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Cafe’d Interceptor — 1984 Honda VF500 Custom

In Cafe Racer, Custom, Japan by JoeLeave a Comment

Customs built on early Honda CB’s and CX’s are pretty common these days, and justifiably so. With their classic proportions and interesting engines, they fall easily to the artist’s eye. But can one work with a “modern” perimeter chassis and complex V-4 power plant? Apparently yes, as Illinois-based Craig Rodsmith of Rodsmith Customs shows us with this VF500 Interceptor cafe …

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1 of 5 – Radical Guzzi Ristretto

In Cafe Racer, Custom, Italy by AbhiLeave a Comment

My German is non-existent, so I’m depending a lot on Google Translate here. But let’s start with what I do know something about – Radical Guzzi, a shop that’s has made quite a name for themselves with custom MG builds. Looks like they’re building a line of 5 bikes called Ristretto – they’ve already sold 3 of 5 and now …

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Blue Steel – 1974 Honda CB360T

In Cafe Racer, Custom, Japan by AbhiLeave a Comment

Post-Sale Update: After 9 bids on eBay, this CB360T custom sold for $6,700. I’ve featured a couple of Powder Monkees bikes in the past – my favorite was their CB750 called Wabi Sabi. Here’s the smallest of their builds to date, a CB360T named Blue Steel (I assume that’s a reference to the movie Zoolander).

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1973 Honda CB500 Cafe Racer

In Cafe Racer, Japan by AbhiLeave a Comment

Here’s a simple cafe racer that has just 10 miles on it since a recent restoration. The Molly Orange is nice, though the shape of the tail doesn’t look perfect to me from the rear. Still, this would be a fun project to personalize and make your own, if one was so inclined.

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1975 Honda CB750 Cafe Racer

In Cafe Racer, Japan by Abhi1 Comment

Right now, Sildorome is asking what the best UJM is. A whole bunch of the answers are the CB750, which isn’t surprising considering what a sales success it was. Because there are plenty of examples to work with, many builders turn to the big CB when they want to build a custom. Here’s an example that I generally dig, except …

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1971 Suzuki T250 Hustler Cafe Racer

In Cafe Racer, Japan by Abhi1 Comment

Built by Tired Cycles, this little cafe racer is based on Suzuki’s Hustler – a 247cc two-stroker from the 70s. The stock ’71 Hustler weighed 319 pounds dry and was motivated by 33 horsepower and 22 pound-feet of torque from the air-cooled twin engine. Obviously, this example is a bit different from stock, thanks to some parts I like: DG …

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Cafe Treatment – 1977 BMW R75/7

In Cafe Racer, Germany by AbhiLeave a Comment

Roland’s Airhead Salvage is based out of East Madison, New Hampshire – based on the name you’d expect to be able to find all sorts of parts for air-cooled BMW’s. What you’ll also find are some nice examples of complete bikes, as well. Though he’s currently got a R100GS and a R90S available, today we’re going to focus on a …

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Cafe Prepped – 1975 Honda CB400F

In Cafe Racer, Japan by Abhi1 Comment

Equipped with some of the prettiest exhaust headers of the 70s, the Honda CB400F was a fairly standard evolution of the 350, though it did get a sixth cog in the gearbox. Here’s an example that’s been given a new lease on life with just a few small cosmetic tweaks – I think it looks great!

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1 of 325 – 2015 Triumph Thruxton Ace Special Edition

In Cafe Racer, England by AbhiLeave a Comment

Post Sale Update: After being relisted several times, this Ace Edition Thruxton sold for $10,100. Last year, Triumph released a limited edition of the Thruxton called the Ace Special Edition. 325 example were imported to the US, and the price of exclusivity was $700. As it seems every manufacturer is doing nowadays, the ‘special edition’ was just different paint and …