Priller
Well-known member
Capped at 10, but I for sh*ts and giggles I opened the FB Marketplace 'Motorcycles' page instead of searching for something specific, and there are dozens and dozens of these things, most either sitting or heavily reduced.
I guess the chopped cafe racer thing is officially dead, eh?
- Thread starter Priller
- Start date
Capped at 10, but I for sh*ts and giggles I opened the FB Marketplace 'Motorcycles' page instead of searching for something specific, and there are dozens and dozens of these things, most either sitting or heavily reduced.
Finally. So many nice bikes (and a bunch of crap ones) were ruined by this trend.
I never really saw people asking huge money for these abominations.
Unlike the WCC crowd that dumped 100 grand plus into unsellable scrapmetal.
Not huge money but there were a lot of <$3000 bikes ruined and then listed for >$10K. I don't know if anyone actually bought one for that much though. Sitting on it should be enough to convince you to buy something else.
Priller
Well-known member
Definitely a different crowd. These seem mostly to be homebrew, and the build quality is often equivalently junk. The whole DIY aesthetic was a big part of the appeal, while the chopper craze was often to pay someone else to assemble an unrideable piece of junk for you from catalog parts.
It's purely anecdotal, I haven't dug too deep into this, but I was surprised just how many of these things are up for sale at the moment. I'm sure there are plenty out there still repping their chopped deathtrap Seca with a 1/4" thick seat pad under badly stitched leather and Alibaba shocks, but plenty more seem to have moved on.
I remember the peak, going to the Sunshine Coast in BC for our weekend ride and running into hundreds if not thousands of these things there for a get-together weekend, clogging up the ferry and wobbling their way through the corners, extravagant facial hair flapping under a metalflake openface and over a jean vest.
No different from any other fad, I suppose. We're weirdly tribal creatures mostly living now without a tribe, so we have to invent them.
Cafe has been dead for a while. Manufacturers late to the party now seeing the fad is dead and they aren't selling (many nice to look at though). The bigwheel bagger fad looks to be over as well (thankfully) and I don't know what the current fad is these days.
I've seen some nicely done ones over the years that were done properly with good quality parts and workmanship. Unfortunately, those are in the minority with plenty of formerly nice looking bikes like early 80's Honda CB-F's, BMW K100's, and countless R-series BMW's with rear frame looks hacked off and some sort of an interpretation of a seat with brown leather added.
The fellow who I bought my R100RS from mentioned turning down an offer from some guy who wanted to make a cafe racer out of it. Thank god.
The fellow who I bought my R100RS from mentioned turning down an offer from some guy who wanted to make a cafe racer out of it. Thank god.
Every time I’ve seen one of those things it’s struck me repeatedly that they’re a great example of form over function.
Aside from riding it to the nearest Timmies or Starbucks to sit and drink coffee in the parking lot all day, what do you actually use it for? They look brutally uncomfortable in both seat and ergos.
Aside from riding it to the nearest Timmies or Starbucks to sit and drink coffee in the parking lot all day, what do you actually use it for? They look brutally uncomfortable in both seat and ergos.
They are getting cheap enough that it could make a fun racing class similar to lemons. A whole swarm of ill-handling spine breakers doing the best they can.
Priller
Well-known member
I'd be infinitely more interested in that than the King of the Baggers series!
While they are way more money and hassle, my favorite bikes at VRRA were the Rudges. The riders were working so hard and the bikes were relatively slow but just on the edge of disaster almost all the time. Hardtail race bikes will do that to you.
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A friend and his neighbour mutilated a CX500 and then got north of 10K for it. Frankly I stunned.
Can any of this stuff make it on the road with the increased saftey oversite?
Probably not. They could barely get a safety before. By the time you spend all of the money to get it to pass a safety, it will barely resemble the crappy thing you bought.
For every 30 bikes or so there was something truly beautiful. I don't think the new safety certs are going to help this trend at all unfortunately.
guzzirider
Well-known member
Like motorcycling in general custom bike go thru cycles.
I used to build café racers back in the 70s.
Lets not confuse the term café racer with bobber, brat or chopper.
With the new safety standards to pass a custom motorcycle must have:
If original seated 2 it must have seating for 2 no less no more to pass
If original had fenders it must have fenders it to pass
If original had front & rear break it must have both to pass
Tires must be designated for road use to pass
If original had signal light it must have signal lights to pass
However OEM parts are not mandatory and can be replaced with aftermarket if they meet certain standards.
So basically most of those bikes are now worthless unless you want a garage decoration.
I used to build café racers back in the 70s.
Lets not confuse the term café racer with bobber, brat or chopper.
With the new safety standards to pass a custom motorcycle must have:
If original seated 2 it must have seating for 2 no less no more to pass
If original had fenders it must have fenders it to pass
If original had front & rear break it must have both to pass
Tires must be designated for road use to pass
If original had signal light it must have signal lights to pass
However OEM parts are not mandatory and can be replaced with aftermarket if they meet certain standards.
So basically most of those bikes are now worthless unless you want a garage decoration.
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meh i ride this thing. no back problems or whatever else. it only has a 12 L tank so you gotta take breaks anyway.
