Gixxus Christ! Posted April 13, 2016 Report Share Posted April 13, 2016 10 hours ago, Rusnak_322 said: Ok, the video is funny, but I don't understand the hate. Sure, there are lots of kids wrecking crappy old bikes with bad modifications but there is always a fad like that. Do you really think that the Ace cafe was full of highly detailed Tritons and commandos back in the 1960's? then the 1970's chopper craze with 8 foot long forks and no front brake. You had street fighters and stupid choppers. At least with the cafe and brat craze there is now a lot of aftermarket parts and some people are making money selling them parts and working on bikes for those who are not mechanical. Back in the day they built real cafe bikes. They made them lighter and faster. Form followed function. It was a true sport with talented guys making and racing very functional bikes. Not true of most hipster cafe guys now. It's about achieving a look. Zero thought is given to performance or handling. It's all cone filters, header tape, flat seats, cheap shocks, tall Firestone tires and a set of clubman bars or clip ons. No meaningful power mods to the motor, no upgraded braking or suspension, zero weight reduction, steering damper etc.... It's a poser buying the absolute cheapest bolt on parts to make his bike look custom vintage. Choppers on the other hand, whether done well or not, are gay. Stupid as fuck, don't care what people think, they look like shit. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3.504 Posted April 13, 2016 Report Share Posted April 13, 2016 3 hours ago, CrazySkullCrusher said: Back in the day they built real cafe bikes. They made them lighter and faster. Form followed function. It was a true sport with talented guys making and racing very functional bikes. Not true of most hipster cafe guys now. It's about achieving a look. Zero thought is given to performance or handling. It's all cone filters, header tape, flat seats, cheap shocks, tall Firestone tires and a set of clubman bars or clip ons. No meaningful power mods to the motor, no upgraded braking or suspension, zero weight reduction, steering damper etc.... It's a poser buying the absolute cheapest bolt on parts to make his bike look custom vintage. Choppers on the other hand, whether done well or not, are gay. Stupid as fuck, don't care what people think, they look like shit. a man after my own heart. whats the purpose in modifying a bike to ride like shit? i'll go further: whats the purpose in modifying a bike, for performance gain, if you're just going to cruise to bike night? what really grinds my gears: when the shop gets calls from people with a 198x yamahondasuzisaki who bought it for a couple hundred, and wants us to clean and "go through" the carbs. we'll come back with estimates, usually near $1000, and they get shocked that a pile of crap bike thats been sitting in a field for 20 years, hasn't run in 30 years, requires a significant amount of work to start towards making it road worthy. we've actually had to start turning people away unless they 1: can ride it there, or 2: ok an estimate for $500 before we even start. saying all that though... i'll gladly install any of these parts for any customer willing to pay 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gixxus Christ! Posted April 13, 2016 Report Share Posted April 13, 2016 Probably the same assholes who put their 80's sport bike with dirty carbs, leaking forks and no 2nd gear on Craigslist for $1500. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rusnak_322 Posted April 14, 2016 Report Share Posted April 14, 2016 10 hours ago, 3.504 said: a man after my own heart. whats the purpose in modifying a bike to ride like shit? i'll go further: whats the purpose in modifying a bike, for performance gain, if you're just going to cruise to bike night? what really grinds my gears: when the shop gets calls from people with a 198x yamahondasuzisaki who bought it for a couple hundred, and wants us to clean and "go through" the carbs. we'll come back with estimates, usually near $1000, and they get shocked that a pile of crap bike thats been sitting in a field for 20 years, hasn't run in 30 years, requires a significant amount of work to start towards making it road worthy. we've actually had to start turning people away unless they 1: can ride it there, or 2: ok an estimate for $500 before we even start. saying all that though... i'll gladly install any of these parts for any customer willing to pay So it pisses you off that potential customers are calling you for work. Would you be happy if the phone never rang?? you have a shop that fixes motorcycles and there is a craze of people buying motorcycles that need repairs and they can't do it themselves. You should be profiting, not bitching. Not charging $1,000 to clean carbs. Hell, you can buy a set of new flat sides for a CB750 for $750. buy some rat bikes, fix them up and sell them to these guys. Then sell them the $35 t-shirts that they love so much. Treat them fair, and you will get some loyal customers out if it. Even if you can't stand them. