Uncovering a pristine, long-hidden classic motorcycle from someone’s barn or garage is a dream shared by many motorcyclists. For several years, I’ve alternately fascinated and bored stiff listeners subjected to my tale of a guy bringing not one, but two basket-case Nortons to our show booth at the 2014 AMA Vintage Motorcycle Days event….

  Whether you’re a regular visitor to Instagram or not, the photo-sharing app has proven endlessly useful in helping us see new custom bikes. case in point, Instagram’s software  is designed to nudge viewers towards postings containing content that someone out there in cyberspace assumes a user will pretty much dig. For my feed, that…

Regular readers of Cafe Racer know we’ve a serious soft spot for classic Norton motorcycles. We’ve built a trio of the vaunted British parallel twin in the pages over the years, learning a tremendous amount along the way. Last season, we managed to pile a good 1,000 miles on our 1973 Commando 750, and after…

The wild, unpredictable world of motorcycles never ceases to surprise. It was back in Cafe racer’s February/March, 2016 issue that we published a feature story titled “Vanishing Vincents” about the trend these classic British speedbikes were than undertaking. Most of the vaunted Black Shadow and Rapide V-twins were being bought up at auctions by wealthy…

The photo above depicts one of the prouder, early moments of this, ahem, esteemed publication. Shot n spring, 2011, the customized Moto Guzzi V7 was only the second bike we’d revamped in our then tiny, home garage. Many more would follow as motorbike manufacturers who advertised with us grew increasingly comfortable handing our team new…

I can still remember the first time I set eyes on a Ducati Monster. It was 1995 and I had just abandoned 13 years of Harley riding, having had my eyes permanently opened after borrowing a friend’s Suzuki Katana. After realizing that modern motorcycles could indeed be fun even with functioning brakes, reliability, speed and…

Winter can be tedious what with the seemingly endless grey skies and same-old-same-old routines. However, this time of year is perfect for catching up on the progress of custom bike builders who are taking advantage of the downtime. Regular CRM readers will know that contributing writer Blair Powell has been fiddling with the Royal Enfield…

We recently wrote of the exemplary work being done at Framecrafters in Union, Illinois. The veteran chassis building team of Randy and Karsten Ilg have more than perfected their regimen of creating one of a kind motorcycle frames to fit everything from highly polished showbikes to championship-winning roadracers. We were very much flattered when the…

For several years, cafe racer magazine has been a partner with the Progressive International Motorcycle Shows. The annual traveling two-wheeled circus is a highlight of our staffs year as we enjoy packing up shop and hitting the road. The IMS events provide a time to catch up with you, our readers and see what’s new…