Naked Speed (Cafe Racer)

[LowRyter]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U2jF7BqjHBA

http://www.velocity.com/tv-shows/naked-speed/



Anyone see this show?  Mike Seate has updated the "Cafe Racer" show as "Naked Speed".  It's a one hour show with builds of hopped up and stripped down bikes.  Show also features Bryan Fuller and the Bostroms.

[Vasco DG]

I really don't know if I can stand much more of this! It's becoming a huge, disgusting, pandemic, black hole of awful! I may just go bonkers and run amok with a chainsaw!

Pete

[arveno]

I wanna puke....

[Dilliw]

I stayed up last night and watched it.  Well I watched parts of it and the rest of the time I was watching my eyelids.

The two bikes were a barn find (actually an old school bus body) Commando 750 and some sort of hacked up Monster.  The most exciting part of the Commando was whether or not the new owner was going to come back after his first ride.  The hacked up Monster was prepped for a Salt Flats run complete with turbos.  The guy had a high speed wobble on the second pass and didn't ride through it.  Another rider got it up to 150+.  As I woke back up I was thinking to myself about how many bikes I've seen doing at least that on I-20 in Atlanta.

With a new show you need to lead with your best punch.  If that's all they've got then I won't bother staying awake next week.

[Chuck in Indiana]

I don't have a problem with it, as long as they aren't cutting up some rare antique bike. I've posted a picture of my friend Kevin's (18 years old) very nice cafe of a Honda 4. My kid is doing a cafe on a beater T because he loves Guzzis. *That* bike wasn't worth restoring.. now, or in the future. He's a great mechanic/fabricator, and it won't be one of those cobbled up turds that many people call "cafe racers."
For the most part, I agree with you though, Pete..  ;D :BEER:

[blackcat]

I don't know about the show but I do know Kenny Cummings from NYC Norton. He is a very serious enthusiasts who makes his living from restoring Nortons.
http://nycnorton.com/nyc_bikes/1971-commando-school-bus-bike/

[JoeW]

I didn't mind the Ducati Bonneville build, an 07 Monster is not a rare bike. I enjoy that shop's ingenuity and I'm envious of their fabrication skills. But, 150 was a little short of their goal, maybe next attempt will be better. FWIW there is a Kawasaki 750 triple in my shop that did 157 on the flats in 1974! What bothered me last night was taking that 100% complete and original Norton and customizing it, really? Last week they featured a CB750 Honda that was picked from a scrap yard, that's a cool thing to do but, destroying a classic bike?  It just passes me off!

[Kev m]

I used to look at old bikes and old cars in some sort of sacred religious way.

I certainly do appreciate those who take the time to maintain or restore classics.

But I don't have the angst about cutting them up for something cool anymore, well not unless it's something super rare.

And if you're gonna cut up a classic bike, well, you could do much worse than make a Café Racer... I mean, I REALLY don't like Choppers... I can appreciate a well-done bobber... but a Café IS at least arguably increasing performance/function, and I can dig that.

[jetmechmarty]

... but a Café IS at least arguably increasing performance/function, and I can dig that.

Me too!  If it's done right.  Cafe racers are what Honda CB's and Yamaha XS's are for!  I have seen some nicely done Guzzis.  At least, in the visual sense.

[steven c]

 And on the Norton, they didn't seem to have chopped up the frame so it could always go back to stock, though I really liked the way it came out.

[Dilliw]

Me too!  If it's done right.  Cafe racers are what Honda CB's and Yamaha XS's are for!  I have seen some nicely done Guzzis.  At least, in the visual sense.

My neighbor's build:

[Penderic]

 ??? Doesn't everybody enjoy watching a TV show that turns a old stock bike into something really useful, or beautiful or ahem... exceptional?

cough cough
 ::)

[rdbandkab]

Oh how I yearn for a motorcycle show like "Motoworld!" to come back.   Give me bike reviews, trail tips, tech tips, and diverse moto event coverage.  I'm done with the new "motorcycle show".

[blackcat]

But I don't have the angst about cutting them up for something cool anymore, well not unless it's something super rare.

Norton's of that period are not exactly super collectible, certainly worth more than a T or T3 but nothing like the Norton production racer's.



Or the 20M3:

[Cage Free]

While Im a sucker for almost anything motorcycle on the tube and will continue to watch I find this show almost boring. The whole chop up some bike and make something cool has been done a million times and just like the chopper shows of a few years ago they all start to look the same.

[LowRyter]

I like the show.  They are Guzzi friendly too.  Mike was at the National a few years back. 

The Norton was a beauty.  They had no chance making that Monster run 200.  Basically what they are doing on the show is what we see on the board with some regularity.  So far, I didn't see a bike that wasn't improved- other than that Ducati but heck, it as only a Ducati. 
 ;D

[Penderic]

The shows are mostly similar products and share the same formula. The current interesting stuff is rarely shown outside a limited commercial market - it is usually a big race or sponsored event.

