1. Select the Right Base Motorcycle - Select the right bike for a Cafe Racer, Scrambler, Dirt Tracker, Street Tracker, Bobber, Chopper, and Brat. Choosing the wrong base bike is a most common mistake. Some do it, because they already have it. And others buy it, because it’s cheap. Don’t stat a cafe with a difficult bike. In some cases its achievable, but it will require much more work & money (time & effort are no option) than if you had started with the right bike. And in the end it may not as good as expected. And it will not even be worth the money that was spent during the project.
2. Don’t be too ambitious. Avoid stating a major project or thinking big if your budget is low. Because if you do so what you will get is even bigger ambitious project, apparently unfinished. If you have low budget it is always good practice to invest a little more in the beginning, and buying a basic and reliable bike that’ll require a only few changes to be a good cafe racer. And with time you’ll be able to save more money and finish the project as exactly as you dream in one day.
3. Calculate the proportions of the bike correctly.
4. Don’t do amateur paint job. Let a professional do the job for you.
5. Attention to details. Everything’s polished, everything’s has care & attention, it’s not just being thrown in there.
6. Never try to build a cafe racer with the goal of impressing others. Because in the end the message you will transmit is A flashy motorcycle that appears to have been made just to show off. There’s a big difference between bikes built to impress and really impressive motorcycles. A good cafe racer is Timeless. As Coco Chanel once said “Fashion fades, only style remains the same“. If fashion was a good thing it wouldn’t have to change every year. And that is almost what happens with modern motorcycles. They simply get old as soon as a new model is launched. But when you look at cafe racers they still look cool even after more than twenty years. They are Timeless. In fact they look so cool that even people who don’t know anything about motorcycles simply like them. And the most curious is that the path to achieve it is usually the opposite. In other words search for Simplicity. And discreetness. A good cafe racer must be simple, beautiful and achievable. This is also applicable in our lives. Don’t do things to impress people that you don’t know or you don’t even like. The best person to impress is only yourself. And only you’ll be the judge of that.
Bob Merley once said “People laugh because I’m different; I laugh because they are all the same”. This phrase fit like a glove in cafe racers. “Twenty years from now you’ll be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the once you did. So throwoff the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore... Dream... Discover...” These words are from Mark Twain. So the question is not whether are you a cafe racer lover or not. This is a statement about life. About passion... And about inspiration.
Question - So why make a cafe racer?
Answer - Because we can.
Question - Why do you want to make a cafe racer?
Answer - Why does a man rides a horse?
Question and Answer both - Because he wants!
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