Generally, we regard bikes built prior to 1980 as vintage, though there is some wiggle room there. Here we have a selection of our favorite vintage cafe racer builds.
Race Bike, for the Street: Yamaha RD350 Café Racer - “A vintage race bike without fairings…but for the street.” This was the vision Jesse Crane (@crane_moto) had for the 1975 Yamaha RD350 café racer you see here. You might remember Jesse from his ’71 Yamaha […]
For You, Old Fox: Yamaha RD350 Custom - Cus’Tom Motorcycles rebuilds his father’s RD… The Yamaha RD350 was one of the great giant-killers of the two-wheeled world, a two-stroke street machine with a race-bred bloodline. In AMA Class C racing, the RD racers […]
“Moxie” Honda CB550 Café Racer - Engineer Mat Kubak’s Budget-Built Honda 550 Café Racer… We always love to hear the origin stories of the builders who grace our pages. While many grow up around bikes — riding, racing, and rebuilding dirt […]
Vintage Thunder: Harley-Davidson XR1000 BOTT Racer - Battle of the Twins Veteran: 1983 Harley-Davidson XR1000 Race Special… Launched in 1983, the Harley-Davidson XR1000 was conceived as a road-going version of the mighty XR750 — the most successful race bike in the history […]
The Graduate: Honda CB400F Café Racer - A show-worthy graduation present from Never Ending Cycles… The Honda CB400F is one of our favorite Honda fours of the 1970s, a café-styled machine that sported a high-revving 408cc inline four and one of the […]
Racer Reborn: Yamaha XS650 Café Racer - Purpose Built Moto builds a 700cc vintage twin café… Tom Gilroy of Australia’s Purpose Built Moto has climbed into the elite echelons of the custom bike world over the past several years, and his Signature […]
Outlaw 400F: Honda CB400F Café Racer - Chattahoochee Skunkworks builds an “Outlaw CB400F”… At the time of its introduction, the Honda CB400F was hailed as a mini-superbike. The small, highly sophisticated 408cc inline four boasted a 10,000 rpm redline and six-speed transmission […]
Red Tail Redux: Honda CB750 Café Racer - Joe Flores resurrects a tribute to a 33-year Air Force veteran… The Tuskegee Airmen were the USA’s first African-American military aviators, best-known for their signature red-tailed P-51 Mustangs, which flew heavy bomber escort as part […]
Original Superbike, Reborn: 1973 Honda CB750 - A Navy helicopter pilot restores his father’s CB… In 1969, Honda stunned the motoring world with the introduction of the CB750 Four, the “Original Superbike.” It’s tough to overstate how revolutionary Honda’s 750/4 was at […]
“Silbergrau” CB: 1972 Honda CB500 Café Racer - Alchemy Motorcycles builds a show-stopping silver-grey CB… The Honda CB500 Four made quite the splash when it debuted at the London Racing and Sporting Motorcycle Show in early 1972. Described as “one of the “show […]
Project Lethe: BMW R100 Cafe Racer - For many of us, building and riding motorcycles is crucial to our mental and emotional health. Whether it’s the ability to swing a leg over the saddle and crack open the throttle, letting the wind […]
Indigo Racer: Suzuki GS750 by Crows Performance - “Don’t Postpone Joy…Ride an Iron Horse!” This is the motto of Crows Performance, a workshop in Nasukarasuyama City, Japan, run by our new friend Yoshiki Sawamura. Though they offer a wide range of services — […]
Rare Alchemy: 1974 Honda CB750K Café Racer - “Chalk” — a minimalist CB750 from Alchemy Motorcycles… Back in 2018, we featured the ’77 CB550K “Grey Ghost” from Michel Valle of San Diego’s Alchemy Motorcycles — one of the most elegant, most memorable CB […]
Czech Yourself: Honda CB550 “Respect” - A Prague-built 550 Four from Gas & Oil Bespoke Motorcycles… While the CB750 may have grabbed the world’s attention as the “Original Superbike,” many Honda SOHC enthusiasts will tell you they actually prefer the CB550 […]
Uncommon X: Honda CBX1000 Custom - Mike Common’s six-cylinder rocket ship… For many lifelong motorcycle lovers, true love was sparked on a humble Honda Z50 — a minibike with an outsized impact on the hearts of entire generations of motorcyclists. Such […]
Nius Moto: Honda CB550K Roadster - The Honda CB550 remains one of the sweetest midsize machines ever produced, a 50-bhp inline four that handled well, ran sewing-machine smooth, and had the gorgeous looks of the heavier CB750. “Like it’s larger sibling, […]
Wicked Goose: 1100cc Moto Guzzi Café Racer - A 105-hp T5 from Hardcore Division… Lino Tonti was an Italian motorcycle engineer best known for designing the Moto Guzzi Tonti frame in 1971 — a chassis that would remain in production until the early […]
MAANdello: Aviation-Inspired Moto Guzzi T5 850 - Motocicli Audaci builds one daring ex-Police Guzzi… The Moto Guzzi T5 850 was a favorite of the Italian Polizia, featuring a long-stroke 90-degree V-twin with 68.5 horsepower on tap. More importantly, the broad range of […]
