The current crop of supernaked streetbikes have proven a mold-breaking genre indeed. A generation of riders who had tired of bending themselves into human pretzels to fit on sportbikes have responded in huge numbers to the more forgiving naked sportsters, making then one of the top-selling sectors of the new bike market. One machine that…

  Besides Moto GP races, baseball games- which, at the moment are on hold due a massive labor dispute- and the odd British mystery series on PBS, I’m not much of a Boob Tube guy. But as we’re trapped in the waning days of a long, Pennsylvania winter, I’ve been spending far too much time…

  We’re absolutely thrilled to bring you our latest issue’s cover story that focuses on the efforts of So Cal’s Alp Racing. The small-but-skilled proprietor Alp Sungurtekin is one serious speed freak, competing alongside his partner and the issue’s striking, badass cover model Jalika Gaskin at Bonneville and other high-velocity venues on some of the…

    Back when I was just out of high school and riding my first motorcycle, I wasn’t particularly interested in speed. With a steady diet of late 1970s custom motorcycle magazines feeding my impressionable brain, I lusted after a bike that just plain looked cool (whatever that meant to 18 year-old me.) A Harley…

Regular readers of Cafe Racer magazine know we’re deep into several custom bike builds. Though each motorcycle project, whether it be classic or contemporary has its own wow factors, we’re constantly surprised by the reactions we get from people digging on our Fat Featherbed Triton project. For the uninitiated, the build centers around creating a…

    Getting older isn’t always the easiest of experiences, but there are certainly advantages to amassing a few decades on this planet. I’m old enough to recall a less-enlightened age when many of my fellow Americans sincerely believed ourselves to be the only denizens of this globe capable of great mechanical craftsmanship. Growing up…

  Recovering this month from some fairly extensive surgery on my banged-up kick start foot has left me lots of time for catching up. And not just on much-needed sleep and a few good books, but on my list of places to go once I’m all recovered and healthy in a couple of months. In…

  Few feature bikes in the 14-year history of this magazine have garnered the sort of universal praise and admiration of our current cover bike. The one-of-a-kind Yamaha R1 cafe racer designed by Chicago’s Rob Cantanese and Union, Illinois’ Framecrafters is that rare combination of exceedingly great design and serious, no-bullshit performance. In each and…

It’s been a whirlwind year for test riding motorbikes at Cafe Racer magazine with new streetbikes being served up nearly monthly by the major manufacturers. It’s one area of producing this bi-monthly magazine that’s good for both the readers and our mortal souls as flying to So Cal, mounting up on a half dozen or…