[LiLBull]

looking on the road ,I see a lot of modern bikes.very rare do I see a cafe styled bike.BUT WHEN I DO it just makes me want to flag the guy down and talk about it.I have yet to see a modern bike provoke that emotion in me.Even if its just clubmans and a solo seat.

Even if its just clubmans I think maybe he doesnt know you can get a seat maybe he doesnt know about rear sets.....I dont know its just Cafe styled bikes are STILL the coolest thing on the road.
And at the track I go right for the vintage stuff vintage bikes vintage sports cars.Nothing makes you want to twist the throttle on your street bike more then a day at the track checking out the vintage stuff in the paddock waiting for its turn or being worked on to get it back out there.Or seeing them trailered on the highway going or leaving the track.

They just seem more hands on back yard garage_ish.

Thats why this place is so cool,the racers, the streeters the wannabes the projects in the works.The bikes on the track and road.. Cafe the nation it still needs it BAD.

Im so far behind ,that I think Im in first.

Edited by - LILBULL on Aug 04 2007 07:51:07 AM

 

[Johnny Gaijin]

second that. other than some moron on a crotch rocket asking me if i'd ever thought of getting a "real bike" i don't think i've ever talked bikes with a stranger unless they were on a cafe racer.

 

[wildcatmahone]

right on..

Banned From The Pubs..
'73 CB350(RIP)
'74 CB750K3 Cafe Thriller

 

[sprinter666]

i went through this same thing with hooked up toyota corollas (the rwd ones) I would see one and lose my mind i once chased a guy all the way into philly from trenton NJ he must have thought i was trying to car jack him. When i got out of the car he looked ready to kill me.. I stopped following people cause its creepy though.. I saw a girl this weekend on a CB with clubmans. Original paint stock seat and tank. it made me smile.

I am new to actual building but once i was in Northern Liberties philly and saw this badass Norton and the dude was so "over" talking to me the minute i said nice bike.. thats when i decided fuck these dudes.. i will build my own shit and just have fun.. and one day down the rd if someone says nice bike and wants to rap i will not be such a faggot.

http://www.driftalliance.com

 

[Geeto67]

yeah some of the brit iron guys (not you mitchell) can be real "too cool for school" douches

 

[borzwazie]

I ran into that attitude a while back - saw some guy out on one of those new (I think it was new) Enfields. I asked him about it and he was a total dickhead about it ("It cost a lot of money. They're hard to get around here") which is total bullshit, and then he completely ignored me.

I don't think he even knew what he had. He didn't wear a helmet, either, and he had shorts and sandals on. Stupid middle-life-crisis yuppie.

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My CB450 project:
http://www.caferacer.net/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=2827
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[LiLBull]

I agree with anything cool you have to be cool when people want to know about your ride.
Once I was in a Right hand drive Mini Cooper I owned when I lived in Atlanta ,I was fighting with my girl friend and someone wanted to roll down his widow and talk to me kept beeping and trying to get me to talk to him....Im sure he thought I was the biggest DICK HEAD
oh well sometimes even being cool....life gets in the way.

Im so far behind ,that I think Im in first.

 

[Geeto67]

...and some people are just dicks

 

[JB]

but as you know there are three kinds of people in the world, dicks, pussies and assholes.....

CB650, FauxCatiFT500

 

[Geeto67]

America, FUCK YEAH!!!!!!

 

[LiLBull]

four really!....well fractions of four ...you forgot all the 'tards.


Im so far behind ,that I think Im in first.

 

[Dart7383]

I learned to be cool with people when I bought my '73 Dart sport. I thought chicks would love it,but ended up having old men waiting in parking lots for me to come back to my car. They all wanted to tell me tales of the Dart or Duster they had years ago. At first I was kind of an A-hole to a few, but then I just learned to accept it and learned some cool stuff I could do with my car as a result. Oh and the chicks did love the car too (once I painted over the hideous gold paint). My favorite part of the car is still the fold down rear seat. There is plenty of room for any late night maneuvers, or at least a lot more room than my Ranger. If someone is willing to take the time to talk to you about one of there rides, listen. They probably know something you don't.