Descending Dragon II: BMW R75/5 “HaLong 2.0” - Destined for Handbuilt Show ’22: DT Motoworks’ Slash 5… The 1970 BMW R75/5 (“Slash 5”) was a landmark machine for the company, whose motorcycle designs had become dated in the years since WWII, still in […]
Café Mod: Yamaha RD350B by Marthijn Kip - A 70s Café Smoker from the Netherlands… For many of us, at some point in our lives, motorcycles have been more than just a hobby, adventure, or even a profession — they’ve been a lifeline. […]
“Lil Red” Honda CB360 Custom - A “Lil Red” 360 steals the heart of a vintage superbike racer… In the early 1970s, Honda engineers had the challenging task of developing a successor to the immensely popular CB350 twin. Although the 325cc […]
Street-Legal Racer: 1977 Honda CB400F - For Sale: 1977 Honda CB400F RC166 Race Replica! In 1966, the Honda RC166 swept the 250cc Gran Prix World Championship, taking victory in 10 out of 10 races with the legendary Mike Hailwood crouched behind […]
Super 6: Honda CBX1000 Cafe Racer - Lys Motorcycles builds a carbon-clad CBX… The Honda CBX1000 remains one of our favorite Japanese motorcycles of all time. While the stock machine didn’t have the handling some expected from Honda’s first six-cylinder production bike, […]
Honda CBX “1098R” by MotoRRetro - A CBX1000 cafe racer from Sydney’s MotoRRetro… In 1966, Mike “The Bike” Hailwood won the 250cc Gran Prix championship on one of the most radical machines of the era, Honda’s RC166 six-cylinder racer. Designed to […]
Restomod Roadster: Honda CB750 “Hanashi” - “Hanashi (History) in the present.” –Cafeina Motorcycles The Honda CB750 remains one of the most iconic, influential, and beloved motorcycles in history. Today, it may not seem like such a revolutionary bike, but that’s only […]
Boxer Bobber: BMW R100C by Zamarelli Moto - Last month, we featured coverage of Glory Daze 2021 — a killer motorcycle show in Pittsburgh that featured over 150 garage-built custom bikes. One of the standouts was a gorgeous blue “Boxer Bobber” from a […]
Super Sport: Honda CB400F by Chattahoochee Skunkworks - A 400 Four “TT” from the North Georgia hills! In 1975, Honda unveiled the CB400F, a middleweight four-cylinder four-stroke that stood out compared to the two-stroke twins and triples of its generation — machines such […]
Two-Stroke Titan: Suzuki T500 by Spencer Motoworks - A Tracked Combat Vehicle engineer builds himself a two-stroke custom… During the mid-1960s to 70s, when other manufacturers were touting the straight-line dragstrip performance of their two-stroke screamers — bikes with whisker-wide powerbands and widowmaker […]
Holly Honda: CB175 Café Racer by Chris Harter - A young airline pilot builds a sweet CB175… The Honda CB175 came to the U.S. market in 1969, an air-cooled twin that offered 20 hp at 10,000 rpm, a top speed of 86 mph, and […]
Triple Black: Kawasaki H2 by Vinny Borbone - A vintage racer builds one bad two-stroke street bike… The Kawasaki H2 was one of the most uncompromising motorcycles ever produced, a 750cc two-stroke “Widowmaker” triple that was loud, smoky, crude, and scarily fast, cutting […]
Black Bonnie: Triumph T120 Bonneville by MJH Performance Bikes - In 1971, Triumph introduced a new oil-in-frame Bonneville, whose steel chassis held the bike’s oil in its 3-inch diameter backbone instead of a separate oil bag. These “Oilers” would also get a 5-speed gearbox, a […]
Aquafresh: Kawasaki KZ1000 Cafe Racer - A big-bore Kawa from Mitsuaki Shinohara… The Kawasaki KZ1000 is one of the baddest air-cooled muscle bikes of the 1970s. Introduced in 1976, the bike won the 1977 and 1978 AMA Superbike Championship, and the […]
2-Stroke Racing Special: Suzuki GT750S Vallelunga - Introduced in 1971, the Suzuki GT750 Le Mans — affectionately known as the “Water Buffalo” or “Kettle”– was the first liquid-cooled production motorcycle from Japan, a 739cc, three-cylinder two-stroke street machine that boasted 67 horsepower […]
“BMW 60+” Café Racer: Same Owner for 59 Years! - BMW R50/69S Café Racer: same owner since 1960! A few weeks ago, we received a message from Jeff Thommen of Switzerland about this father’s 1960 BMW R50/69: “I’d like to submit my father’s bike, which […]
Best in Class: Honda CB400F by Chattahoochee Skunkworks - The Honda CB400F — aka the Honda 400 Four — was a lightweight inline four with 37 horsepower, a 6-speed gearbox (Honda’s first), svelte cafe racer styling, and one of the most beautiful factory exhausts […]
Triple Trouble: Framecrafters / Kawasaki H1 Cafe Racer - “I put a tricked out H1 engine with the left and right cylinders reversed into a Framecrafters road race frame and put lights on it.” This was the cryptic message we recently from Mike McSween […]
Honda CJ250/360 Cafe Racer by Elemental Custom Cycles - This bike has been removed at the request of the builder.