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sprocket226 Posted April 14, 2016 Report Share Posted April 14, 2016 LOL... I do like the website. Cool photography, and there are some pretty nice old school bikes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gixxus Christ! Posted April 14, 2016 Report Share Posted April 14, 2016 10 hours ago, Rusnak_322 said: So it pisses you off that potential customers are calling you for work. Would you be happy if the phone never rang?? you have a shop that fixes motorcycles and there is a craze of people buying motorcycles that need repairs and they can't do it themselves. You should be profiting, not bitching. Not charging $1,000 to clean carbs. Hell, you can buy a set of new flat sides for a CB750 for $750. buy some rat bikes, fix them up and sell them to these guys. Then sell them the $35 t-shirts that they love so much. Treat them fair, and you will get some loyal customers out if it. Even if you can't stand them. Pretty sure his issue is with people coming and wasting his time and money getting the estimate, then not wanting to shell out the money for quality work. I'm sure his $1000 estimate is to make the bike road worthy. That means fluids, brake linings, fork oil, tires, carb clean and sync and replacing whatever stock parts the previous owner deemed unnecessary. As a bike mechanic I can tell you that shit adds up quick and these hipsters generally don't understand the labor that goes into bringing an old bike back to a serviceable condition. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3.504 Posted April 14, 2016 Report Share Posted April 14, 2016 12 hours ago, Rusnak_322 said: So it pisses you off that potential customers are calling you for work. Would you be happy if the phone never rang?? you have a shop that fixes motorcycles and there is a craze of people buying motorcycles that need repairs and they can't do it themselves. You should be profiting, not bitching. Not charging $1,000 to clean carbs. Hell, you can buy a set of new flat sides for a CB750 for $750. buy some rat bikes, fix them up and sell them to these guys. Then sell them the $35 t-shirts that they love so much. Treat them fair, and you will get some loyal customers out if it. Even if you can't stand them. i'll be glad to service anyone's motorcycle, because anyone's money is green. unfortunately we get a lot of calls wanting advice, favors, and general help... which actually doesn't spend as easily. multiple factors that go into monthly overhead that don't allow me to perform services on vehicles without charging labor for such services. somehow, theres folks out there that believe this is unfair practice. to these folks: i invite you to open your own business and try this out for yourself. i could go further into describing day to day operations and profit/loss, but i feel its a lesson best learned through experience. most people just show up at work and punch in. no performance based system in place, no risk for lack of performance. so generally theres a misunderstanding of how profit is generated. do i think about a 9-5 behind some desk where i make a crappy salary... all day long actually... lol. but its fun when you get a truly awesome customer whom you service their bike, and make them genuinely happy. a certain satisfaction, if you will. 2 hours ago, CrazySkullCrusher said: Pretty sure his issue is with people coming and wasting his time and money getting the estimate, then not wanting to shell out the money for quality work. I'm sure his $1000 estimate is to make the bike road worthy. That means fluids, brake linings, fork oil, tires, carb clean and sync and replacing whatever stock parts the previous owner deemed unnecessary. As a bike mechanic I can tell you that shit adds up quick and these hipsters generally don't understand the labor that goes into bringing an old bike back to a serviceable condition. all of this. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gixxus Christ! Posted April 14, 2016 Report Share Posted April 14, 2016 Do I detect a burgeoning bromance? I'm getting a broner... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuck78 Posted May 1, 2016 Report Share Posted May 1, 2016 (edited) On 4/12/2016 at 2:25 AM, vf1000ride said: I will admit the fad thing to be annoying. I like the fact that the Cafe style bikes became popular but it is a double edge sword because there really are more posers than riders in this genre. Likewise... although I do own several flannels and generally wear black jeans that aren't baggy and oversized... and people tell me my somewhat superbike themed 77 Suzuki GS750 "looks kinda like a cafe racer," I despise the greater lowest common denominator of the cafe racer tend of the past several years. http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd299/chuck_lambert78/8642ef23-7b27-479c-942b-06679365966f.jpg[/IMG] It truly is the death if a lot of great vintage bikes, as kids get a hold of them, instantly strip off excess and many useful things as well, don't focus on proper mechanicals & electricals (cosmetics instead), and then the even more serious death blow... buy a Harbor Freight "MIG" (wire feed flux core machine) and Sawzall off the rear of the frame to learn how to not weld a "hoop" on the rear section to fit their homemade fiberglass tail hump and hard as plywood 45 minute but sore "seat." To top that off, running mediocre quality machine work cheap Chinese shocks that are filled with mineral oil and not even assembled to bleed the air out of the oil cavity... Even worse, what REALLY kills me is the complete and ignorant disregard for rake and trail and proper handling. No one ever scrutinize the front tire radius of swapped front ends, triple clamp offset, changes to the rake of the head tube... what you end up with after most modern front end swaps is a bike that has very fancy fork damping vs original but not sprung/valve for this bike's weight/geometry, much larger/better brakes, but somehow mysteriously handles like complete crap (steers like a chopper/harley/dump truck) because the minimal offset triple is a severe mismatch for the bike and generates an extreme amount if trail, ruining the handling of the bike. Not to mention the super short forks and 17" wheel swaps