Never heard of a big Laverda referred to as lightweight before.

I loaded a mates Shovel Head Harley Dresser onto my trailer once when It blew a clutch, I was worried the Aluminium plank would brake and I was not happy pushing it up said plank or the effect it had weighing down said trailer. Laverdas are flyweights compared to THAT.
 
Vince said:
I loaded a mates Shovel Head Harley Dresser onto my trailer once when It blew a clutch, I was worried the Aluminium plank would brake and I was not happy pushing it up said plank or the effect it had weighing down said trailer. Laverdas are flyweights compared to THAT.
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My 51 Turismo is under 100 kg.

Paul
 
:unsure: I have always been of the impression that a, "Baby Boomer" was the result of all those guys returning home following WW2, so by 1950 that explosion of lust and procreational activity was well finished. Google and Wikipedia, a bit American based maybe, tells me 46 to 64, which goes against my understanding of the term. I was born in 58 and have never considered myself a Baby Boomer, what's your angle on this in reference to your last comment Paul?
 
Spider Wales said:
:unsure: I have always been of the impression that a, "Baby Boomer" was the result of all those guys returning home following WW2, so by 1950 that explosion of lust and procreational activity was well finished. Google and Wikipedia, a bit American based maybe, tells me 46 to 64, which goes against my understanding of the term. I was born in 58 and have never considered myself a Baby Boomer, what's your angle on this in reference to your last comment Paul?
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It was guys and gals returning home after WW2. My mother for one was with the British army driving troop carriers in Burma until she found a place in theater for the troops in India with Terry Thomas and maybe Noel Coward.
I haven't checked, but for me, the cut off date was 54. Time to get married, settle down in countries with rationing and low wages.

Maybe an American bias 64 since they're always at war, in which case the baby boom would go on well after 2000.

Paul
 
Not exactly a lightweight,although a lot less than a Z1300,CBX1000 or Xs1100,a bit less than a Z1000,about the same as a GS1000 and CB900 contemporary Japanese rivals.
Labelling it a cafe racer is probably more of an insult.
 
I take exception to hipsters calling their 'creations' cafe racers'.
To me the term relates to bikes of the fifties and sixties ridden by young working class lads who spent their last shilling in the pursuit of the magic 'ton'. Unfortunately their bikes, like Malcom's, usually required a rebuild in the gutter every second weekend. Some, like Ogri, had the means to ride the cream of the cream; Norvins and Tritons.
It's a free world and anybody can ride what they like but please call these modern cafe racers something else, they certainly wouldn't be safe at anything approaching the ton.
For newer members, the dig at hipsters is a bit of a running joke.
All hipsters must hang!
 
Paul Marx said:
It was guys and gals returning home after WW2 and then the Korean war (which the UK was involved in) ....... then the Malayan Emergency (which the UK was involved in) ..... did I mention the Mau Mau Rebellion or the Suez Crisis?.
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Maybe they were just minor skirmishes.
Paul Marx said:
My mother for one was with the British army driving troop carriers in Burma until she found a place in theater for the troops in India with Terry Thomas and maybe Noel Coward.
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That sounds like a story in itself
Paul Marx said:
I haven't checked, but for me, the cut off date was 54. Time to get married, settle down in countries with rationing and low wages.

Paul
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You got married in 54?

Jim
 
Yes I agree the term Cafe Racer has a different meaning now,the working class kids who modded their bikes for speed are a world apart from the people who modify their bikes today.The difference between passion and fashion maybe?
i guess the Jota was born out of the old cafe racer ideas,modifying a standard bike,in a similar way to which BSA marketed the Gold Star,or Velocette marketed the Thruxton and so on.
Maybe calling it an insult was a bit much,but whilst many decent Tritons and John Tickle/Paul Dunstall modded twins were put together,many were clapped out 5TA`s with clip-ons,rearsets and leopard skin seat covers,but still ridden hard by enthusiastic owners.Many of the cafe racer/bobber owners today may enjoy the scene and the bikes but I doubt if they enjoy that sort of relationship with their bikes.
So Gold Stars,Thruxtons or Jotas were never cafe racers in the purest sense of the home build special,and neither do they bear any relationship with the two wheeled fashion statements being built today.
I was going to say the streetfighter craze may have links to the original idea but I`ve just changed my mind and reckon although factory produced the two bikes that lent themselves to the cafe racer style have got to be the 350LC and the 250 Royal Enfield Continental GT,both cheap,popular,easily modified (and lightweight).
(Reference to Legs post)
 
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Been thinking about the term 'cafe racer' whilst cruising around getting a new battery for the car.
Think an apt name for the modern creations would be 'cafe poser'. :unsure:
No rocker would be caught with a man bun:cool:

All hipsters must...
 
The use of the term "Cafe Racer" is enough to convince me that they haven't got a bloody clue. As a teenager in the sixties we would head off to a "Caff". Some of us got there, some not. We could only afford ten year old bikes and had limited means to keep the bloody things on the road. To say "let's go to the caffay" would get you very strange looks.
 
In my neck of the woods a "cafe racer" was any two wheeled (or three, yeah right) motorcycle that could put "leader of the pack" on the juke box, in "Johnson cafe" go outside and start his bike then ride off, go passing through West Kingsdown villlage, (then a 30MPH limit but now 40MPH) past the front door of Brands Hatch, down death hill (aptly named) go around Farningham roundabout at back to the cafe before the music stopped, did it on my Aerial Arrow, much to the annoyance of a rocker on a 500 A7 special (the witness, no short cutting!) who I overtook and beat back, the Arrow needing about 5 kicks to get running (on a good day), crash helmets nit worn by either of us (too long t get the thing on) this was about 1968/9
CLEM
 
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