Descending Dragon: BMW R75/5 “HaLong” - Introduced in 1970, the R75/5 was the largest BMW motorcycle of the time, offering a 750cc, 50-horsepower boxer engine capable of pushing the machine to 110 mph. The entire “Slash 5” or “/5” series, which […]
Honda CB350 Cafe Commuter by Kevin Bergeron - The Honda CB350 is one of the most beloved small twins of all time, a 36-hp scrapper that recalled the old adage: “It isn’t the size of the dog in the fight, it’s the size […]
“Yatagarasu” Honda CB360 Cafe Racer by Moth Vintage - From fiery basket case to The One Moto… The Honda CB360, a four-stroke twin, debuted in the mid-70s as an alternative to Honda’s more expensive and complex lightweight fours. The 34-hp engine was tuned for […]
Yamaha R5 Cafe Racer by Zanutto Engineering - The Yamaha R5, introduced in 1970, was the first of Yamaha’s new generation of two-stroke parallel twin “giant-killers” — a design architecture which would evolve into the RD350, RD400, and even the liquid-cooled RZ350/RD350LC. Lee […]
“White Lightning” Honda CB400F by Wayne Hawes - Honda CB400 Four resurrected after 30 years sitting outdoors… The Honda CB400F is one of our favorite bikes from the entire CB series. It was an evolution of the CB350F, introduced in 1972 as the […]
“Alpina” Suzuki T500M Cafe Racer by Paul Courbot - Paul Courbot of Titan Performance rebuilds the T500 he’s owned since age 19! The Suzuki T500 Titan, introduced in 1969, quickly earned a reputation as one of the best big two-strokes of the era, proving […]
Sick RD: Yamaha RD350 Cafe Racer - Yamaha RD350 Giant Killer from California… The Yamaha RD350 is one of our favorite two-stroke street machines of the 1970s. The 39-horsepower parallel twin could compete with larger bikes due to its excellent power-to-weight ratio, […]
Kawasaki KZ1000 Restomod by Nova Motorcycles - Few motorcycles have the long and varied history of the Kawasaki KZ1000. Known as the Z1000 outside North America, the big air-cooled inline four debuted in 1977, and the police model would remain in continuous […]
Zero to Hero: Honda CB175 Cafe Racer - From Zero to Hero: Honda CB175 built from a junked chopper… The Honda CB175, introduced in 1969, was based around an air-cooled parallel twin engine with dual carburetors and a 5-speed transmission. The bike offered […]
Honda CB550 “MD01” by MOTODesign - Nine Years of Vision: Barn-Built CB550 cafe racer from New York… The Honda CB550 is one of our favorite platforms for a custom build. While the 38-hp middleweight didn’t have the outright power of the […]
“Baby Black Bomber” Honda Z50 Cafe Racer - For Sale: 88cc “Baby Black Bomber” from Utopeia Moto Company! The Honda Z-series of street-legal minibikes have developed a cult following since their introduction in the 1964. Legend has it, the Z50 was originally part […]
Honda CX500 Cafe / Bobber by Magnum Opus Custom Bikes - “Nothing is plug and play once you put down the grinder…” These are the words of Ezio Covelli, the man behind Magnum Opus Custom Bikes, describing the transformation of this Honda CX500 and any custom […]
Honda CB360 Cafe Racer by Aston Neale Motorcycles - Straight out of Suffolk: A Garage-Built, Modernized CB360… The Honda CB360 was only available for a short time — 1974 to 1976 — as the successor to the popular CB350. The 34-hp air-cooled parallel twin […]
Supercharged Honda CB750 by Justin Blue - Best in Show: Supercharged, Big Bore Honda CB750 from Alabama… It’s a truth universally acknowledged: When you put together a Honda engineer, a ’74 CB750, and an AMR500 supercharger, good things happen. Earlier this month, […]
Honda CB550 Monoshock Cafe Racer - A father/son Honda CB550 cafe racer build with custom monoshock conversion… Honda’s four-cylinder middleweight, the CB550, is one of our favorite platforms for a cafe racer build. While the air-cooled SOHC engine doesn’t have […]
Honda CB750 Cafe Racer by RW Motorcycles - An old superbike gets a modern makeover… The Honda CB750 was the “original superbike” — a four-stroke street, strip, and track weapon that radicalized the UJM (Universal Japanese Motorcycle). However, the 750cc Hall-of-Famer is getting […]
Yamaha XS750 Cafe Racer by Riko Loos - Silver Triple: 1979 Yamaha XS750 cafe racer! The Yamaha XS750 was a well-balanced, 67-hp Triple whose “exhaust note alone is worth the price of admission,” said Cycle World. The bike is one of our favorite […]
Honda CB750F Cafe Racer “Lainey” - The CB750F was Honda’s effort to regain the supremacy of their original CB750 Four superbike. In 1980, Cycle Guide claimed the new 77-hp DOHC 750 could “accelerate with the fury of a one-liter hyperbike” and […]