onto bikes built around a 19" front wheel and tall forks. How can you race around the corners to the next ace cafe if your expensive exhaust slams into the pavement around turns, over bumps, and driveway approaches??? Now and again you will find awesome examples of cafe themed builds where the builder took into consideration tried offset and rake/trail, selected a rear shock length and spec that keeps the rear at a proper angle to get proper planned rake, etc... I am all for the initiative to preserve classic styled vintage standards and upgrade them to be less ill-handling, but the current "cafe" trend seems to me to be a whole lot of what I just reiterated, more so than the past. Cheap Chinese ebay crap, mismatched upgrades, vintage bikes hacked apart, some to an early unfinished grave. Still, we can make all the generalizations and stereotype accusations we want, there are always the minority of exceptions that prove us wrong Edited May 1, 2016 by Chuck78 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuck78 Posted May 1, 2016 Report Share Posted May 1, 2016 (edited) Sorry for all the typos, I despise this site's lack of a preview function and 5 minute limit on edits, which didn't work so well with my new android's habit of autocorrect "un-fixing" many words and missing my other typos due to being on a smartphone outside with the sun glaring... Here's what I tried to post of my bike. Reddish Knob. WV/VA border. Awesome. Great ride to the top. 33 & 250 north and south of here are EPIC rides... Note: lack of fender/addition of bandana was out of necessity as the 110 front tire on a DID aftermarket rim was too wide to clear a fender! "Kinda looks like a cafe" is a comment I've gotten a few times... baaahhhh.... In my quest for all out performance combined for my love for classic styled standards / dislike for modern space age looking sport bikes, I went further than a braced GS frame could take me (best of the late 70's Japanese frames), and picked up a remnants of a firmer race bike Rickman brothers handbuilt Reynolds 531 tubing CR900 "Competition Replica" as stated in Rickman literature - not "Cafe Racer" as some say the CR stands for. This was my furthest reaching effort to get a classic twin shock bike to handle the as best as possible for the kind of riding terrain I am literally addicted to. Unfortunately for my dislike of the cafe racer trend and seat hump styling, the authentic Rickman bodywork in the rear looks fairly similar to the current cafe racer trends, but still not too far from a GS tail/trunk luckily... but I have grown to appreciate it as an original vintge race piece and disassociate it with the hacked up cosmetic cafe racer types of stylings. Unfortunately the Rickman full fairings look ugly to me, but the quarter fairings look acceptable, but may place it even further toward being misinterpreted as being just another "cafe" "build..." I like the lower speed technical stuff 15-55mph more anyhow over speeds far above the posted speed limits where a fairing is necessary. ESPECIALLY after whacking a deer at high speed 4 or so years ago. Here's two similar CR's that mine will end up looking like. If it looks too much a "cafe," well, some modern sport bike riders etc can't just watch my taillight as I pull away from them in the turns after a year or more of extreme scrutiny and custom machine work revising the geometry and suspension, addition of almost period correct looking RF900R (shorter/adjustable bandit forks) cartridge forks, vintage speed parts upgrades, good tire selection, and the only modern upgrade giveaway cues - Busa calipers and cbr900rr 310mm rotors.... I figure some may find humor/satisfaction in making generalizations/accusations of me / this if they didn't know any better... I do know better, so that's all that really matters... If you see my GS (or next season a Rickman CR) riding in Eastern or SE Ohio, don't be shy, coming along for the ride... Edited May 1, 2016 by Chuck78 Typos Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zx3vfr Posted May 1, 2016 Report Share Posted May 1, 2016 (edited) Fuck all that noise. Just pop your passenger pegs down, put your feet up there. All you need to slow down is the clutch and break. break.... c wut i did thar also fuck shifting. if you can't get rolling in 2nd gear and go directly to top gear your bike is obviously an under powered piece of shit. Edited May 1, 2016 by zx3vfr Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuck78 Posted May 1, 2016 Report Share Posted May 1, 2016 (edited) Wow quite the all-knowing cafe racer there! I actually read that website after replying to posts on here... I suppose my commentary is more so directed at the terrible butchery that people call "building a cafe" as opposed to the mockery of hipsterdom trends in beverages, hairstyles, outward appearances, etc.... My bad. Passenger pegs are for the long highway stretches, not the twisty bits... don't need the clutch much either, except for stop signs and lights... heck, I don't even use it much in the truck with a synchro gearbox! Edited May 1, 2016 by Chuck78 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zx3vfr Posted May 2, 2016 Report Share Posted May 2, 2016 awwww. did someone get butt hurt? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuck78 Posted May 2, 2016 Report Share Posted May 2, 2016 Nope. Re-read. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
okeefe01 Posted May 2, 2016 Report Share Posted May 2, 2016 I'm just glad the term "crotch rocket" is finally fading away (even if it is a slow death). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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