Talking of Cafes

Given that the last couple of posts have been of a cafe-related nature - one a video about a cafe racer, and t'other regarding the Ace Cafe's Ally Pally Show - here's a few more cafe racers pics, taken from the Moto Fiaccone website.
This bike began life as a humble Honda CB360...

But the guys at Moto Fiaccone have transformed it into something rather more exciting, and far, far cooler, especially when adorned with a couple of Latin lovelies...

Ally Pally

Alexandra Palace, in North London, has long been known for having a motorcycle show in February. While it was once the Road Racing & Superbike Show, it went through various mainstream and middle-of-the-road incarnations before turning into its new-for-2010 incarnation of 'Ace Cafe London Motorcycle and Custom Show' (and breathe).
As the name inmplies, there's a large component of the show that focuses on modified motorcycles, in fact it's a round of the AMD World Championship of Custom Bike Building (again,breathe). Consequently, there's going to be lots of bespoke bikes, mainly of the chopper / bobber / lowrider / trike ilk, but as we're in the UK, there'll also be a significant number of perforance-orientated specials. Yes, streetfighters.
The show is open on the 26th, 27th and 28th, opening at 10am on each day, and more details can be found here

Colonial Cool

Cafe racers seem to be making something of a resurgence at the moment, certainly in the colonies. We think that that's rather a shame, given the heritage of this style of bike, and somewhat surprising that there's no-one making a modern equavalent, with late model suspension, brake etc...
Either way, the bike in this video is cool, the builders have a very cool approach to how they source parts for their builds, and those of you of a certain age will really appreciate the sound that this cafe racer makes...

SF194

The finishing touches are just being made to the next issue of Streetfighters. More info soon!

COR - Classic Off Roaders!

While vintage mud-pluggers aren't really our scene, we spotted a few idea-inspiring bikes at last weekends Classic Off-Road Show in Telford...
Just think what these would be like with some modern suspension and 17" supermoto wheels!




And there was a nice piece of old school heavy metal...


And a gorgeous RG500 special...

This could be fun...

And 'Rouge et Noir', the ex-Keith Parnell supercharged Triumph sprint bike.

CNC Magic

Watching a CNC miller is hypnotic, whatever the end product, but this is something rather spectacular...

Saturday Night's Alright For Racing

Santa Pod Raceway, the home of European drag racing has announced its first ‘Saturday Night Special’ (SNS) date for 2010. The 20th of February… and every kind of car and motorbike is invited!
As if drag racing your very own pride and joy wasn’t fun enough, Santa Pod’s SNS events let you race throughout the day, with the track firing up at 9am, and then on into the night, under the high output track lights in the most evocative atmosphere in motorsport. Think night racing is the exclusive reserve of professional Top-Fuellers, Le Mans stars and F1 legends? Think again!
For the usual fee of £10 admission plus your choice of sign-on fee, you’ll get the usual mix of ‘Run What You Brung’ goodness, with the freedom to exploit the ‘Pod’s ultra-grippy quarter-mile and FIA approved timing gear all day long.
As the light dims, the action ramps up a gear, with Fireforce, the Pod’s own Jet Funny Car, laying down some 270mph display runs and hard-charging racing continuing into the night. Then of course, it’s time to hit the on-site bar, enjoy an evening of free musical entertainment and sink a few beers. With free weekend camping for anyone purchasing a weekend admission ticket (£20 on the gate or just £15 in advance) you can really relax and enjoy yourself – and blow the froth off a couple in the process.

The gates open on Saturday at 8am. Signing on costs £30 per driver for unlimited runs from 9am to 9pm, £25 per driver for unlimited runs from 9am to 4pm, and £10 per driver for unlimited runs from 4pm to 9pm (weather and track conditions permitting). You’ll get full computerised timing slips on each run, measuring your reactions, terminal speed and total quarter mile time. Driving Licences required to run on the strip,

Weather Bad?

Don't like riding in the rain?
Seems that these guys have worked out a solution...

The Best Engine For Your New Project?

How about this nugget of useful information, snatched out of the electronic ether as it whizzed past on its way to unsuspecting punters' spam boxes, and blatantly pasted here...