Yamaha RZ350 Restomod by Keith Carlson - Dragon Slayer: 2-stroke weapon built for the Tail of the Dragon… Indiana’s Keith Carlson, who specializes in two-stroke builds, is one of our very favorite builders. Each year, Keith and his friend Steve Hoy of […]
Honda CB750K Cafe Racer “Kali” by Contach - We like staring slack-jawed at the big money pro builds as much as anyone, but there’s nothing quite so special as the connection between a garage builder and his first build. Enter Mark Guevara of […]
Yamaha XS400 Custom by Reier Motors - A lovely yellow lady from Austria… While its larger siblings get much of the attention, the Yamaha XS400 is quite the lovable machine. The 392cc air-cooled straight twin offered a punchy 32-36 horsepower, allowing the […]
Honda CB500 Four Cafe Racer by Duke Motorcycles - “Mrs. Duke” — The pure white CB500 stunner… Lionel Duke of Duke Motorcycles had more than two decades of experience as a car and motorcycle mechanic before opening his shop in Tourrettes sur Loup, near […]
Yamaha RD350 Custom by Moto Exotica - Two-stroke cafe racer from the foot of the Himalayas! Arjun Raina of India’s Moto Exotica, set in the foothills of the Himalayan Mountains, has made a name for himself building Yamaha RD350 customs. In fact, […]
“Wart Hog” Honda CB450 Cafe Racer - The CB450 was Honda’s first “big motorcycle” — a 444cc parallel twin with 43 horsepower and a top speed of 110 mph. Early models were known as the Black Bomber, though the remained in production […]
Kawasaki KZ400 Cafe Racer by Therapy Garage - Toby Reed of Therapy Garage grew up riding the 60cc Yamaha JT-1 Mini Enduro that his grandfather bought new for his grandmother in 1971. From there came a dozen more bikes. Then, a few years […]
Honda GL1000 Goldwing Cafe Racer by 85 Speedshop - “Man-Size” Goldwing Cafe Racer from Denmark! Rune Kellberg is a 33 year-old single father who spends his spare time in his workshop, 85 Speed Shop, with his 6 year-old son — lucky kid! They love […]
Kawasaki KZ650 Cafe Racer by Jon Arfsten - The Kawasaki KZ650 is one of our favorite vintage bikes. Sometimes known as the “Son of the Z1,” this middleweight UJM offered a 61-hp inline four, solid handling, and loads of potential from a customization […]
BMW R65 Urban Tracker by Duc Tran - Motorcycles have a special way of healing us and preserving our sanity in a world that can be incredibly chaotic and painful. So it was for Duc Tran, a young father in Austin, Texas, who’s […]
Suzuki GT380 Café Racer by Café Cycles - The Suzuki GT380 was a two-stroke triple with ram air cooling and 38 horsepower on tap. The lighter weight sibling of the GT500 and GT750, this bantamweight smoker makes for one nifty cafe racer candidate. […]
Honda GL500 “Brokenwing” by Bandisca - The Honda GL500 Silverwing was a touring model spin-off of the CX500, with a similar liquid-cooled motor, shaft drive, and air adjustable suspension. While neither bike was very attractive, the off-beat CX/GL series has caught […]
BMW K100 Custom by De Angelis Elaborazioni - The BMW K100 may seem an unlikely candidate for customization, but builders have discovered the beauty in the “Flying Brick.” The heavy block of engine, laid flat in the frame, keeps the center of gravity […]
Suzuki GS750 “Zucati” by Justin Page - The Suzuki GS750 was the first four cylinder in the venerable GS series — the company’s first full-fledged foray into four-stroke motorcycles. At its release the GS was the fastest of the 750cc fours […]
Yamaha XS650 Cafe Racer by Magnum Opus - The Yamaha XS650 is one of our favorite bikes of all time. The 650cc parallel twin, recalling the British twins of old, is simply one of the handsomest motors of the era, and sounds terrific […]
Handbuilt Show 2018: Two-Strokes - The 2018 Handbuilt Motorcycle Show, which took place during Austin’s MotoGP weekend last month, proved to be the biggest and best yet. Hosted by Revival Cycles and BMW Motorrad USA, the Handbuilt Show aims at […]
BMW R65/3 Cafe Racer by Toro Moto - Before opening Tuscany’s Toro Moto, founder Riccardo Micheli worked as an official BMW Motorrad technician for 15 years and crewed in various racing championships, most notably the old 2-stroke 250cc MotoGP class. Finally he struck […]
Honda CX500 Brat Cafe by Sault Built - Cameron Sault is the founder of Sault Built, a workshop where he builds custom furniture and motorcycles, as well as working in metal sculpting. Since Cam is deaf, he cannot enjoy the exhaust note of […]
Yamaha XS850 Restomod by Brick House Builds - “Triple Trouble”…a three-cylinder Yamaha with modern upgrades… One of our favorite young builders in the country — nay, the world — is Bj English of Missouri’s Brick House Builds. Bj has a penchant for building […]
Honda CX650 Cafe Racer by One-up Moto Garage - The John Player Special, built for the father of an F1 driver… We see a lot of Honda CX500 builds these days, but rarely do we see a CX650C — a one-year model available only […]
