CAFE RACER PROJECT - BRAT VS. CAFE RACER

 (A)

 (B)

There was something I discovered recently I wanted to discuss because I'm sure there are others out there reading the material I post that are new to this subject too.  The subject I'm referring to is the difference between a Cafe Racer and a Brat Bike.  In my opinion they aren't so different but to the biking world, they are completely different genres.  I have two pictures above.  One is a Cafe Racer the other is a Brat Bike.  Do you know which is which?  If you said, (A) is the Brat and (B) is the Cafe Racer you are correct.  Both of them appear to be 70's Honda's that have been modified.  Although the differences are slight, they are there.  For example, notice how the bike in picture (A) has no front or rear fender?  That is only one thing that sets the two apart.  The bike in (A) has a larger engine, being that it is a Honda CB 750, which would make it slightly heavier than the CB 250/360 below it.  They both have custom seats made and aftermarket exhaust pipes, but the bike in picture (B) has a fiberglass cafe racer seat pan on the back of the bike.  It give the motorcycle a more aerodynamic look and feel.  Cafe Racers are typically light and less powerful, which makes it less about comfort and more about speed and handling.  Cafe Racers have been common in Italy, France and Europe but originated among the British in the 1960's.  One thing I found interesting was this tidbit on Wikipedia about them: "In 1973, Popular Mechanics said the term Café Racer was originally coined as an insult toward riders pretending to be road racers but instead only parked outside cafés."  I never knew that.  I had heard that they got their names because guys would race from coffee shop to coffee shop on them but never realized they were mocked for it.  

Another thing you will notice about the two pictures above are the differences in gas  tanks, tires and handle bars.  The Brat bike (A) doesn't have knee grips attached to the tank like the cafe racer for grip when carving corners.  Although they are hard to see in picture (B), they are there.  The handlebars are (clip-ons) low and straight on the Cafe Racer and high and bent on the Brat.  Once again, a slight difference but it does affect the way the rider is positioned.  The rider on the cafe may be slightly hunched forward and "tucked-in" while the rider for the brat may sit more vertically in an upright position.  The tires may be the easiest difference to detect.  One has knobby, almost dirt-bike-like tires and the other has smooth, low profile ones.  Again, this will change how the bike handles.  They are both fine for the streets but you could imagine the Brat bike finding a dirt road and feeling right at home, while the cafe racer would be more at ease on a track or a winding stretch of road.

In conclusion, I am building a bike that will have elements of both of these bikes because there are things I like from each and things I don't.  My bike engine isn't as powerful as the CB 750 pictured above so it will be fairly light in weight, but I never cared for the back fiberglass piece on the bike very much so I'm forgoing that.  I have both clip on handle bars and the brat style handlebars but haven't decided yet which will make the final cut. The tank on my bike won't have the knee pads or the low profile tires, as I don't plan on taking it to the race track but I do hope to capitalize on performance as much as possible.  I guess I'll have to wait till it's done to decide which genre it fits into better but I rather like the idea of having a cross breed.  It's like having a Labrador-pitbull mix for a dog :)