But I bet there is a lot of good motorcycle themed non-racing stuff recorded by good amateurs that never gets shown. (Although there are enough hours of endless straight roads already!)

Someone will probably develop an iphone application for gathering and stitching all the good amateur clips into a series of podcasts or a tube channel.

Something new connected to motorcycles is happening every day!


Unique ideas!


and so on.


The sugar cruiser cake making channel! :drool

[kevdog3019]

I agree with KevM on this one. My formerly trashed (bodywork) Lario hopped up and improved in just about every practical aspect. Some will never understand why I did this to a rather rare beast. If you rode this one and my stock one you'd understand very clearly. I really don't care what people do to THEIR bike. I see more people selling bikes because they aren't willing to make changes than people who make changes to a bike to fit them. If it moves you so be it. I've learned that stock at best is a starting point.  

Chopped:


Stock:

 

[Matteo]

Here's an idea, every time some one does one of these episodes Roper shows up at the end with a chainsaw and chops it up. :BEER:

[Turin]

Or slaps the builder across the chops with a rubber chicken!

[Vasco DG]

I'll keep saying it until I'm blue in the tits! Anyone can do any damn thing they like with their property. I just hate people chopping up perfectly good motorbikes BADLY because of some stupid fad that has been hitched on to by talentless beardies and their sycophants.

If you want to practice on a canvas pick something shitty that nobody cares about and refine your 'Craft'. The problem with that is that by the time you have actually learnt enough about what you are trying to achieve the 'Trend' will of died and the end result will be a lot of un-recoverable munt that is essentially irreplaceable.

In a totally disposable society I suppose that doesn't matter, but they aren't building short head Tonti's any more and they aren't inexhaustable in number. I just hate seeing them butchered by idiots.

If you want a 'Cafe Racer' build it out of a bit of shit nobody cares about. The people you're trying to impress won't know what it is. If you want the kudos of a venerable name? Just grind off the whatever it is badge and stick a Moto Guzzi or Laverda or Triumph or whatever badge on it. In fact why stop there? Stick your OWN name on it! That will really impress! It's really not important. I just know that in three years time there will be significantly fewer decent Guzzis available because a lot of them will of been chopped up and abandoned by morons.

Pete

[rodekyll]

But really, Pete -- you got an opinion on all this?     :bike

[Chuck in Indiana]

PM me if you want to sell that fairing, Kevin.. I gots money burning a hole in my pocket.. ;D

[kevdog3019]

Already gone Chuck. Been selling some parts to keep other stockers on the road. Got lots more parts though.

[Chuck in Indiana]

Dang!  ;D

[jetmechmarty]

Pardon me if this has been posted, but I think it may be appropriate to this thread.

http://vimeo.com/115733204

[lc4dakar]

INSPIRING!

[Vasco DG]

PM me if you want to sell that fairing, Kevin.. I gots money burning a hole in my pocket.. ;D

Bugger. I just gave one away to Rod a few months ago thinking it was a MkIII Le Mans one and I think he said it was Lario. If he hasn't found a use for it yet put a shout out to him, he's a decent sort and will probably flip it on to you. I'll pay postage.

Pete

[Matteo]

I'll keep saying it until I'm blue in the tits! Anyone can do any damn thing they like with their property. I just hate people chopping up perfectly good motorbikes BADLY because of some stupid fad that has been hitched on to by talentless beardies and their sycophants.

If you want to practice on a canvas pick something shitty that nobody cares about and refine your 'Craft'. The problem with that is that by the time you have actually learnt enough about what you are trying to achieve the 'Trend' will of died and the end result will be a lot of un-recoverable munt that is essentially irreplaceable.

In a totally disposable society I suppose that doesn't matter, but they aren't building short head Tonti's any more and they aren't inexhaustable in number. I just hate seeing them butchered by idiots.

If you want a 'Cafe Racer' build it out of a bit of shit nobody cares about. The people you're trying to impress won't know what it is. If you want the kudos of a venerable name? Just grind off the whatever it is badge and stick a Moto Guzzi or Laverda or Triumph or whatever badge on it. In fact why stop there? Stick your OWN name on it! That will really impress! It's really not important. I just know that in three years time there will be significantly fewer decent Guzzis available because a lot of them will of been chopped up and abandoned by morons.

Pete

Just kidding Pete, I agree. That's why I am fixing an abused CX that some locals wanted to chop up. Unfortunately the fairing was destroyed but the rest is intact. Putting a round headlight with LM 1 fairing on it for now.

[Chuck in Indiana]

Bugger. I just gave one away to Rod a few months ago thinking it was a MkIII Le Mans one and I think he said it was Lario. If he hasn't found a use for it yet put a shout out to him, he's a decent sort and will probably flip it on to you. I'll pay postage.

Pete

Yeah, Rod's a good guy. I'll give him a ping.
No, you won't.  ;D