Honda CB350 Cafe Racer by Andrew Frederick - “Come by tomorrow with $100 and I’ve got a project for you. It’s perfect, pristine, and all original.” So said one of Andrew Frederick’s friends. Of course, the bike was in boxes and bins! Seventeen […]
Honda CB500 Four Cafe Racer by Kaspeed - Here at BikeBound, we have a soft spot for father/son workshops and builds. Kaspeed Custom Motorcycles of Germany is one of the very best. The crew consists of twin brothers Jimmy and Mick — both […]
Honda S90 Cafe Racer by Fernando Casado - The lightweight Honda S90 — also known as the Sport 90 or Super 90 — was the sportiest of Honda’s 90cc range of motorbikes and scooters, built from 1964-1969. The 90cc, air-cooled 8-hp engine was […]
Honda S90 Restoration by The Chattahoochee Skunkworks - 1965 Honda S90 resurrected in the Georgia foothills… Toby Jones and his wife — “the artists formerly known as OtC Custom Motorcycles” 😉 — recently moved from Vero Beach, Florida, to one of the world’s […]
Honda CG125 Cafe Racer by Fernando Casado - Young man, big heart…Brazilian design student dedicates his build to family, teachers, and friends… Today, we are thrilled and honored to feature the first of three builds from Fernando Casado — a 23 year old […]
Honda CB350 Brat Cafe by Ron George - “Maggie” — from basket case to garage-built beauty… When steelworker and plumber Ron George received a basket case 1970 Honda CB350 Twin in a trade deal, he knew he had the perfect platform to build […]
Suzuki T500 Road Race Tribute by Weberwerks - A street-legal, 2-stroke vintage road racer… In the early 60s, East Germany’s MZ team rider Ernst Degner escaped the Iron Curtain to work for Suzuki, using the knowledge he gained from 2-stroke genius Walter Kaaden […]
BMW R80RT Cafe Racer by Liberty Motorcycles - “The more you look, the more you see.” Chris Edwards of Liberty Motorcycles left school at the age of 15 to become a motorcycle mechanic. Since then, he’s worked a wide variety of bikes, even […]
Grey Ghost CB550K Cafe Racer - Today, we are thrilled to present one of the most beautiful vintage Honda builds we have ever seen: the Grey Ghost, a 1977 Honda CB550K cafe racer built by Alchemy Motorcycles of San Diego. Previously, […]
BMW R65 Cafe Racer: “John Player Special” - A single-seat, JPS-inspired tribute to Mario Andretti’s days at Team Lotus… In 1976, Mario Andretti joined Team Lotus, driving the John Player Special (JPS) F1 cars into championship winning form. The signature gold-and-black livery of […]
Honda CB750K Brat by Sean Junqueira - A DOHC CB750 with a Brazilian twist… We knew the quality of Sean Junqueira‘s motorcycle photography from his work with the late Devolve Moto in Raleigh, North Carolina, but we had not seen his building […]
Honda CB125 Brat Cafe: “Biff” - “I was given a manual and pushed to figure it out…” Jenny Lawson of Fayetteville, Arkansas — aka @TrippinHawk — is a single mother of two teen girls, a small business owner, and the builder […]
Suzuki TS400 Cafe Racer by Metal Works Utah - From two-stroke enduro to smokin’ cafe racer… The Suzuki TS400 Apache was the largest of the Suzuki TS series of two-stroke dual sports — a 277-lb, 34-hp enduro “built to take on the country.” Cycle […]
Honda CB450 Cafe Racer: “Tenbrooks” - Named after the fastest horse in the South, inspired by a custom Gibson guitar… Kevin Drost has been playing the guitar since the age of 10 and spent his entire adult life in the music […]
BMW Silver Bullet MK2 by XTR Pepo x Revival of the Machine - Updated: The Silver Bullet becomes more racer, more XTR…more Pepo! Last year, we saw the launch of the 1978 BMW R100RS “Silver Bullet,” the first-ever motorcycle designed by Revival of the Machine — one of […]
Honda CB890 Cafe Racer by Chris Klamer - 100+ horsepower, 350-lb Honda “CB890CR” from Barber’s backyard… When Chris Klamer of Alabama set out to build a cafe racer, he wasn’t going to settle for a simple set of clip-ons and rearsets. He says: […]
Moto Guzzi Mille GT Cafe Racer by RCG Rocket Custom Garage. - Bol D’or Guzzi 1000 racer, inspired by “mad days racing through the mountains…” Ron Fairbrother began building bikes after his early retirement from the military. After three previous builds, including this incredible Kawasaki Zephyr, Ron […]
“BSW B40” Cafe Racer by Nexxtoy - Unconventional wedding with a British girl… Thierry Coulon (“Terry”) of Bourdeaux’s Nexxtoy is a graphic designer and handyman who has been pursuing his motorbike passion for more than forty years — a passion that came […]
Katie Abdilla’s Honda CB400F Restomod: “Billie” - Meet Billie, a Honda CB400F restomod dream bike… We have been in love with Katie Abdilla‘s Honda CB400F, “Billie,” since the first time we saw her flowing chrome headers and Varnish Blue paint. In a […]
