How to Build a Cafe Racer

Honda CX500 Cafe Racer

Charles Tregolan is a professional car designer by trade. In his spare time he designs and builds his own bikes. He's written a set of guidelines for cafe racer builders at the Bike EXEF blog.

The guidelines tell the builder how to scale and set the parameters of a cafe racer to give it a professional look; how to size and place the tank relative to the engine and crankcase, how to set the fork distance, where to set the limits of the seat length relative to the rear axle, and so on.

He uses the Honda CX500 cafe racer you see here as a real-world, guiding example. If you have an interest in building, or plan to build a cafe racer, check out his article.