[Black_peter]

You do know CyberPoet and I wrote the original SF entry??..
He and I watched the Streetfighter movement happen.
I had a discussion with Dr. Charles Falco about the Bobber/Caferacer/chopper/SF eras.
And we speculated on what the next phase would be, he actually thought that the cycle might start again.. pretty interesting, because it did..
I'm not sure who you talked to or who wrote that entry about post WWII vets building Cafes but they have their time line off.

Mike Seate wrote a pretty good book on the Cafe Racer. But it is a British phenomenon..
Do you live in the UK? otherwise your "Rocker/Mod" runs are only plays
Writing a book about caferacer based on what happens in the US would be like writing a book about the invasion of Normandy based on a WWII reenactment group and their weekend in New Jersey..

[Cruisingram]

Wow- where in my post did I mention WW2 vets? I am 46 years old, and I definately watched the SF phenom happen- Kudos on the wiki entry- I think it is spot on, except I have been to the Euro street fighter shows and most do credit the Cafe movement as thier early inspirations to the design styles of the SF, perhaps you misunderstood my post or I explained badly- anyone, never claimed that the US was the beginning of the cafe movement or US vets had anything to do with it-

also- I spent pretty much my early adult hood in Europe, traveling, a lot of it by motorcycle, and since then, have made many trips back and forth, and have ridden in Europe a fair amount, though would not consider myself an expert on Euro travel or anything like that- but I do likes me a bike show!

and perhaps you are not folloowing me a bit here- since both choppers and cafe racers are basically minimalist movements, with very little or few hard and fast rules as to what a cafe racer or street fighter really is, the builder can start with just about anything two wheeled they want to use- again, the neat thing about motorcycles is that you can alter the basic look so very, very much compared to, say, autos. Very difficult to make my 67 valiant look like a formula one racer or vice versa, for instance,

I was able to hook up with the guys from Cafe racer mag and the discovery channel's cafe racer TV show, were I was interviewed a couple times- at the time, I was in the heat of manufacturing motorcycles, before my spectacular business failure I am afraid-

My first motorcycle I personally owned (my first street bike anyway) I bought in 1982 was a 1975 Z1 B 900. Legally, though the bike was not really mine, the first bike I owned was a 1977 XLCR Harley- though, really, it was my uncles, not mine, I just moved it to Alaska for him while he was in AK seeing his cousin "lay low" LOL

Again- back to the original topic, you can make anything two wheeled very easily into one or another genre' of bike type- from Cafe to track bike to street fighter to chopper- that is what is so cool about bikes- case in point- you can take a dirt bike and turn it into a road racer- like the 450 super singles classes.

And the orange bike I posted pretty much shows a Kat type cafe bike.

I still say "go for it, it is not a cookie cutter cafe, but hey- the sky is the limit"

The main thing I disagree with you on though is bars- cafe's used clubmans not clip ons until much later in the movement.

In the picture is the editor for cafe racer mag (his back anyway) and you can see the host of cafe racer TV show and the discovery channel team. the black bobber with the air brushed helmet is mine.

The cafe racer pic I included would be my interpretation of all the right stuff for a cafe racer- and, as in my original post, I stand by the fact that you can pretty much add any of that to a Kat

[Black_peter]

Yeah that is Mike Seate, I mentioned he just wrote a book on the Cafe Racer from an American perspective... You know he only recently got a car drivers license?
He got his MC license back when it was a different card and kept getting it renewed.
I think he got a car license in the late 90's or early 2000 That is hard core!
Dude's gianormous too..

Sorry if it wasn't' clear the Wikki mentioned WW2 vets, I think that is off for Caferacers.
The Ton Up Boys were younger than that. I totally agree that the cafe racers are analogous to choppers. Or Bobbers, since when you say choppers people think of the bike of the 70's and OCC. Even though they were choppers..
When I say Chopper I mean the 70's American bikes too, just because I seldom talk to people that follow the time line.

Clip ons.. Man I go back to the Gold Star having them in the early 60's.
I will say maybe they weren't as popular, but I bet they weren't cheap.
Your going to force me to dig up some old pics
Actually I bet there are some at Mike's web site. Caferacer.tv? or something.

But I don't know.. I don't think you can turn anything into a caferacer, I think it dilutes the brand. I have seen them and I think Gold wings make lousy Cafes.
I'm not even that crazy about the CB750s..

[Cruisingram]

I hate to break it to you my friend- but the CB750 And Z1 became THE BIKES cafe' bikes, though the yama RD was way up there too- lets face it- the CB is what killed the V-twin American bike from ever being competitive in racing again, and where rickman, dunstal and spondon starting laying down thier crafts again- CB 750s are pretty much the genre' breaker- not a huge fan of them either to be honest- I got a whole write up on the evolution of the chopper by black motorcyclists regarding the CB and how Arlen ness picked upped on the styling and on an on-

but you gotta admit- that orange bike I posted is pretty good cafe

I gotta pic of me and mike somewhere BTW- we are the same size LOL