 

[teighlor]

NO! DONT CAFE THE NATION! i dont wanna see a biker build off for cafe bikes. Carpy doesnt need his own tv show. it doesnt need to be diluted any more than it is. fuck the shoegazin' fashion police. Grrr. im getting as angry as i was the day i saw fake vision skateboards at kmart(in the 80's) or as angry as i was the day a kid with no tattoos came in and started gettin both his arms sleeved out. or as angry as i get whenever i see that add in the "car section" of the newspaper that says "wanted, fully restored muscle car, will pay top dollar", yeah he can pay top dollar for another man's sweat.

nah, fuck all that, keep it underground and true.

 

[sprinter666]

it wont stay that way.. i am new to this.. but like everything truely awesome it will go main and get shitty.. just ride the wave and if yuo truely enjoy it you will be around after the hype dies.

http://www.driftalliance.com

 

[xander450]

I'm not too worried. The market for expensive custom bikes is fat white guys with money. They don't want little road rockets - they want large bore highway cruisers and that isn't likely to change. The younger folks just want to go fast, which is easier to do on something modern dressed up in plastic.

I see maybe three or four cafe bikes a year ridden by people I don't know. I'm happy with those odds.

 

[Judeyramone]

quote: or as angry as i was the day a kid with no tattoos came in and started gettin both his arms sleeved out.

A couple weeks ago I was checkin' out the sleeves on this chick sitting behind us at a favorite pub, and my wife points out that she's wearing those fake nylon tattoo sleeves. I've pinched pennies for years to get my tats (got lots of disapproving looks, too) And now it's that easy & cheap to be sleeved?!?!? Oh yeah, and you can take them off for time spent with "respectable" people & work. Too bad those things weren't around before I ruined my shot at that corner office.

 

[Geeto67]

A friend of mine when to stanford law. She was married to a tattoo artist before lawschool and had two full sleves and baby doll on her knuckles. She finsihed high in her class at stanford, went to work at one of the largest and most prestegious firms in manhattan. Before starting there she had baby doll lazered off her knuckles, I cried a little when I saw the scars.


(thankfully she did no have her sleves removed).

 

[sprinter666]

tattoo sleeves.. are you kidding me...

i need a link

http://www.driftalliance.com

 

[borzwazie]

I'm not too worried either - we work with "obsolete" hardware. Look at all the people starting projects like this (myself included, to my shame) that the first thing they want to do is fit GSXR forks, single-sided swingarms, custom alloy frames, etc. In most cases (myself included) those guys probably couldn't push the original machine to it's limits.

Cafe racers aren't "OMG EXTREME!!!!11!!one!" enough for the compensation crowd.

You see the Kawi triple-twos going for such high dollar these days because they were "extreme" bikes - but honestly, how many other old bikes can you say that about? They're old! Most newer bikes are far better. The EX500, the "shame" of the "fast and furious" crowd, will outrun my CB450 no matter what I did to it. Points? Who in their right mind wants to deal with points? Why choose carbs over fuel injection? Why choose standard forks over cartridge forks?

We do it because we love bikes - rat bikes, leaky cruisers, whatever. I wish I had a rat bike to ride right now. I love going to ratbike pages - some are just silly, but some are owned by guys who really don't care what anyone thinks of their ride - it's theirs, and it's just the way they like it.


*******************************************************
My CB450 project:
http://www.caferacer.net/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=2827
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[borzwazie]

While I'm ranting:

The whole reason I'm building a bike is that for everything else I do, I do it to please someone else - I fix up my house so my wife is happy - I go to work to make my employers happy, so I can buy shit for the house to make my wife happy. I keep the lawn mowed and landscaped so the snooty neighbors are happy.

I build my bike so I'm happy - my specs alone, and fuck what anybody else thinks - if they like it, cool, that always feels good to know, but I build it for me. Nobody stands over my shoulder telling me: "no, use the other sanding disk - no, black is a stupid color - do you have to drill there? - why are you using that tank?"

How many of the "I bought it myself!" crowd ever get that feeling?

*******************************************************
My CB450 project:
http://www.caferacer.net/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=2827
*******************************************************