The Honda CB450 Cafe Racer "Bonita Applebum" started its life as a 1971 Honda CB450 bought from eBay, and believe it or not, the bike was built in a small apartment. After buying all the items needed from eBay, Pepe Luque - the guy who now owns the bike - started to clean, paint, and spit polish every piece before installing them on the frame.
Besides some minor fine-tuning, Luque worked on this project all by himself, including upsizing the main jets to compensate for the airflow in and out of the motor and replacing the Pirelli tires for some Firestones. As for the exterior paint, it was inspired by a CB450 Armadillo, while the handgrips and seat color was suggested by his flatmate. Why is the fact that he built the whole thing by himself so noteworthy? Well, Pepe Luque is colorblind.
When explaining how he came about picking the colors and getting everything just right for the bike to work, he said: "The main section I really struggled with was the wiring of the bike. As you could imagine, being color blind did not help with the colors of the wires. I was very fortunate that my girl and my brother’s wife helped with labelling the wires. For instance, yellow with a white trace, I labelled FLB (front left blinker) and so on. It took me by surprise that I nailed the wiring on first go."
Hit the jump to watch the video.
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Derbi has unveiled details on the limited edition Mulhacén Café 659 Angel Nieto, a bike dedicated to the “12+1 World Champion” Angel Nieto, the man who contributed the most to make the Derbi brand famous in the racing world.
This special bike features a fire red lower section with a black horizontal band extending the entire length of the motorcycle in pure Seventies racing style. The bike rides on 17-inch alloy rims and features impressive 320 mm rear brake with Brembo radial caliper and the backlit digital instrument panel are the proof of the attention with which this new model was planned and created.
The Mulhacén Café features a robust and reliable Yamaha-Minarelli single-cylinder four-valve 659-cc engine (Euro 3 compliant), steel tube frame with aluminum swingarm and the refined progressive linkage on which the original adjustable lateral mono shock absorber operates
The ergonomics of the motorcycle have been carefully reworked for the street, and now offer a more comfortable ride for both driver and passenger making it also suitable for long distance riding.
You might remember Roland Sands’ KTM 530 EXC café racer that we’ve shown you a month back. We’re getting deeper into the story with detailed pictures from during the build and three inside videos of the café racer conversion. The process consisted mostly in shortening the suspension and the adding of a custom made bodywork with incredible results.
The conversion was aimed at emphasizing both performance and styling in an attempt to create the Super Single style. The idea sounds great and the bike is a dream to ride, just as Roland Sands describes: "The bike is super fun to ride, it’s light, agile, torquey and stylish. It does everything you want a good road bike to do....it just does it better." Hit the jump for the inside videos.
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A café racer fan found this 1977 Honda CB750 on eBay and made it his for a couple hundred bucks. The bike was sitting in a barn for a couple of years, but it was fully functional and could be ridden for the next few months before the café racer transformation began.
First thing first, clubman bars and a tri-bar headlight were added so that the bike would lose its factory look. Also, the seat was reformed and reupholstered so that it would add a sporty look and yet offer plenty of comfort. After getting its carbs synchronized, exhaust pipes trimmed and brakes overhauled, the old CB was already transforming into a much sweater ride.
But this Honda’s Norton-like toutch was to be given during the second stage of the customization process by a new tank paintjob. In the end, this looks like a sweet and comfy café racer with plenty of years left to spend on the road. Hear it after the jump.
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This 1981 Yamaha Virago 750 was transformed into a café racer in Haaksbergen in the Netherlands to pay tribute to the Zero Engineering style and it turns out that the bike manages to capture the very essence of the world’s first sportbike (the café racer) and add a little something to it, meaning fat tires.
Although details about the project are scarce, we can see that the original engine and transmission were kept, but also the Virago’s gas tank. The mag rims are also present, but unlike the standard bike, this café racer features 15-inch rims with big fat tires instead of a 17-inch one at the front. That’s what gives it that aggressive note, while the café racer rear end, clubman bars and the black paintjob complete the “don’t mess with me” state that it induces. See it for yourself.
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