An Indian Bullet Cafe Racer
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in spite of the fondness and pride i feel towards my british ancestors, i am baffled as to why in this day and age people still take some of these slugs and make (cafe) "racers" out of them. back in the day, even though british bikes were poorly manufactured, they could be made to "go" comparatively quickly given the competition then. and a certain amount of british pride went along with the project as well. some how the hooligan spirit is lost in the cuurent day attempts. "royals" especially should be left to the quiet putterings of leisure (slow) riding and kept with their upright and upstanding position of quiet enjoyment. even those god awful jap bikes make better starting points these days assuming you diligently hide/grind off any corporate id/logos. no true cafe rider would be caught dead with a recognizable rig. just my opinion..ready to get knocked about a bit on this one.
parks
parks
and another thing. if you're stuck on the british thing (like my wife apparently is), take some high grade modern triumph (675?)and chop, slash, and burn the modern plastic look out of it and make something zippy and raw-cuss. it can be pretty or rough. best yet, roughly pretty or pretty rough. that is in the spirit of the "caferacer" thing.
Parks,
These are the thing to have in India, as I understand. If it is not an Enfield it would be some kind of 50cc moped loaded down with 200lbs of live chickens.
I am assuming the bike IS from India from the plate, not Indiana.
That cafe style one they have on their web site is a nice looking bike, though I understand they are real pieces of junk. I have only ever talked to one person who owns one. He liked it but said relibility was a problem.
Personally, I think the Hondas, RD's etc. are pretty nice bikes. Nortons and Triumphs are great too, but you must admit the Japanese stuff is pretty bullet proof. It is a pain in the butt just finding a proper size nut or bolt for my 55 triumph or ariel. NAPA's got um for the Hondas.
These are the thing to have in India, as I understand. If it is not an Enfield it would be some kind of 50cc moped loaded down with 200lbs of live chickens.
I am assuming the bike IS from India from the plate, not Indiana.
That cafe style one they have on their web site is a nice looking bike, though I understand they are real pieces of junk. I have only ever talked to one person who owns one. He liked it but said relibility was a problem.
Personally, I think the Hondas, RD's etc. are pretty nice bikes. Nortons and Triumphs are great too, but you must admit the Japanese stuff is pretty bullet proof. It is a pain in the butt just finding a proper size nut or bolt for my 55 triumph or ariel. NAPA's got um for the Hondas.
hitchcocks put together a really neat 750cc bore and stroker kit for these bikes that was supposed to be tits.
this cafe version sucks compared to the continential kit you can get from the enfield dealer. Factory endorsed cafe racer for $4000 and it comes with a warranty. I'd rather have a thruxton or a sport1000 but this is nice too (and authentic).
Sure they are slow but they handle well. not every bike is about going fast (look at how popular a honda 350 is and they are not fast either), some are about the expirence of riding. a nice 500cc thumper is not a bad ride if you are just looking to have some fun at legal speeds (which you would have to stick to since the brakes are shit).
Besides, once you replace all the indian parts that break with british made stuff it will basically be a british bike.
this cafe version sucks compared to the continential kit you can get from the enfield dealer. Factory endorsed cafe racer for $4000 and it comes with a warranty. I'd rather have a thruxton or a sport1000 but this is nice too (and authentic).
Sure they are slow but they handle well. not every bike is about going fast (look at how popular a honda 350 is and they are not fast either), some are about the expirence of riding. a nice 500cc thumper is not a bad ride if you are just looking to have some fun at legal speeds (which you would have to stick to since the brakes are shit).
Besides, once you replace all the indian parts that break with british made stuff it will basically be a british bike.
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4,021 Posts
A friend of mine once said, "All motorcycles are fast."
My brother had a gb500 several yrs ago & it was a riot, as long as you revved the shit out of it. He sold it to remodel his bathroom, so I guess you could say he traded in his bike for a new shitter.
if it's slow, it's not a racer (excepting 50cc racers which are the funnest go slow things on earth). call it a cruiser or a tourer, but a poser is is outside of my realm of understanding. keeping those things stock and riding them slowly or as fast as they can go is cool. bling, slow, bullets are a compound oxymoron. i don't know why this has me so worked up. i think i need to go really fast on something...this late winter is driving me nuts. the taco will be out soon. lean angles are around the corner.
parks
parks
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501 Posts
My buddy has a Brit shop, but also sells the Enfields and has built a few of them up. They will go pretty well with a big carb, big pipe cams, higher compression piston, and most importantly, a Carillo rod. You can get around 50hp out of them which ain't bad.
