Café racer
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A Café racer, originally pronounced "caff" (as in Kaff) racer, is a type of motorcycle as well as a type of motorcyclist. Both meanings have their roots in the 1960s British counterculture group the Rockers or the Ton Up Club, although they were also common in Italy, amongst Italian motorcycle manufacturers and other European countries.
Rockers were a young and rebellious Rock and Roll counterculture that wanted a fast, personalised and distinctive bike to travel between transport cafés along the newly built arterial motorways in and around British towns and cities. The goal of many was to be able to reach 100 miles per hour (called simply "the ton") along such a route where the rider would leave from a cafe, race to a predetermined point and back to the cafe before a single song could play on the jukebox, this was called record-racing. They are remembered as being especially fond of Rockabilly music and their image is now embedded in today's rockabilly culture.
A classic example of this was to race from the Ace Cafe on The North Circular road in NW London to the Hanger Lane junction as it then was - its now the more famous Hanger Lane Gyratory System - and back again. The aim was to get back to the Ace Cafe before the record you'd put onto the jukebox had finished. Bearing in mind that some of the Eddie Cochran tunes that were in vogue at this time were less than 2 minutes long...
Riders rejected the large transportation-oriented motorcycles of the time by taking these motorcycles and removing any unnecessary parts off them. The bikes had a raw, utilitarian and stripped-down appearance while the engines were tuned for maximum speed.
Because speed was valued more than comfort, bikes were fitted with single seats and low handle bars, such as ace bars, or even one-sided clip-ons mounted directly onto the front forks for more precise control and to escape the wind. Distinctive half or sometimes full race fairings, and large, hand-made, aluminium racing petrol/gas tanks were frequently left unpainted. Swept-back exhausts and rearset footpegs were used to give better clearance whilst leaning through corners at speed.
These motorcycles were lean, light and handled road surfaces well. The most defining machine of its heyday was the homemade Norton Featherbed framed and Triumph Bonneville engined machine called "The Triton". It used the most common and fastest racing engine combined with the best handling frame of its day, the Featherbed frame by Norton Motorcycles. Those with less money could opt for a "Tribsa" - the Triumph engine in a BSA frame
The cafe racer has a lot in common with the chopper or bobber scene in the USA and both have their roots with post-World War II veterans. While American GIs would take military-spec Harley Davidsons and "chop" off anything unnecessary to improve performance, European veterans took similar measures with their motorcycles. Both looked to make the standard factory motorcycles faster and lighter, although only the Europeans strived for better handling. The defining factor was the difference between the nature of the US and European road systems, the Americans favouring a low heavy cruiser style of motorcycle for straightline comfort; the Europeans preferring a higher, better handling motorcycle more suited to the more twisting roads of their nations.[citation needed] It must be remembered that it was also a style born largely out of the poverty of Post-War Europe and so not given to the excesses of later Harley-Davidson Billet-Barge style customisation.
Café Racers have also been called "Streetfighters" in reference to World War II veterans' fighter airplanes and have been described as the original "sport bikes" of today.
[edit] Cafe Racer Subculture
The term Cafe racer is still used to describe motorcycles of a certain style and some motorcyclists still use this term in self-description. A cafe racer is a motorcycle that has been modified for speed and good handling rather than comfort; single racing seats, low handle bars such as ace bars or even one-sided "clip-ons" mounted directly onto the front forks for control and aerodynamics, half or full race fairings, large racing petrol tanks often left unpainted, swept back exhausts and rearset footpegs in order to give better clearance whilst cornering at speed. These motorcycles were lean, light and handled road surfaces well. The most defining machine of the Rocker heyday was the homemade Norton Featherbed framed and Triumph Bonneville engined machine called " The Triton ". It used the most common and fastest racing engine combined with the best handling frame of its day.
Worthy of mentioning here is that an entire new sub-culture has evolved since the heyday of the Rockers. The 'Cafe Racers', a term that existed in the 1950s and 1960s to refer to bike riders of the race track, but is used now to describe motorcycle riders who choose classic/vintage British, Italian or Japanese motorbikes from the 50's-to late 1970s as their bike of choice, over Harleys or new Japanese bikes. These Cafe Racers do not follow the fashion/music subculture of the Rockers, old or new, but dress in a more modern and comfortable appearance with only a hint of likeness to the Rockers style. Common Levi jeans, generic motorcycle jackets, boots and/or shoes with modern helmets being the norm, instead of the very specific brand names, styles and look established by the Rockers. These Cafe Racers have taken elements of the American Greaser, British Rocker and modern motorcycle rider look to create a style all their own.
Because the effects of drinking alcohol are detrimental for operating a motor vehicle, it is obvious why Cafe Racers choose to stop for drinks of coffee rather than alcohol. The operating of motorcycles after consuming alcohol is somewhat acceptable to the image of riding choppers or cruisers further making them the antithesis of Cafe Racing. A lighthearted term has arisen for motorcyclists who dare to ride between places where they can consume alcohol, such as a tavern, called "TtT Racing" which is a play of words on TT Racing and an anagram of riding from: "Tavern-to-Tavern". Though a motorcyclist doesn't have to actually drink any coffee to qualify as a Cafe Racer it is logically implied, however impairing skills with alcohol does generally disqualify a person from being referred to as any type of "racer" while under the influence. The term "TtT Racing" does not require that the participants were attempting any type of racing feat, merely that they were riding between places to consume alcohol.
