Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

WHEELING Cafe racer road rasher: media hype vs. reality I don 't own a cafe racer. (My slightly dingy sto ck Yamaha 20 0 with flat bars would be stretching the definition. ) Yet I remember Crazy Ollie and myself, scratching through the Blue Ridge, Virginia mountains with leaves in our helmets fro m clipping th e apex too clos e and bugs in o ur teeth from smili ng a lot, him o n h is much -b en t Ho nda Hawk with the fla t bars, m e o n m y b ra nd new st o c k Suzu ki X-6 Hustler. It was a long time before " cafe racer " b ec ame popul a r c u rr ency - in "fac t I first heard th e word a year aft er I'd traded m y worn-o ut X-6 for a m ore p ract ical Triumph TR6R, and two years after I'd b een passed b y m y fir st Velo c e t t e Thruxton w ithout bei ng a bl e to id entify it. Then ca me m o t o cr o ss. An d Baja . And choppers . So mehow a lo nely legion o f yo un g/ol d m en wh o had been thrash ing abo ut Am er ica 's mou ntain ro ad s o n anyth ing fro m asto n ishi n gly quick , small J apanese bikes t o ast o nishingly well-mannered European b ik es (w ith an occasional Metralla fo r sp ice) quie tly faded in t o th e woodwork with the termites. I've no t seen Cra zy O llie or Ed ensky th e Mad R ussian in years. The G rea t Federa l Sa fety Cru sad e came and wen t , and with it another legion of lo st a nd embittered sports car pu rists. Then the slic ks re-dis cov ered the English sp eci alty sh ops, burs ting Pau l Dunstal l o n us like a starshell, Cycle re- dis covered th e Ro ck S tore, a nd suddenly the MiIJeniu m was a t hand. Th e Ch o p pe r is d ead ! Bra k in g a nd good handling a re resto red! Th e Kin g cometh! Hallelujah , Hall elujah ! The h ype st ar ted soon af ter. The choppergoodie ma kers frantically re-tooled to b uild ca fe go od ies, the trad e press jumped on th e bandwago n (sell, se ll, sell! ) and even Paul Dunstall wo und up far ming his p ro d uctio n o u t to Italy and Taiwan to m eet d em an ds . And m o re h ype. Go od Engli sh eq uip m ent either dried u p or went un derground. Now every body h ad t o have a su per tr icked-ou t J ap an ese multi wit h a Ca lifornia paint jo b. Dr ag bike people and still morc chop pcrgo o dic people go t su ck ed in to th e "mo ve m en t. " Yes, by no w it was (st ill is) a trad e / indust ry movemen t th at 's alm o st h y s ter ic al in its in te nsity (greed? Desperation?) . Whcrc 's thc rca lity 10 all this? Wha t is th is effervescent "cafe ra cer scene ?" Griffith Park in Los A nge les, for instance. II's a pl ace w ith unspoken traditions o lde r th an I am. At 8:30 or 9 a.rn. , the who le pl a ce see ms empty. Sh ortl y thereafter they begin showin g up in o nes. twos, threes. Some co me wail in g up the O bserva tory ro ad in a full crouch, kn ee out as they hook th e fin al uphill ess before the hairpin into th e parkin g lot. Others co m e dronin g sedatel y up on a d ressed-out to u rer, o r even a "cream p u ff sid eh ac k. Still oth ers co me wobbling up on gro tesquely ra ked choppers , an d some come th u mping u p on vintage English singl es. The to urerjchopper fo lk park alo ng the curb next to t he snack bar, th e ra cers line th e op posite side of the street. So o n one h undred , tw o h undred people, so meti mes more a re there, dri fting back an d fo rt h across the stree t , m illing abo u t, d rin kin g co ffee, ta lk ing, loo king at ea ch other's machinery . It 's a n e ffe rv escen t, co nstan tly ch angin g crowd . As the last la teco mers tri ckle in , o thers leave. So me go fo r a circui t of th e mo untain and re turn , o thers go and do no t return. Some a re alone , so me arc in pa cks th at form a t a whim and scatter lik e raindrops. By no on , mos t h ave le f t. By mi d-a ft e rn oon the park belongs to the t ourists and th e pi cni ckers, You co uld go up to th e Observa to ry and never suspect tha t h u nd red s o f m o to rcycles had been he r e ju st h ours ago. Th e cop wh o ben evol en tly su rveys this wei rd , co lorfu l tribe fro m h is par ked car is go ne, 10 0. Un til n ex t Sunday , Wc've a ll go ne, Our gr oup of eigh t o r so is h ead ed fo r th e Roc k Store by th e long. scenic ro u te. I'm on a t es t bike for th e papcr toda y . It's b ig, fast and it hand les, bu t ii 's a han d ful in the tigh t places. And mo st of the places th ese guys rid e arc tigh t. The High way Pa tro l and the Sheriffs own the freeways and most of Mulho lland High wa y with its 13 0 mph straigh ts a nd 90 m ph bends. Instinc tivel y we go elsewhere - places where 100 mph migh t be seen on the clock for a fleet ing second before shutting down. My constant companion is a guy named Norto n o n a 350 Dueati. Though I've got him by over 500ce . I can only use that advantage m ay be 15 seconds out of every minute. He 's fast, co m pe ten t a nd smooth, plus the Duke is narrow in the cases a nd he