Building a Custom Harley Davidson Cafe Racer
Trendy endeavor or timeless interpretation of a classic?
Motorcycle customizing trends come and go; particularly in the world of Harley-Davidson. The great choppers of the 60’s, often piloted by soldiers returning from the Vietnam war, saw their machines glorified in the iconic film Easy Rider. The 80’s brought us the first Softail models and legendary customizers like Arlen Ness and Paul Yaffe worked their magic on these machines, which were designed by Willie G to look like their earlier hardtail counterparts.
The turn of the century saw the arrival of the long wheelbase, fat tire, big cubic inch choppers. Fueled by the American Chopper reality television series the industry exploded with dozens of small manufacturers cashing in on the Teutul’s success. The likes of American Iron Horse, Big Dog, Bourget’s Bike Works, Big Bear and Vengeance were turning out machines in the $25-35,000 price range at staggering production rates. A one-of-a-kind Orange County Choppers design could fetch as much as $100,000.
All Good Things Come to an End
The popularity of that design was short-lived and most of the builders of the era have long since shuttered their shops. Even Orange County Choppers filed for bankruptcy, lost their fabrication shop to foreclosure and is little more than an online souvenir T-Shirt shop now.
So what’s trending these days? Baggers. Harley-Davidson’s touring models are all the rage now, accounting for more than 50% of their unit sales. The Street Glide Special has moved into the company’s number 1 sales slot surpassing even the undying Sportster. Today’s customizers are riding this wave. The recent Sturgis motorcycle rally custom bike competitions were dominated by Harley touring models equipped with 21” front wheels, even taller handlebars, air ride suspensions and spectacular paint finishes applied on the generous body panels.
An Unbroken Tradition
Through all these trends one style of custom motorcycle has stood the test of time. The Cafe Racer. This genre of bikes came on the scene in the early 60’s in Great Britain and endures today. Named for the short, high speed rides between local British watering holes the cafe racer was typically a British parallel twin bike with clip on handlebars, rear set foot controls and flat saddles. Some were fitted with half or full race fairings. Like their American chopper counterparts all extraneous parts were removed to reduce weight.
The trend spread throughout the European continent and custom builders were soon crafting examples forged from the likes of Ducati, MotoGuzzi and BMW. By the mid 70’s Japanese bikes had overtaken their European counterparts; their popularity being fueled by the availability of high powered three and four cylinder engines.
Even The Great American Motorcycle Company recognized the trend. Between 1977 and 1979 Harley-Davidson marketed the XLCR, an American Cafe racer attributed to Willie G. Davidson’s adaptation of the XLCH Sportster. It featured a small race fairing, a reshaped fuel tank and a flat, pillion-free saddle. It was largely rejected in the American marketplace and quickly lost its spot in the company’s model lineup.
Everything Old Is New Again
The cafe racer culture got a shot in the arm in 2010 with the airing of the cable television reality series Cafe Racer TV. Two seasons were produced and included guest appearances from notable cafe racer aficionados such as Billy Joel. Motorhead icon, Jay Leno joined the party with an episode of Jay Leno’s Garage featuring some of his favorite cafe racer builds.
The motor company responded to this call by people who wanted to build a Harley Davidson cafe racer. Their Café Custom series of accessories was introduced. It included a cowl tail section with solo seat (P/N 59500644), clip on Clubman handlebars (P/N 55800342), rear set foot controls (P/N 50700040), round bar end mirrors (P/N 56000134) and other offerings. All of these Café Custom components have since been removed from HD’s parts fiche, but a little detective work will probably turn up some NOS (new old stock) at dealers or eBay stores.
The Future of the Harley Davidson Cafe Racer
The cafe racer genre is here to stay and there will always be builders who want to exploit the Harley Davidson platform in their creations. The Motor Company still offers the Iron 883 and Forty Eight models as great traditional platforms for a custom project. These models have been relegated to Harley’s “Cruiser Motorcycles” line and no longer officially bear the Sportster name. The 2022 Nightster and Sportster S models now occupy slots in the new “Sport Motorcycles” lineup.
The Sportster S is powered by Harley’s new 121 HP Revolution Max 1250 engine. It’s just a matter of time before some creative and talented custom builder uses one as the foundation for the next generation of high performance Harley Davidson cafe racers. Rest assured that HD Forums will be there to report on it when the first of this new breed hits the pavement.
Photos: Harley Davidson, Michael ONeill, Unsplash