motorcyclistonline.com December 2011

2012 Honda CRB600RR 2012 YAMAHA YZR6-R 2012 HARLEY DAVIDSON XL883C

Motorcyclistonline.com September 2012

2003 Harley Davidson Sportster XL883“C”ustom Build

A True American Bike

A SOURCE INTERLINK MEDIA PUBLICATION

ISSUE 187

WHAT’SNEW

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December 2011

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THE FUTURE’S LOOKING BRIGHT INDEED —AT LEAST IF YOU’RE BEHIND THE BARS OF THE NEW 2012 CBR1000RR.

September 2012

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OIL CHANGE MADE EASYStep by step guide to a mess free oil change.

TECH

THE RETURN OF THE CAFE RACE

2003 Harley Davidson Sportster XL883C

COVER STORY

2012 HONDA CBR600RR •2012 YAMAHA YZR-6R •

2012 HARLEY DAVIDSON • SPORTSTER XL883C

WHAT’S NEW

BEST GEARS FOR A WEEKEND TRACK DAYTop 10 track ready gears.

GEAR

WELCOME TO ATLANTAWe’ll give you a tour around Atlanta

and share some local faces.

LOCAL MEETS

FULL CARBURETOR SERVICE AND MAINTENANCE We’ll guide you through a weekend project with helpful videos.

A WEEKEND AT ROAD ATLANTALots of onboard video and guides to a safe track weekend at Road Atlanta.

ITALY VS. JAPANWe’ve put the exotics against the comment. Watch footage of the Ferrari against the modern day Japanese super bikes.

ONLINE CONTENT

September 2012

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December 2011

THE RETURN OF THE CAFE RACER!The phone call came out of the blue, just as I was finishing the photo shoot of the Café Racer. Hogbitz boss-man Brian Udall was on the other end of the line, asking me to return the bike.

I was in London for the Ace Café’s

annual reunion, but there was an emergency at his workshop in Essex, northeast of London, and he needed me to head there as soon as possible. It sounded like the perfect excuse for a last, fast ride on the Hogbitz Café Racer. Any slight disappointment at

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having to cut the photo session a little short was more than offset by the thrill of an important mission, even though I knew the urgency of my task would cut little ice with the local police, let alone the speed cameras on the A40 highway in Florida.

Minutes later I was back in the saddle, stretched across a long, aluminum gas tank to a pair of clip-on handlebars as a grunty 2-cylinder engine rumbled away between my shins. There was a distinct air of a period Triton from the gleam of that polished aluminum and the racy riding position, reinforced by the

way the bike punched enthusiastically forward as I wound back its throttle. But this bike is no survivor of those Sixties days at the Ace, as I was reminded by the unmistakable feel and sound of its big-bore V-twin engine with its large air filter jutting out in most un-British fashion near my right knee. Despite its classic looks, this bike is the first of a new series of Café Racers built by Hogbitz around Harley-Davidson’s Sportster. I’m sure some purists are sputtering angrily at

“I’m sure some purists are sputtering angrily at this improbable blend of lazy American cruiser and the legendary British hybrid, the Triton, that was built to deliver the best of engine performance and handling.”

COVER STORYTHE RETURN OF THE CAFE RACER

PHOTOGRAPHS BYSHU CHEN

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December 2011

Custom Le Pera leather seats were specially made for the Cafe Racer built. These seats took over two month to fabricate because the rare Emu leather.

The exhaust system was completely redesigned to fit the Cafe style while obtaining more horsepower. The two individuel exhaust pipes were swapped out for the SuperTrapp 2 into 1 system. The SupperTrapp exhaust was designed for the best air flow resulting in more horsepowers.

