Cafe Racer Garage Blog

Long time, no text. I'm in a process of rethinking what this blog should be and where do we go from here...  I stopped hunting for motorcycles for publishing actively... Went for a winter sleep, as the motorcycle season ended. And woke up in different reality... But contemplating my online presence, during the coronavirus social distancing - doesn't mean that I should overlook a motorcycle build by a friend. Read the full article

Lucky Custom is a brand that was already featured on this blog. Twice... This tells something. You just can't overlook their build when "scrolling"  through the photos of custom bikes. They do have a unique style and a special feel to their builds. Aggressive colours. Attention to details. They are fond of good looking tires. They do stand out. A lot... This build is another level of crazy Read the full article

Yes. It is another Virago. Yamaha XV750, somehow this mediocre machine has stolen the hearts of custom bike enthusiasts. It's almost unbelievable. This model (along with a Honda CX500) breaks the internet almost every time a new build is published. Considering how the website traffic represents the public opinion about a particular build... I do have the comfort of judging how well received the motorcycle is. Read the full article

Oh man, how special this build is.  Reinvented by choosing the exotic and rare donor bike - Husqvarna Vitpilen 701. A motorcycle that is only 2 years old (as from its premiere on the market). A motorcycle revolutionary by its design. A full-blown performance upgrade not only by using super-light materials but also unique performance parts. Read the full article

End of year is near... time to summarize 2019. Few general comments though. First of all - yes, I was a little lazy this year. I managed to create only about half of the posts made in 2018. On my defence I have that most of the texts were more present, more unique bikes were sent to me rather than I searched for in the archives of the internet. I appreciate this way of creating content, that is somehow exclusive. Read the full article

BMW K1200RS is not the first choice when You think about building a custom motorcycle. Well... Probably it's not even in the top 50 donor bike models. This build comes with a story... about cooperation. Cooperation fueled by opposite styles and characters. About quite an accidental choice of a motorcycle model to customize, that caused the build to be more difficult than anticipated. But considering the brave and unique result - it was worth it. Read the full article

Royal Enfield is not what it used to be today. It lost most of its heritage and recognition through the years, by almost completely disappearing. But it is quite alive in Asia (especially India). And it seems like they are planning a comeback. I wish them well... But this build is not about them returning on the streets and roads of Europe. They sold almost 1 million motorcycles in 2018... And probably less than 3% of this amount in EU. This build is about an original Royal Endfield Bullet from 1986. Read the full article

I like a build with a story when You can reflect the manhours spent in the garage with every detail made and modification applied to the machine. But this is going to be short and accurate. Just like the conversation I had with the builder. I usually tend to get as much of tasty info about the build as possible. Read the full article

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Having recently changed my Kawasaki ZRX1200R to a KTM Super Duke GT, I began to wonder - "why did I sell my old bike? And why did I choose this particular model as its successor? Was the previous one bad for my needs? And will the new one do the job better?" These are pretty standard questions. Maybe we don't say them out loud.... but they surely resonate after the emotions calm down a little, after the adrenaline of finding a new ride goes away. Read the full article

I had to check this, and this is indeed a first Aprilia Tuono... even first Aprilia on this blog. This is a very extraordinary base to customize. Aprilia is a truly exotic Italian brand. That somehow manages to release machines that can compete with the colossal and more funded brands like BMW and Ducati. The RSV version of Aprilia is year by year one of the best sportbikes on the market. Tuono is a straight descendant from this pedigree, just naked. Read the full article

It's quite difficult to get around the BMW naming conventions. As far for the R or K or S are pretty simple, the number that follows is an engine "size". The letters that follow are a version. In this case, it means "Street Touring". It was built based on a very popular R80GS... And everyone knows what the GS badge means if we are talking about BMW. The father of all adventure bikes. Not that it matters, as here we are talking about a customized bike anyway. So it doesn't stand for anything any more. Here comes Reier Motors Read the full article

The XSR900 series... One one hand - Yamaha did a great job with the MT series. These machines are up to the task. They offer extraordinary performance and ride quality for a very competitive price. But... on the other hand - I don't get that the company with such heritage in the classic segment is so annoyingly aggressive with its marketing. Trying to convince the buyer, that a rebranded MT line, called XSR, is the retro segment they have. They can do better!!! Regardless of some personal expectations... Read the full article

I'm not the biggest fan of the Yamaha Virago builds, as there's a bit too many of these. And I love it when someone, who is not a "professional workshop owner" sends me his build. Especially when a bike has a story Read the full article

This thing is from the deep archives of the internet. It was built 12 years ago, but somehow I don't think it was ever featured anywhere. It is actually a second Griso featured on this blog. I thought about this model as there are rumours about bringing it back! Guzzi did their homework this year, releasing awesome looking V85TT, which doesn't lack the power (like the V7 model). The new engine is promising and I hope they will build some bigger displacement unit. Read the full article

The work of Vibrazioni Art Design is like nothing else. I love their sense of style and aesthetics. I could have their bikes sitting in the living room near the fireplace and just look at it. Of course, I would rather ride it as their builds are perfect for me. The perfection of imperfections Read the full article

This won't be a regular type of post, but I'm willing to break the rules a bit. I know that this is a cafe/scrambler/restomod blog... But in general - I went there on my neo-classic (Kawasaki ZRX1200R), so it has come common denominator with what this website is about. It will be more "travel" oriented text rather than a motorcycle feature. We can assume that the conclusion will be - that a naked muscle bike with a retro design - is a capable touring machine. Read the full article