Best Cafe Racers of 2017 - We decided to follow up our list of 2017 Best Custom Motorcycles with a cafes-only list. Some of these were real darlings of social media, accruing thousands of likes on Facebook and Instagram, while others […]
10 Best Custom Motorcycles of 2017 - Today we’re thrilled to present our 10 Best Custom Motorcycles of 2017, as judged by you, our readers. Your visits, likes, comments, and shares serve as votes, and we ranked these bikes according to their […]
BMW R100R Scrambler by Cafe Racer SSpirit - Cafe Racer SSpirit of Spain has become one of our favorite builders in recent years. Their build process is highly collaborative with their customers. They like to say they take a journey with their clients, […]
Suzuki GT550 Cafe Racer by Macdonald Hastings Design (MHD) - Two-Stroke Street Weapon…with Patina If you’ve been following us for any length of time, you know we love the smell of two-stroke oil in the morning. Smells like…victory. Enter Ewen Macdonald and his 1974 […]
Honda CB160 Cafe Racer by Jeanie Sallings - The Sallings clan of Arkansas are quite the motorcycle family. Patriarch Jan Sallings of JMS Customs has six sons and two daughters-in-law who ride. We have featured Kat Sallings’s Honda CB175 cafe racer, as well […]
Honda CBX1000 Streetfighter by Tony’s Toy - “The Vincent Black Shadow of 1979” — Cycle Guide The Honda CBX (or CBX1000) had one of the most incredible engines ever produced, a 1047cc air-cooled inline six that offered 105 horsepower at 9000 rpm. […]
Mobylette Cafe Racer by XTR Pepo - From 1949 to 1997, French manufacturer Motobécane built a series of Mobylette (or simply “Moby”) mopeds. In French, the word “Mobylette” has come to mean nearly any moped — not surprising, given that nearly 14 […]
Honda CX500 Rose Edition by X-AXIS - Today, we’re proud to showcase the Honda CX500 Rose Edition, the third CX500 custom in the X-AXIS fleet. After years of competitive racing, two-time British motocross (MX1) champion Billy MacKenzie created the X-AXIS workshop to […]
Honda CB350 Restomod by Offset Motorcycles - Craquelure, (/ˈkrakˌlo͝or/): a network of fine cracks in the paint or varnish of a painting. That’s the name of this 1970 Honda CB350 “resto brat,” built by Jason Lisica of San Francisco’s Offset Motorcycles. Jason […]
Honda CB350 Brat by Purpose Built Moto - Tom Gilroy, the founder of Australia’s Purpose Built Moto, has been making a name for himself in the custom moto scene. Besides turning out a herd of custom bikes, which can be seen ripping around […]
Lazer Sport 50 Cafeped - “The Lazer lost in time” We first came across the term “cafeped” through the Instagram account of the same name, @cafepeds. The account features café inspired mopeds from across the world, including customized makes from […]
Custom Honda CX500 by X-Axis - British motocross racer Billy MacKenzie has quite the racing pedigree. He’s a 2x British MX1 Champion, riding for Factory Kawasaki and Honda teams, and 3x overall Gran Prix winner. After decades of competitive racing, Billy […]
Honda CB750 Restomod by Hoy Vintage Cycles - The Tail of the Dragon is one of the most legendary roads in the world. Located in the mountain pass of Deal’s Gap along the NC-TN border, this 11-mile stretch of road has 318 curves, […]
Suzuki GT380 Café Racer by Keith Carlson - Keith Carlson, who builds out of his home garage in Indiana, has become one of our favorite builders. With a background in vintage motocross, he has a preference for two-stroke street screamers that are, as […]
Kawasaki KZ400 Cafe Racer by Offset Moto - Motorcycles bring families together like nothing else. BikeBound.com is largely a father/son project, so we are especially partial to stories like this Kawasaki KZ400 cafe racer by Offset Motorcycles of San Francisco. Founder Jason Lisica […]
Honda CL450 Brat by Tom Hernden - In 1974, at just 19 years old, Tom Hernden won the Florida State Modified Championship at Twin City Dragway in Oldsmar, Florida, racing the 1973 Honda CL450K5 drag bike he built. Fast forward 40 years, […]
BMW R80 Cafe Tracker by Moto Adonis - The Netherlands has become one of the great hotbeds of custom motorcycle culture, with a staggering array of talented, hard-working builders like Daan and the crew at Moto Adonis. Although the workshop has turned their […]
Kawasaki KZ650 Brat by Kaspeed - If you follow the blog, you know we are big fans of the Kawasaki KZ650. The Honda CB series of the era may get more love and attention, but this “Son of the Z1” […]
5-Cylinder Kawasaki 2-Stroke by Allen Millyard - The Kawasaki Triples were some of the most notorious motorcycles ever made, a series of 2-stroke street demons that prompted Hunter S. Thompson to write: I still feel a shudder in my spine every time […]
