About Café racer

In my final work, I want to shooting a documentary about Café racer. So I do some research about Café racer history and definition.

 Why we call it Café racer?

Café racer born in the street of the England in the 1950s. Its culture still thrives in the world. However, many people do not know the Café racer yet. Two racer bet ten pounds from the Café shop to another Café shop. First one  arrive the destination who can win the ten pounds that is Café race and this is Café racer.

What is the real Café bike?

Café racer born in London in the 1950s, but its has developed a subculture include a desire of speed, a love of rock music and a enthusiasm of love motorcycle. The Café racer can perfect match for the this types of motorcycle. The riders of machines are too young, and they want to experience speed and a sense of close to ground fly.Author and journalist Mike Seate has been following the café racer for two decades.

“The term café racer came from what’s actually a derisive term used to describe kids who hung out in cafés and raced fast. They would hang out in transport cafés and wait until somebody else came by on a fast bike and challenged them for a race, and they all rushed outside to see who gets up the road the fastest. When they get back to the cafés, which were often occupied by long distance truck drivers, the truck drivers would laugh and say, ‘You’re not a real racer, you’re not Barry Sheen, you’re just a café racer! And the kids thought, ‘Well you’re damn right I’m a café racer!’ So they would race to the next café, and then to the next one as fast as they could, and the name stuck; they embraced it despite the fact that it was a derisive term,” he said.

One of the birthplaces of the Café racer was Ace Café  in London. To many teenager gather in the Ace Café that is a great chance to talk about their motorcycles

What is Café racer?

A Café racer is light weight and tuning the power and handling rather than comfort and optimized quick ride in the short distances. The bodywork of the motorcycle are noted for low slung racing handlebar and elongated fuel tanks, prominent seat. Riders can allow the knee to grip the fuel tanks. Their engine tuning to maximum speed in order achieve Holy Grail of Café racing and hitting the 100 mph marks or 'ton up'(Entertainment Newsweekly, 2012).

References:

Caferacertv. (2014). THE HISTORY OF CAFÉ RACERS. Available: http://caferacertv.com/the-history-of-cafe-racers/. Last accessed 2nd Dec 2015.

Entertainment Newsweekly, (2012). Velocity; Rebels, Rockers and Renegades Ride Again on an All New Season of CAFE RACER on Velocity. [online] p.131. Available at: http://search.proquest.com/docview/963973223/fulltext?accountid=14693 [Accessed 2 Dec. 2015].

Lichter, M. (2012) 'The Ace Café', Cycle World, 51(10), pp. 56-59.