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.