Honda CB200T Café-Brat by Slipstream Creations - ”A solid, reliable bike, good for transportation of the impecunious.” This is how the Honda CB200T has been described. The bike was the largest of the Honda CB Twin series that included the CB125, […]
Honda CB450 Cafe Racer: “Shinobi” - What if there had been a postwar cafe racer culture that originated in Japan instead of the UK? This was the question that builder Scott Wilson asked himself. Scott, a fan of Quentin Tarantino’s films, […]
Yamaha SR250 Restomod by Jadus - Jake Snowdon is a mechanical engineer living in Malmö, Sweden, who started his company, Jadus Motorcycle Parts, designing and producing a range of high-quality custom parts for specific models like the Yamaha SR250. Jake loves […]
Honda CB400 Four Cafe Racer by OtC Custom - The Honda CB400F is such a neat machine, a 408cc inline four produced only from 1975-1977. The bike had an array of cafe racer styling elements, such as low handlebars, rear set pegs, and that […]
Harley Ironhead Cafe Racer by Redonda Motors - Redonda Motors is a workshop in Portugal building custom street bikes, race and off-road bikes, and even has a division dedicated to electric bike builds. Recently, we featured this incredible Yamaha XT600 street tracker. Now […]
Honda CB500T by Denton Moto - Today, we’re thrilled to present “Morrison” — the flagship bike of Denton Moto Collective, and the personal bike of our friend Fabian Campos. The Denton Moto story began in the fall of 2015, when Fabian […]
Honda CB550 Brat Cafe by Eli Carver - We were lucky enough to meet some incredible people at the 2017 Handbuilt Show in Austin. The bikes in the show were off-the-charts, as always, but there was also a staggering lineup on the street […]
BMW K100 Tracker by Overbold Motor Co. - Barcelona has become a hotbed for custom bikes, largely thanks to builders like Overbold Motor Co., whose CB750 Nighthawk cafe racer we previously featured. Now the crew is back with another stunner: this time a […]
Honda GL650 Silver Wing Cafe Racer - Remove Before Flight… Today we’re thrilled to present a Honda GL650 cafe racer hailing from Lithuania. The Honda GL650 Silver Wing was essentially a punched-out version of the GL500, a midsize touring bike based around […]
Moto Guzzi V65 Cafe Racer by Ventus Garage - The Moto Guzzi V65 was introduced in 1982, an air-cooled 650 (643cc) twin in the typical Guzzi configuration. The bike was known for rock-solid stability at speed, and there’s an undeniable romance to an air-cooled […]
BMW R45 Brat by Unik Edition Custom Cycles - The BMW R45 was introduced in the late 70s, largely aimed at learners and beginners. It looked much like a scaled-down version of BMW Motorrad’s larger bikes, with a 473cc, 35-horsepower boxer motor and 95 […]
Honda CB550 Cafe Racer by Macchina Salvobros - There are a lot of “bolt-on” cafe racers these days. We have nothing against that — there is an art to sourcing the right components for a build, and few parts bolt on without some […]
Kawasaki KZ900 Cafe Racer by Excelsior Customs - We first met Jarred Hassell of Excelsior Customs at the Iron & Clematis in West Palm Beach, Florida, last year. Our senior correspondent, Rick Brown — my father — was simply blown away by the […]
Suzuki T500 Titan Cafe Racer - Here at BikeBound, we are suckers for anything 2-stroke. Nothing beats the banshee-scream of an oil-burner, especially if it’s one of the twin or triple 2-stroke street kings of the 70s. Enter Steve Baugrud and […]
Yamaha XT600 Street Tracker by Redonda Motors - The Yamaha XT600 was one of the most popular all-purpose enduros of its era, produced from 1984 to 2003 in a range of variants. The air-cooled single offered 34-39 horsepower, and this particular specimen is […]
BMW K100 Cafe Racer by Weston Customs - Who would have guessed that the BMW’s first four-cylinder motorcycle, the K100 “Flying Brick,” would be reborn in the hands of custom builders 35 years after its introduction? We were lucky enough to spy this […]
Honda CB750K Cafe Racer by J.Webster Designs - Today we are thrilled to feature this incredible 1978 Honda CB750K cafe racer by Justin Webster of J.Webster Designs. Justin was recently featured on the Esquire series Wrench Against The Machine, which we highly recommend, […]
Honda CL350 Brat Cafe by Sean Sallings - Motorcycles and family go hand-in-hand, and nothing demonstrates that more than this Honda CL350 cafe racer by Sean Sallings…whose parents were married in a Harley shop! Sean’s father is none other than Jan Sallings of […]
