NC30 Cafe Racer

[RickOliver]

NC30 as 1960s styled twin shock cafe racer - early stages yet but what do you think of the concept...?




Rick

[Swingarm]

Is... is that a steering damper?

[RickOliver]

Yes, it was only there because I needed to hold the wheels in line while I lifted the bike off my workbench using a sling and hoist - don`t worry, it`s gone now...

[MadMotoUK]

NC30 as 1960s styled twin shock cafe racer - early stages yet but what do you think of the concept...?

Honestly?


Sacrilege

[RickOliver]

OK, fine...

I`ve been working with NC30s for 30+ years now and done every kind of performance and handling upgrade on my #1 bike, this one is something strictly for laughs, built out of bits that I had lying around my workshop and playing with a few different ideas.

On the face of it the chassis should be functionally worse than a stock NC30 but it has 46mm ZX-6R forks and a massive but light swingarm off an XJR1300 plus good quality adjustable shocks with the kind of `lay down` geometry that was popular on immediately pre-monoshock GP bikes.

The engine is basically an NC35 with a pair of ex-RLR race heads, it`s dressed up with NC21/24 type engine cases to look a bit more retro. I`ve bored the oilways in the cases and fitted a UK-type twin rotor oil pump. The bike will be unfaired with just a small flyscreen to protect the clocks - to keep the front profile slim it will run a single (lower) radiator plus a 15 row oil cooler which will sit in place of the top rad but be no wider than the cylinder block.

If you shelve your prejudices you might even like it when it`s finished... ;~)

[Swingarm]

I was thinking about this yesterday and returned to see you sort of took the words out of my mouth.

By now, the whole ethos of an NC30 as a road-legal-race-bike-with-lights, restoring them to mint, standard condition, or upgrading in every conceivable way, has been done many times, not least by you. So looking to do something very different, if only for fun and to be different makes sense.

Objectively, modern parts, concepts and design are better than what's come before - so it doesn't hurt and it makes sense to use modern alternatives in a project like this - although there are some that would push back against this and prefer things how they were.

Subjectively though, I think it comes down to what you appreciate in bike design and I reckon a lot of that has to do with what bikes you "grew up" with. I started getting into bikes in the late eighties/early nineties, and I appreciate the design and engineering principles that went into those bikes, partly because how they superseded the limitations of the previous era. So things like twin shocks just don't make sense or appeal to me (perhaps in the same way someone might prefer razor sharp tails, electronic aids and fuel injection today over my preference for a bit of shape, no aids and carburettors).

I don't get the whole cafe racer thing, because it's unfamiliar to me - that bob-tail seat just isn't appealing to me because it's a flow of lines that's alien to me. That said, I do enjoy the consideration, planning and craft that goes into something like this and I expect that you gave a lot of thought to each area of the bike - "how can I make this look 60s but perform 21st century, built around an NC30" - something that I appreciate and respect a lot.

I imagine that if you asked a bunch of folks a generation before me they would "get it" a lot more than I do - although there also might be a few that would consider a V-4, beam frame sacrilege to the ethos of a cafe racer. So you won't please everyone. I think you know what I'm going to say next...

Ultimately, what matters is that you like it and build it by sticking to the principles you decided on when you conceived the project. If, when it's done, you can look at it and feel satisfied you stuck to those principles, then you succeeded and can be happy with whatever you built!

[Foxy400]

If you can get past the 'OMG you've chopped an NC30' shock (and I understand why many people feel that way) then it comes down to aesthetics.
I like it. Although I'm not sure about the tail hump. Maybe it's the angle of the photo but it looks too tall to my eye.
In response to Swingarm's comments, I do get the cafe racer thing. My dad had several before he could afford to run a car. I love 'em and the whole custom bike ethos. I'm a regular at the Bike Shed show in London. Now there's an idea Rick...Tobacco Dock next May?

[RickOliver]

To give this some context, I`m just old enough to have seen the RC172 and RC181 raced in anger rather than simply paraded and those experiences plant something in the head of a bike mad 14 year old that just can`t be shifted.

This is my `best` NC30 (a 1989 RK model which I`ve owned since 1992) and I`ve had something in that colour scheme, from CB77s through 400/4s to NC30s, in my garage for most of my biking life.



The original plan for this current build was a full on RC181 tribute (obviously a V4 with a beam frame is never going to be a replica) -



- wearing full fairing with twin oil coolers in the flanks, spoked wheels with alloy rims and a four megaphone exhaust system. I`ve got most of the necessary parts and it may well end up there but for the moment this is a basic proof of concept build to see if the chassis configuration actually works.

[RickOliver]

Foxy - you`re right, the seat hump is a tad taller than the one on the 60s GP bikes - it`s actually a replica of the seat used on the CR750s that Honda built for Daytona in 1970, the closest thing that`s commercially available at a reasonable price.



It looks better in the flesh than that photo suggests - I`ll post some more pics when I have a bit more of it bolted together.

The whole chunky look is a kick back against the 21st century concept of what constitutes a Cafe Racer - to my eye this kind of thing (with due apologies to whoever built it) -



- is just a stripped out stock bike with an uncomfortable seat and inadequate mudguards...

[Foxy400]

The term 'cafe racer' is bandied about a lot nowadays and used on a whole range of bikes, many of which would never have passed for CR's back in their heyday of the '50's & 60's. So I know what you mean about that Honda, it's got elements but isn't quite there.