Creativity and New Media

     A café racer is a lightweight motorcycle optimized for speed and handling for quick rides over short distances. Noted for their visual minimalism, they are some of the most distinctive and revered motorcycles in the world. The café racer movement was born in the streets of England in the 1950’s. The term “café racer” described kids known as the Rockers, who would hang out at Rock ‘n’ Roll cafes and raced fast. Today, the café racer is being revived by a growing subculture as the quintessential project bike, typically an older bike that you buy with the intent to fix it up, customize, and “make your own.”

     Building your own café racer gives you a great opportunity to get creative. You can choose to buy one that has minimal work left to be done and only tweak a few things, or you can choose to start from scratch with just the frame or chassis. There are so many different parts, from the engine and the exhaust pipes to the tires and the seat, that you can experiment with to give your bike its own unique look and feel. Because the café racer community has grown so big, there are various avenues through which you can seek ideas to spark your own creativity. Caferacergram is an account on Instagram dedicated to the café racer. They frequently post photos of finished café racers that builders can draw inspiration from. Racer TV is a Youtube account that posts videos that do anything from allowing the viewer to just marvel in the motorbike’s beauty to aiding him in his path to build his own masterpiece.

     This summer, I plan on beginning to work on my own café racer project, a Honda cb750. Instagram, Youtube, Pinterest, Tumblr, etc. have helped me with the first step, choosing the base bike and drawing inspiration. They will undoubtedly continue to be instrumental when I am hit with creative blocks in the future. 

CaféRacer (Tips to choose the best bike for your project) – by Racer TV