Fighter wrote:I'll just stick to riding dual sports like my V-Strom.

I see what you did there...

You know what, screw HFL.

There is no *way* I am going to pay them (subscribe) just so they can tell me what a "proper" cafe racer is.

I like motorcycles.

Hooray for Cafe Reenactors!

Christ how many threads do we have on this topic alone?

Yeah. Over in Jolly Ole, there seem to be a lot of Old West reenactors for some reason. I don't really get it.

Cafe Reenactors. I love that.

calamari kid wrote:I like motorcycles.

Yeah, that's kinda where I'm at. Just thought it was funny that this gets people so riled up.

Just because I'm a pyromaniac, here's some oil:

How about this.
Let us all accept that only the original british bikes riden by the original rockers were really cafe-racers.
That will keep that lot silent.
So, to distinguish the "cafe racer style" elements, one could adopt the following for the non-original cafe racers:

Non-period British bikes dressed up like cafe racers would be tea racers.
Japanese bikes dressed up like cafe racers would be cafe ricers.
Italian bikes dressed up like cafe racers would be espresso racers. Or capuccino racers.
Swedish bikes dressed up like cafe racers would be cafe icers.
German bikes dressed up like cafe racers would be kaffee racers.
American bikes dressed up like cafe racers would be sanka racers.

Just so that everyone will get their niche and be happy about it.

Or not.

DerGolgo wrote:Non-period British bikes dressed up like cafe racers would be tea racers.
Japanese bikes dressed up like cafe racers would be cafe ricers.
Italian bikes dressed up like cafe racers would be espresso racers. Or capuccino racers.
Swedish bikes dressed up like cafe racers would be cafe icers.
German bikes dressed up like cafe racers would be kaffee racers.
American bikes dressed up like cafe racers would be sanka racers.

What about Austrian bikes?



LoL.

/RM

The other day I was talking to a guy who made a few iPhone games, including a motocross racing game, and he was having a real hard time with the idea that my bike was neither a crotch rocket or cruiser. He did that look upwards and to the left wrinkled forehead thinking really hard thing, like I just told him a devious riddle. A guy who made a video game about motorcycles can't handle more than 2 categories. We're doomed.

roadmissile wrote:

DerGolgo wrote:Non-period British bikes dressed up like cafe racers would be tea racers.
Japanese bikes dressed up like cafe racers would be cafe ricers.
Italian bikes dressed up like cafe racers would be espresso racers. Or capuccino racers.
Swedish bikes dressed up like cafe racers would be cafe icers.
German bikes dressed up like cafe racers would be kaffee racers.
American bikes dressed up like cafe racers would be sanka racers.

What about Austrian bikes?

LoL.

/RM

Hm... cafe wieners sounds too derogatory...I'm stumped, and this annoys me because Vienna has a legandary café culture.

Maybe cafe sachers. But that probably wouldn't make a lot of sense to non-europeans. And probably not even a lot of sense to many eurpeans, at that.

Of course, there might be copyright issues, plus their regular clientele might be disturbed by all the bikers flocking there...

not sober enough for this thread......

I say its not cafe without a stripe of checkers running down the center of the tank and a 59 sticker somewhere. Fuckin poser.

So if I understand y'all, my bike is unfashionable?

guitargeek wrote:So if I understand y'all, my bike is unfashionable?

your bike is fucking gay. my bike is awesome. I race everywhere I go, to the cafe or to my moms house. My bike is a mommy racer.

dozer wrote:your bike is fucking gay.

Remind me to fart in your hair.

guitargeek wrote:So if I understand y'all, my bike is unfashionable?

No, no, KLRs and VStroms are unfashionable. Your bike is highly fashionable, it's in, like moustaches and undersized cardigans.

I see.

Ok, maybe not quite like those two particular items, but those people are into cafés like they're into fixies. And worse, café racers are well on their way to replacing choppers as the bike of non riders.
It's a bit of "I liked their music before they were cool, man" and a bit of a flood of halfassery debasing the entire milieu.
The café thing, everyone wants to hitch a ride on it as it rises, even using the label totally out of context to try and capture a bit of that cachet, but all those hangers-on have added too much weight and it's going to crash into the mountainside like an overloaded balloon. Or somewhat more pyrotechnically, helicopter.

Upside is the larger availability of parts and tasty goodies.
Downside is the rising costs of everything involving shitty old UJMs.

Upside is the vortex of cheap parts and bikes that will be left in the wake of the next fashion movement in about 5 years or so. I'm guessing there is going to be a huge vintage MX movement that will eventually kill the cafe again.

The vintage MX thing is already well underway here in the arsehole of the midwest. The Missouri series will let you run almost anything before 1990. I think it's mainly because most people around here can't afford to maintain a modern efi four stroke for a season.