Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/125851
- r u a: oJ :J Z r o , READ HONDA: INTRO TO LIFE WITH A CAFE RACER. •• LUV IT, LUV IT, LUV IT! "Cafe Racers! Ooooo! Wow! Azunga! Take that, chopper freaks!" Gallons a f ink and reams of paper have been used up recently on the re-aw aken ing of in te rest in the European style-racey road mach ine. Th e co m mercial ty pes have recogn ized the cafe racer as a SS GoodSSThingSS, to the po in t th at in Cal if ornia, the cho pper builders are teaching th emselves how to install clip-o ris and rear-se ts. Yet, in all the prod uct-oriented articles, little h as been said abou t how it feels t o live with a cafe racer o n a d ay-t o-d ay basis. (A ft e r all, eve n the mo st exotic machin es spend m aybe 90% o f their lives being ridden to /from th e racey roads, o n ly to rind that th e co p s have set u p a checkp oin t beh ind each bli nd co mer. ) The proo f is in the riding. Pear ce' s garage in Lo s A nge les m ad e ava ilab le their 750cc Re ad Titan Honda fo r a th ree day GOO-mile te st. T he m ach ine is basically a stock 750 Honda Four th at has had the full treatment in one co m e r of a ca ve rn o us old high-bay sh op , which otherwise does a land-office business overhauling d iesel tru ck s. The fir m handles Read T it an items (ha ngin g about from a loft in the raf ters) becau se Di ck Pe ar c e h appen s to l o ve motorcy cl es. The Read H ond a tested was a fully -equipped st reet-legal m o torcy cle with tu rn sig nals , r e a r-v i e w mirro rs . . . t he wh o le sh ebang. The list o f bol t-o n goodies is enough to boggle the m ind (see inset), and the visual im pact of th e m ach in e is eve ry th ing th e builder s in tended . As to surfa ce a nd detai l finish , it 's safe to sa y th at British craf tsm an sh ip is not yet de ad '; you ju st have to be m o re choosy abo u t where y o u find it . (Sa me goes fo r th e Americ ans who ins ta ll the stu ff. In this case , firs t rate.] Straddling the ma chine for th e fir st time, you realize that it's a large m o t o rcy cle a nd no feath erweight, ei ther. Fo r th e record , it weighs 51 2 pounds wit h the seve n-gallon b rea d lo a f tan k topped u p . You re ac h 'way forward for th e clip-o n bars, and find that : a) st eering loc k is quite limited and, b ) t he bars d o n 't give you much leve rage for m anh and ling a heavy b ike at a near-st andsti ll. Yo u learn to pl a n t you r feet w ith ca u t io n at traffic ligh ts, an d to pl an tight low-sp eed turns well in advance o f e xe cu tio n. All of th e stoc k Honda co n t ro ls h ave been ret ain ed , which is a bit o f bad , a bit o f good . The ignition key is in th e stoc k positi on, wh ich, fro m t he rear -se t so lo sea l. is an even more aw kward reach th an usu al. T he ha nd lebar co ntro l gro u p has been incorporated into th e T ita n clip -e ns t hrough a su pe r-sa ni ta ry insta llation, alo ng with a pair . of Stadium handleb ar-end mi rro rs. Yo u d on 't real ize the aesthetics of this gad getry until yo u rid e an y d istance in free way traffic. T he cro uc he d r iding positio n prevents you from swivelling your head normally, so the comb ination of good T ear vision and working turn signa ls help s you attack shifting traffic without feeling lik e a race horse in blinders. One m ore word abo u t th e mirrors. The handleb ar-end ins ta llat io n, w he the r o n clip -e ns, c1u b m an bars , o r drop bars, is th e o nly set-up which d oes no t give yo u a precisio n image of yo ur o wn elbows. You dr one along in y our lane, pacing the traf f ic that hems in at all sides. As the 55 MPH boredom sinks in , yo u begi n t o no tice little th ings, lik e th e waggle of th e ins tru me nts against th e stationary refere nce of th e f airing. That 's th e on ly evidenc e of rain-gro ove ef f ec t, because ne it her handlebars no r, chassis f eed bac k an y tend ency to wander. }'o u look over th e persp ex windscreen, and feel a soft breez e b eing deflec ted past th e t op of y our h elmet, tugging gentl y at th e viso r. Th ere 's a sof tness to the ex haus t nate, a soft ness t o th e tug of th e engine. as th ough a damper is co n nec te d betw een th ro tt le hand and pavement. :J Z You see a lon g, em p ty off-ramp and downshift twice as y ou angle toward it, right blinker fla shing. Feed throttle and, as th e revs climb , the ex haust and e ngine res po nse becom e harsher, sharpe r, m ore shrill and in siste nt . Beyond 6000 RPM , the connec tion betw een thro tt le hand and pavement is abso lu tely rigid , and the ex haust note is a clear-p itc hed so ng that sings of Lo tu s Elevens and Co ventry-Climax eng ines strain ing bet w een rows of flashing ha y bales. Th e clo ck read s 90, th e full lane s t o y ou r left resemble a parking lo t, and all t ao so on yo u m ust shu t d own, shif t d awn. and lay into the cloverleaf }' ou f eath er th e throttle, ge ntly ex plo ring th e road-holding in th e sweep ing lo op. and burst o ut on to th e surface stree t go ing indecen tly fas t. Feeling alm ost guilt y, y ou slow do wn, ge t th e engine running back in th e 3 ,000 - 4,500 range, and o nce again ad opt the cloak of urban "cioiliz ed" man . Th e traff ic hems you in once m ore. Th e bars ar e ba ck o n y our cage - but th ey 've been rattled . Badly rattled. If y ou ca n stand the bo redo m - the mach ine is reall y quite civilized to ride aro u nd town . Eve n whe n wo u nd tight, the four-io ta -one collec to r emi ts a note th at is fa r m ell ower th an the stock four-p ipe exha us t sys te m. The English pipe m ak es the Japanese bike sound like a n En glish sp or ts ca r. ' N ice a nd nostalgic. r: In so m an y littl e way s, th e hike tri es to remind yo u th at under all the co ffee-c hase r good ies, it ' s b asicall y a stock Honda. Whe n wa rm, it ligh ts off at the first touch o f t he starter b u tt o n , runs for eve r, has us abl e po wer from 3 00 0 RPM to red line , and ex h ib its typ ica l lack o f fly wh eel effect. T he clutch pu lls easily , shifting is easy and o ... positive. the pro gressive. The off ice. That's all stock Honda gadget ry worked around the Titan bars. r u a: oJ I brakes are gen tle and