Devil’s Take on the Café Racer
Story by Johnny Humble, Pics from The Devil
Sportsters have always held a special place in my heart because of the spirit they were designed to invoke with their short, choppy stroke and torquey power plant. The engine and transmission attached 50 years before the Twin Cam, and a style that is just cool as hell. The Sportster was my very first bike and I even have one in the garage today. Anyone who has ridden a Sporty knows the amount of fun involved with the bike is unmistakable. While it may be a little challenging to ride a 1981 Ironhead cross-country, it is certainly a do-able task. The problem with many of the Sporties today is that they well look the same as they have for over 50 years. How many different ways can the Company spray it black? The Devil agreed, and when he took on his latest build, he wanted to build the bike that would handle the power of the engine while still giving the rider the option to split lanes, carve canyons, or rape and pillage in style and comfort! Actually, to hell with comfort, this was all about how bad assed it would look. Enter the Café Racer.
Willie G. released the Café Racer styled Sportster in 1977 and the bike became a specialty that people either loved or hated. More people liked it compared to the boat tail designed original Superglide, but it didn’t take off quite like the company expected. Many of the Europeans have taken the café racer to the next level, but here in America, the style seems to fall behind. Recently at shows I have noticed a resurgence of the old flat track-styled café racer.
Low stance combined with a forward leaning aggression, the café racer looks bad ass like a badger. No one fucks with a badger! Even bears are scared of the badger, that’s how the café racer looks when it’s parked next to a Big Twin. The bike is low and lean, ready to strike at any moment. I can personally attest to the fact that riding a bike with a forward, aggressive position can cause you to drive like a fucking asshole!
Bandit recently sent me the following excerpt from an e-mail he received from Kent Weeks, The Lucky Devil. You see, the closer we get to shows, the busier Kent gets, so face to face interaction presents too many challenges via scheduling and such, hence the e-mail diatribe:
“here is a couple shots of a little sporty cafe custom job I just wrapped up today. I modified and mounted the tank, coil/ign brackets, fabricated the tail light/ plate mount bracket, reworked the rear section of the frame, shaped an aluminum tail section and painted it black on black with black accents, ( sounds easy when you say it like that hehehe! ) anyway I thought you might get a kick out of it.”
Fuck yeah we got a kick out of it…the bike is sick as hell. I love the way it looks fast and useable at the same time. Can you see yourself splitting lanes on the mean bastard? Give Kent a call at Lucky Devil’s Custom Cycles; he’d gladly help you out. Hell, you might even get to keep your soul.
