This outstanding Norton is, in my opinion one of the best motorcycles to appear on Cafe Racer TV. The stunning Seeley Norton was built by Kenny Cummings and Dan Rose and recently appeared on season two of the Discovery HD series.

With the increasing popularity of vintage racing in the US, Kenny and Dan set out to build a podium placing, period correct race bike and that's exactly what they acheived. The Norton was constructed in the style of a Seeley Mark II Norton and is almost completely constructed using custom made, racing developed parts. The bare metal, bronze welded frame was custom designed and built in the UK by Roger Titschmarsh whose work has been personally approved by Colin Seeley himself. The entire frame including bushings and bearings weigh in at only 24lbs (10.9kg).

"We will assemble a period bike from a long list of custom made race parts. Our goal is to make it onto the track by the end of the year and win."

No matter how much purists proclaim that a Harley based Cafe Racer motorcycle is nonsense they are still going to be built. Barcelona workshop L.A. Motorcycles are one builder who refuses to not explore every style of custom build they can using a Harley Davidson base. Bobbers, Choppers and Cafe Racers all roll out of their workshop powered by the big v-twin from the states.





The 1984 Harley 884 Cafe Racer in the video below has suspension upgrades using components from a GSX to improve the motorcycles handling dynamics. Without any weight figures or video of the bike in action we can only hope that it performs suitably.




Love them or hate them these Harley based Cafe Racers are great representations of the Cafe Racer style.

Humans are addicted to all kinds of things. The usual suspects are cigarettes, alcohol and other drugs. Then you have people who are addicted to objects like motorcycles - you tend to find a lot of them here at 'Pipeburn Anonymous'. They collect all kinds of bikes and they crave anything motorcycle. Then you have people who are obsessed with certain brands of bikes. They will only ride a Harley, buy Harley boxer shorts and even tattoo their skin with their beloved logo. And then you have people like Andrew Greenland from Wales who is addicted to one model of bike - the Honda NX650 Dominator. It's probably not the coolest bike on the block, at least not when he finds them, but they usually are when he's finished. This is the fifth Dominator Andrew has built in 18 months and we think this could be his finest work yet. "I was wondering what one of these bikes would look like in military style and decided the only way to find out was to build it, so here it is..." says Andrew.

We just received this great set of photos from Chin on the Tank. They feature Nina keeping it real on her very tidy little Honda CB200 Cafe Racer.




Chin on the Tank are a custom garage based in Philly, USA. Their services are wrapped up by the statement "We fix old motorcycles" which makes them alright by us. Check out the Chin on the Tank site for more great photos of the Philly Cafe Racer scene.

I know what I'd rather be doing right now.

We have to say readers rides have quickly become our favourite addition to the site in years. we've been overwhelmed with the number and quality of the Cafe Racers being sent in. That said it takes a fair bit of time to sift through everything we receive so if you've sent me your bike and haven't seen it featured yet hang in there, it could be in my next post!

These are the Cafe Racers sent in by our readers that stood out from the crowd. Hope you enjoy seeing them as much as we have.


1959 Triton from Iain:
"One of the original bikes from the 60's. Still going strong and looking better than ever".

Stan's 1971 Norton Commando 750 Cafe Racer
"40 years ago our Sunday Morning Ride was from Alice's to San Gregorio, down Hwy 1 and then back over the Coast Range to The Valley. I rode a Triumph 650 Cafe those days…but I always wanted a Norton.

In 1992, with guidance and encouragement from Phil Radford, proprietor of Fair Spares America, this 1971 Commando was stripped to the frame and we started the creation of a unique British Ride."


"Everything in the engine and transmission needed attention. The Amals were rebuilt (including sleeves to restore the proper slide action), The forks and just about everything else were redone. Bits of stainless were added here and there.

Kelly Moss was working out of Arkansas those days and built the wheels with Akron High Flange rims and stainless spokes. John Williams over in Dumfriesshire, Great Britain fabricated the Isle of Mann tank and seat, based upon sketches I sent. When the parts arrived some months later, a sleek hand formed front fender was also in the box. A note from John said something like “I know when you see this fender you'll pay me for it.” He was, of course, right.

Shortly after the bike was finished, and 500 miles of break-in completed, we loaded it on the trailer and hauled it up to the Cow Palace for the 1995 Cycle World Show. To our delight the Norton won the People's Choice Award for Specials."




Laurent's 125hp Voxin Cafe Racer
This Voxin (Voxan/Martin) cafe racer was built up from wrecked bike with a solid engine. The rare French made Voxan was a great find giving Laurent a great start and enough excitement to commit to the huge task of rebuilding the motorcycle to a running state.


Three years later with the help of famous Cafe Racer frame builder, Georges Martin the Voxan was complete. A custom fibre glass tank and seat were designed to fit seamlessly to the the Martin frame and the forks and triple clamps are from Ducati 748. The 955cm3, fuel injected twin produces an impressive 125HP.



If you've got a Cafe Racer/Custom motorcycle you'd like to see on the site send us a photo and some details here.

I’ve been working on a killer youtube channel for a few months now and it finally has enough content, to post it proudly here on the Old Bike Barn Blog. How To videos, event coverage, rides, product reviews and more. I’m calling it OBBTV and you can find links to it at www.oldbikebarn.com

Share

I've been spending as much time as I can on the XS650 Cafe Racer project but progress is slow. Latest Work completed on the XS include fitting the Loaded Gun Customs rear sets, fabricated a seat pan that will house all the electrics, fitted a simplified wiring harness and refurbished the forks to stiffen up the front end.





I've decided to stick with the standard XS tank rather than a fibreglass one. The XS tank is naturally quite good looking so no need to spend the extra cash.





I've also just taken delivery of a very nice replica Ducati Supersport 900SS fairing from Gowanloch Ducati . I will be making struts to enable me to fit this to the front end. Anyone got any pointer on how to do this???