You can totally give your ride a distinctive look! Nowadays you can choose upgrades that increase comfort, convenience, and performance of your motorcycle. We are sure you love spending time with your bike when riding it, customizing it or even when giving maintenance and since we are in love with the Cafe Racer style, here are some ideas to improve your bike to rock your ride!
First of all, make a plan. You´re gonna need few things, so start with a direction and gather enough info on the improvements you want to make. What should you do? How to find a piece? Whom can you ask? What can you afford? And then you can get to the fun part!
One of the great advantages of being a cafe racer enthusiast is that no bike is the same as the next one, the customization possibilities are endless. So, what exactly can I do to customize my cafe racer?
According to the Youtube channel “For The Bold” there’s 4 basic lines you need to always keep in consideration when customizing your bike with this distinctive style…
You can work on an existing model or one that has been specifically built from scratch, however, the goal is to make the bike more lightweight, stripping the bike down to its bare essentials, to give it better handling and a sportier appearance.
First off, nothing, other than possibly the handle bar, can go higher than the gas tank, you can either choose from clubman bars or clip-ons, it is important to check the pros and cons before making your decision!
Second, you need to visualize the center of the front and rear wheels. Everything must be placed in between these two points. Since cafe racers are supposed to be compact bikes, anything that goes beyond this points can affect the balance and the aesthetics of it. And the most important part is to keep the bulk of the weight in the middle, where the motor is. So it is important that everything fits organically.
These rules are the basic ones in order to achieve the classic look of a cafe racer motorcycle.
Here’s an example of a basic Honda CB Four. Where you can see the handle bar was lowered to keep everything below the gas tank, the front and rear fender were replaced or completely removed, the seat was replaced by a shorter one who can fit only one person, and the air filter was removed to give the bike a much lighter look.
Another tip we have for you that will save you a lot of time and money, is that if you have the knowledge or the possibility to get help from someone, do all the mods on photoshop. That way you’ll be able to see everything you’ll want to modify before you spend a dime!
Here’s a great tutorial on how to do that, you might want to check it out, here.