this improbable blend of lazy American cruiser and the legendary British hybrid, the Triton, that was built to deliver the best of engine performance and handling. But even when the Hogbitz machine was surrounded by real Tritons and other café racers of similar vintage at the Ace, its hunk of air cooled, pushrod-operated V-twin engine looked somehow at home below that long aluminum tank.Besides, nobody can argue that Udall isn’t entitled to build a special with that period look, because he’s been doing so for four decades. Udall was a Triton-riding Ace regular all those years ago, and even built the hybrids while working for North London shop. More recently, he’s gotten into Harleys, after starting out drag-racing one. And now he’s combined his old and new hobbies to create the Café Racer.“Tritons were my passion in the Sixties, so when I started business working on Harleys it was natural to build a bike like this,” Udall says. “I came from a biker family — both my parents and my brother were into bikes — and had some great times with my Triton, at the Ace and other places like the Calypso and Ted’s Café [both in Essex]. I love the old café racer look and I love Harleys, so it’s the perfect combination as far as I’m concerned.”

Udall is happy to admit that his Café

Racer is more an exercise in style than a Triton-type attempt to match ultimate power with handling. It’s similar in that respect to the XLCR café racer that Harley-Davidson produced in 1977-1978; even more so when it’s finished in the black paint that is an alternative to this bike’s polished alloy. Despite its American origins, the Café Racer’s shiny period looks made it seem at home among the mostly elderly Britbikes that gathered for the Ace reunion run. A few diehards might have been unimpressed at the sight of this interloper from across the Atlantic, but nobody seemed to object, and several smiled or nodded their appreciation to the Sportster. Any recent Sportster engine can power the Café Racer. Alternatively, you can mix and match engine parts, as with this bike, whose engine was put together by Hogbitz ace bike-builder Mark Hudson using the bottom-end from a standard Sportster 883 and the top end from a Buell Lightning. Mild tuning work includes ported heads, a carburetor kit from Canadian Harley-Davidson specialists Headquarters, and a Supertrapp siamesed exhaust system with a muffler that can be fine-tuned for noise level by adding or removing baffles.

Works suspension has customly builted a pair of shocks to suite this sportster. These shockd were made to witstand any road condition from track to mountain roads.

For the Cafe Racer feel, the stock air intake system was swapped out for the NRHS system. This system was able to add 10 extra horses with a re-jetting.

“Tritons were my passion in the Sixties, so when I started business working on Harleys it was natural to build a bike like this.”

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The low-end torque on this machine is amazing. From 1000rpm to 5000rmp you will be burning rubber on a full throttle.

The power band on the mid-range is where you’ll fine the perfect transition from the low-end torque to the horsepower. This is where the fun begins.

After the mid-range, the power on the bike fades away. The V-twin engine is design to for city riding. The sportster cruises nicely within these RPMs.

The fabric exhaust wrap around the down pipes is “mainly for show,” Udall admits, although it does help performance by keeping heat in the cylinder heads. This bike’s pipe is set at a relatively restrained output but the big V-twin still comes alive with a suitably menacing bark when I hit the button. (There is no kickstarter.) Although the Hogbitz-made clip-ons aren’t set radically low, the riding position is a typical café racer crouch. The seating position is good, the humped seat giving plenty of room in conjunction with rearset foot pegs from German specialist LSL.

Setting off, I was initially surprised to find the Hogbitz feeling much more like a normal Sportster than I expected, and not just because it has standard Harley instruments and handlebar controls. Despite its traditional street-racer look, the Café Racer lopes along with the trademark low-revving, slightly agricultural feel of a big air-cooled V-twin, complete with its distinctive exhaust note.

The Café Racer pulls effortlessly from less than 2,500rpm, carbureting crisply thanks to the tweaked Keihin carb with its free flowing Force air filter. Its straight-line performance

is good enough to make for an entertaining ride when the road opens out, though the Café Racer works best if it isn’t revved too hard.Sitting at between 60 and 70mph is fine, with the riding position giving a comfortable lean forward against the wind. The bike feels reasonably smooth as well as ready to respond with a burst of acceleration when required. It punches pretty hard through the midrange, heading toward the “ton” mark and a likely top speed of about 130mph. Not that there was much chance to see that kind of speed, even when I was hurrying back along the A40 in response to that urgent phone

COVER STORYTHE RETURN OF THE CAFE RACER