doesn't h ave to hang off like I do. In short, he's a hell of a lot of fun to ride with . All these guys are - the faster ones strung out ahead of Norton and me, the slower ones beh indo At sto p signs and intersections we wait for everybody to catch up, count noses, and move out again. There 's a highway etiquette and an "Isle of Man" sort of self-discipline to these people , the way they hold their line, instinctively knowing the relative st rengths a nd weaknesses of each others' machines, waving each other by whe n appropriate, tucking down an d slamming the gate o n a comer whe n that's appropriate, too - co ns tantly read in g the terrain, the occasional traffic and each other . Somehow th e media h ype ignored these guy s. Th ey we re her e b efo re th e h ype started; th cy 'll be here when it 's run i ts cou rse and th e a n t i-hype react ion se ts in . In fact, th e reac t ion has al read y starte d . I talk to people a nd th ey t ell m e, "you can h ardly find good rearse ts anywhere. Mos t of th e st uff th ey 'r e seIli ng these days is overpriced tr ash ." The ca ndy racers m ing le w ith th c often co b b y real racers a t the Rock S tore alo ng with the tourers, the chopper fo lk, a few delectably full- bosomed chopper ladies a nd, of course, th e cops. So meho w it's the candy racers th at seem o ut of place. A stock 350 Honda Four with Boge shocks blows a pair of 850 Moto-G uzzi Sports into the bushes . People crash . The ambulance comes, the ambulance goes. Mo re cops get assigned to the area. A couple of m o te -m onth lies publish gross ly distorted swipes at the excesses of the cafe fad in Southe rn Ca lifornia. I suspect the same guy wro te them, fo r the tra in o f logic is near ly iden tical, a nd the sam e po in ts are ei th er di s torted o r ove rloo ked. Agai n , where 's th e reali t y ? People have been kill ed , th e m arket is flooded with ju n k, th e traditional racer roads a re cra wling with co ps and yo-yo s on ill-conceived m otorcycl es wh o can't rid e. Yet Griffith Park and th e Rock Store are st ill places where yo u ca n meet so me o f th e most interes ti ng and div erse people from all aspects of h ighway moto rcycl ing. T here are o ne or two pe ople in this area who ma ke and se ll good equipment th at 's aircraft quality thro ughout . (I won 't p ump th e m by nam e ; they d on't need th e hype a nd wc all know wh o th e y are . We 're co ntent.) To th e h yst eri cal hyper-c ritics, I' ll say that so re wris ts and humped back arc no worse ma n ifestat ions of the en thusiast's bas ic masochism th an clouds of chokin g dus t, bone-jarring wh oop-dee-d o s a nd lurking mine shafts a re to the d irt b iker. I sus pect th at the b ig-bore, multi -cy lind er candy racer of 19 74 / 75 will go th e way o f ape-hange rs a nd spool fro nt hubs. The purist 's racers will evo lve in to simple. lightweight, two-stroke o r fou r-st ro ke 350cc-500cc singles an d t w ins by a Darwin ian "survival of the fi ttes t" progression . The p uri sts themselves will always find so mep lace to pla y tag wi th th e Basic Speed Law in unsp o ken kinsh ip with th o se p roud ru n ners of un ta xed whisk ey who a lso be lie ve th ey have a God-given righ t to d o th eir th ing. Th e mult is and th e candy racers will evo lve into wha t I'd ca ll th e "GT m ot orcy cle " sti ll styled in th e ca fe mode , but w ith glo ve po c ket s insid e th c fairi ng, usable luggage space in a fa lse bo ot in the tank o r in t he t ail sect io n , full inst ru men ta tion, m a ybe a d uc t to de flect warm a ir fro m the engi ne t o th e dcad sp ace beh ind th e fairing, who kno ws wh a t th e poss ibili ties a re fo r a Europea n-styled solo m achine for to uring in th e gra nd m a nner? T h e bes t will su rvive, even if the end of the hype finds th em ba ck in the woodwo rk again. Wh o knows? Some day I may even see Crazy Ollie, one m o re time. Lane Campbell On vacation Dec. 18 to Jan. 2 Cycle News wiII close o ur editorial o ffices fo r two weeks ann ual ho lida y fro m December 18, 19 74 to January 2 , 19 75 . The next issue of Cy cle Ne ws will be at your dealers th e firs t we ek in January , Dealers: To o rder m o re Postcrb o ok/ Year- End copies fo r immediate d elivery , cal l (213) 631-8844 from 9 a.m. to 5 p .rn. Circulati on a nd dealer service wiII st ay o pen d uring vacation. N ext issue out Jan . 7, 1975 r------------. : " -s-: ~ 1- -~"- . '1 Il_oo__I: . . , I~~e, I~ :I 1 1 I = :1 II I: :1 " :1 :1 : I. , I~ 1= =1 =1 :1 =1 :1 .1 = :1 = 1 I: 1= 1 , = I: 1= I: I: I: ,: I: : , I 11THE :i 1 1 - ~~ :1 :1 :1 :1 :I , 11 PRODUcr~1 II H FOR•••.............•......:. ITSELF 11 .: ....•••......• SPEAKS -----------_-1 ~~.d 1 .1t' ~~~ I ~ ».~ Seasons Gl'eelings to our custom ers & friends Imperial i~oW NoloI' Spol'Is l~ - Ii>. Ei P" ~~ 14333 East Garvey Avenue Baldwin Park. CA 91706 213 ·337-6811 13

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