GS1000G shaftie cafe racer????

[TheCafeKid]

The whole cafe movement was about taking what was available and making it handle better and go faster. It had nothing to do with body work, clip ons, bumpstops or any of that stuff. It just so happened that, in the process of LIGHTENING the bike, those things became usefull. Ive seen some Kaw shafties done cafe, and they didnt look bad. But MOST cafes ive seen with a shaft drive look silly. They dont look light. They look bulky and heavy. Im not trying to turn this into a shaft v chain debate, simply expressing my opinion. Simply that Shaft does not scream "Performance" to me.

[MellowMoodz]

But MOST cafes ive seen with a shaft drive look silly. They dont look light. They look bulky and heavy. Im not trying to turn this into a shaft v chain debate, simply expressing my opinion. Simply that Shaft does not scream "Performance" to me.

rrrrreeeeeaaaaallllllyyyyyyyy???!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

This one is the inspiration for me to go cafe.....

[TheCafeKid]

And? It looks half decent, but its still a heavy bike.

[emjay]

From what I can tell thus far is that the frames are the same from L to E to T. G Is shaft so GL Is a shaft L. They could be the same frame as well.

I thought the frames would be different but I may be wrong. Different part numbers, bu they sure look identical.

1980 1000G frame



1980 1000GL frame:

[Buffalo Bill]

So, Give Me a Heavey Bike!

Hey Mellowmoodz,
Now that's what I'm talkin' 'bout!

[drhach]

Obviously the looks of a shaft drive are open for debate. I have ot say though, that if you ant to redo this bike, you will be limited by two things.

1. Your imagination.
2. The extent to which you believe people when they tell you it won't work/look good, etc.

Being that I am also a dyed in the wool BMW rider, I have a soft spot for shafties and I can say that they don't have to be heavy, even if they look a little clunky.

Here are some examples.

First up, we have the Honda. Nort for everyone but a supreme effort for what is widely considered to be a very ugly bike.



Next We have the Germans:

Oh Behave!!!


Work it Baby!!!



You're a naughty naughty Girl!!

[emjay]

So, for some trivia, does anyone remember why they refer to the style as cafe racer? And by the way, it was originally pronounced kaff, not kafay.

[drhach]

Don't forget the Italians:

Meowww!!



That's just dirty!!



Someone get me a towel!!


I put a bunch of pictures in my Photobucket account. All shaft-drive, mostly leading link forks. If your looking for ideas have a look.

http://s156.photobucket.com/albums/t31/drhach/Shaft_Cafe/

[drhach]

So, for some trivia, does anyone remember why they refer to the style as cafe racer? And by the way, it was originally pronounced kaff, not kafay.

They used to race to the coffee shops in the country I believe.

[MellowMoodz]

Hey Mellowmoodz,
Now that's what I'm talkin' 'bout!

Right....love this bike.....the owner is a member here "DarkBane" and is local to me here in the chicagoland area....really cool guy, answers all my annoying questions. He is "I believe" a founding member of the Half Fast Chicago motorcycle/car club. http://www.halffastchicago.com

[emjay]

They used to race to the coffee shops in the country I believe.

Close. When they built the highway around London they added cafes (pronounced kaff by the brits) at regular intervals, kind of like our rest stops. They'd race from one to another.

From Wikipedia:

"A classic example of this was to race from the Ace Cafe on The North Circular road in NW London to the Hanger Lane junction ... and back again. The aim was to get back to the Ace Cafe before the record you'd put onto the jukebox had finished."

I lived over there awhile back and had friends still into that scene. Called themselves Rockers. At first they just used whatever bike they had, but to get better performance and handling they began to modify the bikes.

A common goal was to try to break 100 mph, or "do the ton" as they called it, in the race. This was quite a feat considering the short races with traffic and often including a U-turn.

[hampshirehog]

So, for some trivia, does anyone remember why they refer to the style as cafe racer? And by the way, it was originally pronounced kaff, not kafay.

The name comes from the 1960s set where lads would meet up at their local cafe and then go out and race each other down the street. The style stems really from the old British 500 - 750 twins (a few others in there as well but the Brit twins were most popular).

Bolt on tuning parts weren't even thought of then so all the lads had to tune their own bikes and the easiest / cheapest way to make the things faster was to lose weight and get a more streamlined riding position through ace bars or clip-ons.

[salty_monk]

Personally I would work with what you have or if you really want non leading forks get a different bike to work from or get a set of forks & try it! No harm in trying, you can always put it back!
I still think the frame is slightly different from the G (such as the headstock angle) but I may be wrong.

Dan

[TheCafeKid]

Your answer to your question is partially correct. Yes thats what they were used for, and thats where they originated from, but the term "cafe" was actually a bit of a slap to the style. The term was coined because they were only considered good for one thing "riding from cafe (truckstop) to cafe (truckstop) and not much else" Most of the "true" motorcycling communtiy considered them dangerous and worthless machines.

[greg78gs750]

you might take a look at groundshock's old ride....the one he just sold. not a cafe, but a beautiful example of what you can do with an "l', imo. i LOVE the look of that bike.

btw, all those shaft cafe's are hot. slurp.