I don't like them, though, but then I've been spoiled by Goldstars and GB500's (great bike). Singles should be narrow, to begin with, and with the primary having the alternator in it, they're wide. And I'm not nuts about the engine design, inside or out. Besides, why spend that kind of money when you can buy a real Brit bike for somewhere around the same money.
Parks is right, they're not Bullets, they're slugs.
Dgy
I don't like them, though, but then I've been spoiled by Goldstars and GB500's (great bike). Singles should be narrow, to begin with, and with the primary having the alternator in it, they're wide. And I'm not nuts about the engine design, inside or out. Besides, why spend that kind of money when you can buy a real Brit bike for somewhere around the same money.
Parks is right, they're not Bullets, they're slugs.
Dgy
Why would someone wanna make a cafe "racer" outta that pig? cause it looks cool and thats it.... its like those people who buy those longsleeved shirts that make it look like yer sleeved out in tattoos, but yer not....cause its safe geriatric shite, thats why..... "yeah but it looks cool" fuckin yuppies, man..... Image is everything to them.... douchebags...
Warranty. Something stupid breaks you go to the dealer and they fix it, not troll ebay for that stupid rare piece of uncracked aluminum that somebody had squirrled away for 30 years.
I happen to know a few people who own these bikes and they are not yuppie or hipster douchebags. Apparently the yuppies would rather buy the ducati and the hipsters don't think it is authentic because it is not 30 years old and someone built it in their garage (it also does not have nearly as cool a t-shirt logo as norton, triumph, or honda).
I don't know why I defend these bikes so much, I guess I just like the idea of a "new" old bike. I mean not a new bike made to look old, but a design that actually old that has gotten a little more than functional updates over the years. The same thing attracted me to my 1995 jeep wrangler (last of the leaf sprung jeeps), everything from the CJs can be made to fit my jeep but at the same time it is new and I have dealer support. it is actually kind of nice.
Personally I would love it if they put the continental 750cc twin back into production, then you would have a decent new enfield, but for now the bullet will have to do. I would still rather commute on this bike than a street stock honda cb350 or 360.
here are the factory cafe versions - the GT500 and Continental. The $4000+ is what I was quoted for one with the kit, the actual bike is much much cheaper (the kit was like $1500 by itself). When they first came to this country the bikes could be had new out the door for $2000, now I think they are up to $3500 (the official US website lists $1000 more than that but I was talking to my local enfield dealer and he is looking to move units and the msrp is out the window).
gt500
continental
The warranty still applies to the bike if you use their kits, I don't think it covers internal engine mods if you start swapping in big bore pistons and hi-flow heads.
Edited by - Geeto67 on Feb 18 2007 3:26:47 PM
[/quote] Why would someone wanna make a cafe "racer" outta that pig?
quote:
probably because you can tune the engine withour worrying about a blowup? parts are easyly available and cheap.
i got a bit carried away building my enfield cafe racer,
the end result weighs 127 kilo. with petrol.
it is still not fast by todays standards, but fast enough to have a lot of fun on twisty roads.
also fast enough to embarras some riders on modern bikes.
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Edited by - huub on Feb 18 2007 4:25:33 PM
Saw an Enfield with Cafe treatment at the NYC show. Cool looking bike IMHO. Fast is a relative thing when it comes to these bikes. Most of us are happy getting somewhat better than stock performance out of 30 - 40 year old bikes that can be easily outperformed by any number of newer bikes with half the displacement....
Ok, I'm a yuppie. I was over at Nate's shop (NationalPowerSports) a few weeks ago. He had a 888 in there with a set of termi pipes. When he started it up, I got goosebumps.
I would much rather ride a 888 than that turd.
Yes, the goosebumps were all over.
turd is a good word....a sturdy word. I use it often.
(psssst....if we convince the wannabe hipsters that troll this site that the bullet is a good bike, they will stop buying all the other birtish stuff out there and the prices will come down).
On a more serious note - I do want more specs on Huub's RE.
(psssst....if we convince the wannabe hipsters that troll this site that the bullet is a good bike, they will stop buying all the other birtish stuff out there and the prices will come down).
On a more serious note - I do want more specs on Huub's RE.
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