I’ve been aware of the meticulous work and innovative designs of Swiss cafe racer engineer Fritz Egli ever since seeing one of his ultra-rare Vincent-powered specials at a London bike meet some 20 years ago. At the time, I was so blown away by actually seeing a Vincent Black Shadow cafe custom that I didn’t know exactly how special this particular machine was. After much research, it turns out that Egli, now 80 and still involved in the operations of his shop near Zurich, was the bloke who revolutionized Vincents for roadracing in the late 1960s but redeveloping their rickety, dated chassis design into something rigid, stable and more modern. Egli wh had been a part of the burgeoning Swiss cafe racer scene before taking up racing, went on to work similar magic on big, often ill-handling Kawasaki and Honda fours during the 1970s and 80s, and we’re proud to announce a rare interview with the man hisself in our upcoming 2017 Annual Edition. The feature focuses on Egli plus two additional cafe racer legends who are still creating custom bikes that we’re lucky enough to be able to purchase today. Look for it come Nov. 1. Ride on!
