“El Citron? This thing should have been called El Diablo…” In 1974, Kawasaki unveiled the S3 Mach II, a 400cc two-stroke street triple with 42 hp and a dry weight of 339 pounds. The bike […]
Tag: Cafe Racers
Farewell VTR: Honda VTR1000 by Francis Von Tuto
For Sale: 1000cc V-Twin “FTVR” from Francis Von Tuto… In the 1990s, Carl Fogarty had been putting the hammer down on the Japanese fours in World Superbike, piloting his booming Ducati to four championships. Riders […]
Super Single: Honda FX650 “Stormbringer”
Bandisca builds a big-single street racer… In the late 90s, Honda introduced the FX650 Vigor as a stripped-down, street-oriented version of the popular NX650 Dominator dual-purpose machine. The bike had Honda’s 644cc RFVC single-cylinder engine, […]
Orange Crush: Yamaha RD350LC Hybrid
Dusty Miller builds an electric orange giant-killer… The Yamaha RD350LC was the first liquid-cooled evolution of the RD series, which appeared in 1980 to succeed the air-cooled RD400. It had the same bore and stroke […]
White Heat: Yamaha RD400 Hybrid
Retired firefighter Dusty Miller builds one hot RD! In 1975, the Yamaha RD400 appeared as the evolution of the RD350, featuring 51cc more displacement, new cases/barrels/head, a new airbox design, and a rubber-mounted engine. “The […]
Suzuki GS850 Café Racer by MCafeGarage
Sardinian workshop builds a burly shaft-drive café… The Suzuki GS850 combined a bored-out version of the GS750 inline four, the shaft drive from the GS1100, and naked styling reminiscent of the 70s superbikes. While it […]
Two-Stroke Hybritza: Yamaha 350 YPVS Cafe Racer
A project dream for 30+ years! At the Cologne Motorcycle Show in late 1982, Yamaha unveiled their new RD350 YPVS, featuring the breakthrough Yamaha Power Valve System, which utilized a servo motor to change the […]
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 […]
Aprilia Tuono V4 “Le Mans” by Le Week-End De Course
A Porsche 917-inspired Aprilia Tuono! In 1971, the Porsche 917 is one of the most iconic racing cars of all time, a flat-12 powered prototype that gave Porsche its first overall wins in the 24 […]
