I miss my R5.

Dear Current owner of my old R5,

I hope you're taking care of my now 39 year old icon. I spent a lot of time working on and to be honest, obsessing over my little 2-stroke cafe racer. It was my first bike as well as my first attempt at making a cafe bike. This was the bike that I blame for the subsequent years of credit card debt, constant cursing and the absolute joy of riding exactly the kind of bike I dreamed about. Back in the 70's, the 2-stroke craze began because those engines allowed for high power and low weight. Kawasaki's H2 was the fastest production vehicle available at the time of its release. This 2-stroke triple was faster than a corvette straight off the showroom floor. That's extremely fast for a heavy bike with drum brakes and an ancient frame design. Very, very scary. Sport bike riders of today have it easy....very easy. Even with all that, I still love em. The style is classic, the power is raw and they're impossible for me to resist. The R5, better known as the predecessor of the RD series was and will always be my 2-stroke of choice.

If you're ever looking the sell...



Awwww........true love....

60's Style Honda Design

Honda motorcycles of the 1960's to me symbolized the style and technology of the decade. They seamlessly mixed old and new while perfectly maintaining that design across the entire product line. You have to understand that a large amount of the styling cue came directly from the Brits, but Honda took that style, improved it and added all the latest technology. I don't feel that any other manufacturer has been able to match that drive since. Think about it, electric start on all models, the beginnings of disc brakes, DOHC and 4 cylinder engines. In fact, Honda brought all of that to the world through low cost cycles. That was the bigining of the end for the British motorcycle industry.

My old 66' Black Bomber and me on a sweet 160 with clubmans...

Well....I up and done it.

Hi ya'll! I finally did it. I moved to Austin, Texas, where I can ride my Honda almost all year round. I just checked the forecast for Milwaukee, 8 to 14 inches... suckers.

Lucky for all of you, now I'll be able to include reviews of amazing shows as well as awesome bikes. Speaking of which, have you seen Deus's new creation? It's based on a 2008 Harley Davidson Sportster Nightster and to say least it was an amazing transformation. It'd be like starting with stonehenge and ending up with the Vatican.

http://caferacersreturn.blogspot.com/2009/11/koala-vs-eagle-deus-2008-sportster.html

My Honda thanks me. (pictured in Milwaukee before the move)

Rockerbox 09'

Clearly this post is a little late, but I thought I'd better include this while it's still 2009.

For anybody who doesn't know, Rockerbox, is basically the only event worth going to in Milwaukee, let alone the entire state of Wisconsin. Attracting only the bare minimum of Harley riding riff raff, this event is made for those of us with a less conventional view of what qualifies as two-wheeled eye candy. If you're from Milwaukee, you'd better have been there, if you aren't, make the trip because you won't be disappointed. Plus, if it gets rained out, as great outdoor events always seem to in the Midwest, there's always getting drunk on the miller brewery tour....or the Sprecker brewery tour....or the Leinenkugal's brewery tour....or the Lakefront brewery tour.... What made Milwaukee famous....you get the idea....

Take special note of the turbo charged CBX....completely nuts.

Numero Uno.

First things first, i don't mind when things actually ARE fast, but lets face it. Modern, technologically advanced bikes can easily out perform any of the bikes found in the posts on this blog, but they're missing one thing. As much as they try, today's manufacturers have not been able to capture, admittedly with some exceptions, the spirit and style of a truly vintage cafe racer. The lines, the construction, the simplicity of a well done vintage cafe bike has no substitute.

If you can agree with any of that, stay tuned, you wont find much else around here.