Honda CX500 Cafe Racer by Rolling Retro - Nothing we love more than a shed-built cafe racer — especially when it turns out as clean as this one. The Honda CX500 has become a favorite among builders, with its ‘Guzzi-style V-twin, stubby wheelbase, […]
Honda CB250 Cafe Racer - There’s nothing we love more than featuring the bikes of young garage builders, who don’t have professional-grade shops or an arsenal of high-tech tools. Today we have a 1973 Honda CB250 K4 cafe racer by […]
Yamaha XS1100 Cafe Racer - “The XS is a Rolls Royce with a blown Chrysler Hemi motor…” So said Cycle Magazine of the Yamaha XS1100, aka the XS Eleven or XS11. When it was introduced in 1978, the XS1100 was […]
Honda CB1100R Restomod by dB Customs - The CB1100R was Honda’s first homologation special, an exotic, road-legal sportbike built from 1981-1983. Based off the CB900F, the single-seat CB1100R offered 115 horsepower and 72 lb-ft of torque, and was intended to homologate Honda’s […]
Honda CX500 Cafe Racer by LV Custom - The Honda CX500 is experiencing a big renaissance these days. Who would have thought that the “plastic maggot” would become the darling of custom builders the world over? This particular specimen is the work of […]
Kawasaki GPz750 Custom by Paul Hutchinson - Paul Hutchinson builds custom motorcycles in Melbourne, Australia. He only asks that you don’t call them cafe racers. His first build, a Hornet-orange BMW K100, graced the pages of many of our favorite blogs, including […]
Buy or Sell a Cafe Racer - Have you got a cafe racer or other custom bike that you’d like to sell? Or perhaps you’ve been browsing our blog and others, and you’re ready to buy a project bike of your own? […]
Honda CB175 Cafe Racer: “Moxxi” - Today we are thrilled to present “Moxxi,” a 1972 Honda CB175 cafe racer built and owned by artist and designer Kat Stovall (@gutterskump) of Fayetteville, Arkansas. Like so many of our favorite bikes, this build […]
Moto Guzzi 850 Le Mans Cafe Racer - Nic Millan is a photographer and videographer who combines his passion for photography and motorcycles. Growing up in Southern Oregon, his first motorcycle was bought and ridden illegally: I had a beat up 1974 Honda […]
BMW R100R Cafe Racer by XTR Pepo - Pepo Rosell of XTR Pepo has turned another stunner. This time it’s a 1992 BMW R100R endurance racer. The bike is nicknamed “Don Luis.” Says Pepo: About the name of the bike, this is the […]
Honda CB750F2 Cafe Racer by 14Cycles - We see a lot of Honda CB750 builds, but few stand out like this silvery mesh of past and present. It hardly even looks like a CB750 any longer, but more like the dream machine […]
Honda CX500 Cafe Racer by BBCR Engineering - Few bikes have started life as unloved as the Honda CX500. Designed by Shiochiro Irimajari, the man behind the incredible six cylinder CBX1000, Honda billed it as ‘First to the Future.’ Though hoping it would […]
Honda CB550F Cafe Racer by Other Life Cycles - We found this oh-so-clean 1975 Honda CB550F cafe racer through Denton Moto Collective of Denton, Texas, who recently listed the bike as their #motoinspiration of the day. Nicknamed the “F-Bomb,” the bike was built by […]
Honda CB750F Cafe Racer by BBCR Engineering - They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery and, in this case, it has resulted in an amazing build by Andrei, the fabricator/magician at BBCR Engineering in St. John, Indiana, just outside of Chicago. […]
Kawasaki KZ750 Twin Cafe Racer - This blood-red Kawasaki KZ750 twin cafe racer, garage-built by Shad Alexander of Alabama, won the People's Choice Award at Ace Corner during this year's Barber Vintage Festival. Incredibly, this was Shad's first build attempt and he did all the work himself, including making the fiberglass underbelly, lacing and truing the wheels, and building his own paint booth.
Suzuki T500 Cafe Racer by Motorcycle Mania Chicago - We love the smell of two-strokes in the morning–or any time, really–especially if they are 70s street screamers. Enter the Suzuki T500, one of the lesser-known oil-smokers of era. Marketed as the Cobra or Titan, […]
Honda CB750 Brat Tracker by Tom Laveuf - Tom Laveuf grew up in France, where he and his family rode Honda CR125 and CR250 dirt bikes, and his uncle rebuilt 70s Hondas. After moving to the States, his two-wheeled obsession went dormant until […]
Honda CB750K Cafe Racer by Herencia Custom Garage - Argentina’s custom culture scene has been blowing up in recent years, and Herencia Custom Garage is right at the heart of the action. HCG’s primary builders, Federico Lozada and German Karp, have more than thirty […]
Ducati 860 GT Cafe Racer by XTR Pepo - The Ducati 860 GT was built in 1974 and 1975, a highly stylized Italian standard with a 60-horsepower v-twin heart and 109-mph top speed. The highly angular design of the fuel tank and engine covers […]