See? Beebies!

While stunting is seeing something of a resurgence of late, it looks likely that there'll be more up-and-coming young stunters in the not-too-distand future, thanks to a rather nice news piece on CBBC's Newsround programme.
Here
Starring the 2009 Straightliners Stunt Champion Paul 'Hanksy' Hanks, alongside the Vertical Trix lads, it's a very positive piece of promo for British stunting!

Worrisit?

Spotted at the Streetfighters Sunday at the back end of last year's riding season, this Gixer-engined beastie is rather unusual, and rather clever too...

As Promised...

The Diverse Protagonist in all its rude turbo/supercharged glory.

Old Skool Suzuki

Those of you who pay regular visits to the Old Skool Suzuki forum (at oldskoolsuzuki.info) will know that the site appears to have died - well, that's not quite true, although it could be said to be in a digital coma while the server is resucitated... In the meantime, there's updates on the OSS Facebook page.

UPDATE - as of 10th February OSS is back up and running, after swift server CPR...

Bone Dome

We're all very much aware of how much hassle you can be prone to by wearing a dark visor, and many of us know how wearing a Simpson lid can lead to a tug. But the chappy wearing this rather radical helmet has no qualms, as the fact that he was riding a quad puts him in something of a grey area regarding helmets anyway, thus any prospective pullers tempted to pull him over and get stuck into the paperwork may be disuaded due to their lack of knowledge...
Either way, cool helmet...

Busa Fighter

Perhaps the most radical Hayabusa streetfighter we've seen that hasn't got an extended swinging arm...
With both turbo and nitrous, the owner won't be needing to change the front tyre very often...

Donington's Dying Breath?

Those of you who follow roundy-roundy racing will be aware of the shenanigans surounding Britain's oldest surviving race circuit. Well, I say 'surviving' but that's perhaps not entirely true given the current condition of the circuit at Donington Park...
We'll not go into the financial fuck-ups or logistical chaos that has pervaded the Midlands circuit right now, but we will mention that there's due to be a 'Save Donington' day on Sunday March 7th that is due to raise not only much-needed revenue, but also public awareness of the historic race circuit.
Aside from classic and prestige vehicle displays, there'll be a number of trade stands as well as an autojumble, so maybe a chance to grab yourself a bargain as well as help towards saving Donington.
More details here

SF 193 Fighting Talk

"With the forthcoming election slowly but surely becoming the top news item in tabloids, broadsheets and on t’ telly, as responsible adults we should be studying the reports, watching the party political broadcasts, and reading all the pre-election waffle on the throwaway flyers that are punted out by the various parties.
But of course, despite us all being very responsible adults, we ignore the propaganda and hype, and just scrawl our mark in the box for whoever we usually vote for, if, indeed, we go as far as actually voting...
Besides, there are only two parties that are truly in the running, and as time goes by, they’re becoming one and the same with regards to policies, leading to a situation that makes many people despondent – “What’s the point in voting?” and “Why complain? They’re not listening.” are just two phrases that crop up when politics are the conversation. And while sitting around and moaning is certainly the easy option, and one that we English are particularly good at, it’s not very proactive is it?..."

See the full transcript in the new issue of Streetfighters, out now. And then come back here and make a comment...

Running Proof...

... that the awesome Diverse supercharged and turbocharged VTR runs! For those non-believers out there...

New Vid

If you breeze over to the SF TV section of our website (here), then you'll spot the first of three new sneaky peak videos from a recent studio shoot at which the spread bike for the next issue was photographed...

Straightliners AGM & Presentation

Last Saturday night, the 30th January, saw the annual meeting to discuss rules, regulations and so on, followed by the traditional piss-up and piss-taking if the presentation which, this year was hosted by Fatman and Nobbin The Boy Blunder...
Aside from the unfortunate news about this year's Jurby round in the Isle of Man, which has had to be canned due to the proposed support from the Manx Government being dropped, the AGM was a smooth-running affair with little to report, with the exception of planned time slots for the different classes at the final round at Santa Pod in October - the Extreme Performance Bike Weekend.
More details on classes, dates and such like at 200mph