Posts tagged 'caferacer'

1979 Yamaha XS400 (DCC Customer Build)
July 23, 2021

Bill Watson's 1979 Yamaha XS400

In 1977, Yamaha introduced the 391cc air-cooled, SOHC parallel twin known as the XS400. Sandwiched in between its predecessors, the XS360 and XS650, the XS400 models shared many of the same characteristics as their XS brethren. It experienced some aesthetic and mechanical changes through its lifespan and eventually phased out for the Seca 400.

Dime City Cycles customer Bill Watson (Toronto, Canada) certainly put his own spin on this classic '79 Yam, and, man, is it nice!

Marc Lemay's 1971 Honda CB350
April 15, 2021

Marc Lemay's 1971 Honda CB350

I have always been fascinated by motorcycles my whole life but didn’t dive headfirst into them until I got my license in 2005. That was when I first heard the term “Café Racer”. When I read about the history of café racers, and what they were all about, I fell in love with them. I just felt like, “This is me; this is who I am.” From that moment, I knew I was going to have to build one someday soon. I could already picture it in my head, down to every detail.

Years went by, and although I had a small fleet of motorcycles now to fuel my passion, I still didn’t have my café racer. The dream was still there, but it just never felt like it was the right time to start such a project. Eventually, I met my now wife, Kimberly. After a year or so, her father, Keith, sat down and told me all about his old ’71 Honda CB350 out in the shed. Being an avid Honda motorcycle enthusiast, I was more than excited to hear about it. He told me several great stories, and fond memories he had of the bike. He then proceeded to say, I would be doing him a favor if I took it off his hands. It had been in the shed for 26 years, and it was serving as his parking stop for his lawn tractor. When he pulled the tractor in and bumped into the bike, he knew he was in far enough for the doors of the shed to close behind it.
Bernie Veon's 1980 Honda CX500
January 15, 2021

Bernie Veon's 1980 Honda CX500

For a year, we searched for the perfect donor machine. When we came across this 1980 Honda CX500 in a barn in Northeast Ohio, I fell in love. Sure, with all the yellow gaudy trim, it lived up to its “plastic maggot” namesake. But everything was there to transform it into a lean, mean brat. We trailered the bike home to Florida and I sold the Bonneville the following week—a-la Cortes burning the ships after landing in Veracruz. I was all in.