Cafe Racers – In the current biking fashion for all things retro, the café racers come highly recommended. As the name implies ‘café racer’, this was a café and coffee shop culture in Britain were in the late ‘50s teens who could afford two wheels for the first time and were influenced by the new rock ‘n’ roll of the likes of Bill Haley, Eddie Cochrane and Gene Vincent, used to congregate. London’s Ace Café was one of the famous then.
café racers were originally production road bikes from the 1950s and ‘60s that had been modified, either by their owners or specialist customizing shops. Notability, café racers were customized for street speed. You are very likely to find these bored and boisterous youths, with their rocker Brylcreemed quiffs and personalized biker leather jackets, as it serves as a short hop for them to begin street racing, either to other cafes or, famously, to a pre-determined point.
With the competitive spirit in them, the need for speed brought about several modifications to their Triumphs, BSAs and Nortons. The modifications cut across the track and clip-on handlebars, performance tuning and exhausts and the cockpit. In recent years the increasing interest in the style of those bikes has spawned a whole generation of brand new, retro-styled machines specifically re-creating the café racer look and feel. Let take a look at some of the best in modern-day history.
MV Agusta Superveloce
The Superveloce was first presented as a concept bike to gauge the public response in 2018, MV put their retro Sportster into production the following year and have now supplemented it with a blinged up, limited edition ‘Alpine’ version. Essentially MV’s F3 800 three-cylinder sports bike with new, retro-inspired styling, one-off 3:1:3 exhaust and full-colour TFT dash to deliver a magical mix of MVs old and new. The exotic pedigree, desirable MV Agusta Superveloce is gorgeous and hugely potent.
Royal Enfield Continental GT 650
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The all-new, 650 twin is its first product which was launched in 2019 in two guises, the Bonneville-Esque Interceptor and the café racer Continental GT. Both have proved a big success as they share a new air-cooled 648cc, 47bhp twin, Harris-designed tubular steel twin loop frame and cycle parts including wire wheels, disc brakes and telescopic fork/twin shock suspension.
But the roadster Interceptor has upright, one-piece bars, a bigger and more bulbous tank as compared to the Continental that has lower, café racer style clip-ons, slimmer, smaller tank (complete with ‘Monza’ filler cap and optional single racer seat. Both rides are similar with a willing thrummy A2-compliant motor and easy, sweet handling. Build and equipment are adequate rather than inspiring.
Suzuki SV650X
This restyled Suzuki SV650X was introduced in 2018 and has now been updated to meet 2021 Euro5 regs. The SV is cute, clean, honest and a perky performer. A ribbed seat, lower bars, nose cowling, different paint and 75bhp V-twin engine which is one of motorcycling’s greats comes with this bike.
Triumph Thruxton 1200 RS
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Cafe Racers – The Thruxton RS is lighter than the previous Thruxton R, more powerful (by 7bhp, taking peak power up to 103bhp) and even better equipped, the RS is not only a genuinely authentic café racer, it’s a brilliantly performing Sportster in its own right complete with a raft of sporty electronics including rider modes and traction control, Triumph’s latest retro console to navigate it all, lightweight alloy 17-inch wheels, twin four-pot Brembos a quality twin shock suspension package and more. Onboard, despite the slightly dropped bars, it’s comfortable and easy but when you crack open that throttle there’s real fire and punch in its belly. Lighter, sharper, better braked and more eager than ever.
Kawasaki W800 Café
The Kawasaki W800 Café was first introduced as the W650 in 1999, as a homage to Kawasaki’s original 1966 W1. The bevel-drive, air-cooled, ‘60s style twin competed favorably with Bonneville. The bike was known for its fairly limp 49bhp performance and its exquisite detailing (the metal switchgear is divine) with its authentic style. Uprated to 773cc W800 form from 2011 to 2016, the Kawasaki W800 Café now comes in three forms namely; the standard, chrome W800, the more blacked-out W800 Street and this street-racer W800 Café although all are likely to soon be deleted due to Euro5.
Cafe Racers – The W800 comes with just 47bhp, which means it’s pleasant rather than potent, although at least is now A2-licence compliant. In Café form it has slightly lower, one-piece ‘drop’ bars, racer-style seats and neat-looking little headlamp cowling, which helps justify its £700 premium over the cheapest Street. To ride, it reminds us of the easy, thrummy, pleasant and slightly dinky Royal Enfield Continental but in terms of quality touches, detailing and solid feel the Kawasaki’s a class above.
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