Cafe Racer of the week: Shotaro Kaneda and his hot (as in stolen) Cafe Bike.

Image of the "real" bike from the BlueBladeAKIRA site.

Damn punk: Shotaro Kaneda

From wikipedia:

Known by his family name, 16-year-old Kaneda plays one of main roles in the film and manga Akira. Definitely the best known character, he is famous for his custom bike and is envied for it; mainly by childhood friend, Tetsuo Shima. A streetwise punk Kaneda leads a gang of bikers (the Capsules) on the streets of Neo-Tokyo.

Kaneda is brave, independent, and defiant of the law and adult authority. He is rebellious, disobedient, uncooperative and tries to show off in everything he does. He is known to act before thinking things out fully and he pays for this several times. The organizer and leader of his gang he attends reform school in Neo-Tokyo and is perceived by his fellow students as more than a little egotistical. It is often suggested that he is somewhat of a skirtchaser and, even though he is brave to an extent, he does panic in a comical fashion, especially when Kei's comrades question him. Kaneda was Tetsuo Shima's only friend in the orphanage where both he and Tetsuo grew up and the two stuck together, but Kaneda was always the braver of the two and even though they're now teengaers, the same personality differences remain. Out of everyone in the gang, Kaneda is the only one who has an obvious friendship to Tetsuo, whilst the others seem to ignore Tetsuo. His friends look up to him, and Kaneda's 'tough guy' personality only makes him more of a natural born leader, even if he isn't the smartest of guys. Kaneda (as everyone in the Capsules), seems to be younger in the manga, in contrast to Kei, who seems older.

Kaneda's bike:

One of the most memorable and iconic features of Akira is Kaneda's futuristic motorcycle, a high performance red racing bike of unspecified make and model (though a badge closely resembling the BMW logo is visible on its left hand side in the movie, but the old Honda motorcycle logo is also clearly seen in the manga). The bike also bears the logos of Canon Inc., Shoei, Arai (seen only in the movie), the Citizen Watch Co., the ELF Corporation (seen only in the manga), and the roundel for the U.S. Air Force. It is implied by Kaneda himself at the beginning of the movie that the bike was stolen. Numerous models of the vehicle are available for purchase from toy and hobby suppliers. Some mechanically-inclined fans have even attempted to fabricate actual working models of this popular fantasy motorcycle. Kaneda's bike has a reverse function, as well as a "Ceramic double-rotor two-wheel disk drive", whatever that may mean. (It could suggest a ceramic two-rotor Wankel engine which drives both wheels of the bike. The 'disk' word could mean that both wheels have disc brakes under the red wheel covers.)

Specs:
Overall Length : 2.947mm
Overall Height : 1,171mm (incl.shield)
Overall Width : 831mm
Seat Height ; 340mm
Wheelbase : 2,194mm
Ground Clearance : 76mm
Dry Weight : 154kg
Number of Riders : 1
Braking Distance : 9.9m (Initial Speed : 50 km/h)
Minimum Turning Distance : 3.4m
Tire Size : 18 inches (front), 19 inches (rear)
Power Generator : Cold Superconducting Generator
Maximum Power : 83 kw/12,500 rpm
Maximum Voltage : 12,000 V
Steering System : Power Support System
Front Axie Caster Angle : 39°12', Rear Axie Caster Angle : 3°00'
Frame : Ceramic Box Frame, Cowl : FRP and Carbon
Energy Consumption at Rest : 2.3w
Maximum Speed : 243 km/h
Drag Coefficient : CD=0.24
Equipped with:

Computer Controlled Anti-Lock Brakes
Auto-Navigation System
Forward-Looking Radar
CD Player
Glove Compartment.
Headlamp : 100w Neo Halogen Laser Light (can switch to fog lamp)
Statistics

Speed : 0 to 400m : 9.8 sec, 0 to 100 km/h : 8.7 sec
Battery Charger Time : 1MW every 40 sec (can run for two hours at full throttle on fully charged battery

Kanedas group often fights with a rival bike gang called the "The Clowns"..here's a few of thier (clownish) bikes.

Just a bunch of silly geeky cartoon nonsense?..just ask Dan Gurney about his "Alligator".

..and its not just Gurney who thought of the idea, there is always Malcolm Newell's Quasar.

If the idea of "Feet-First Motorcycles" grabs you, go check out the FF Web.

Cafe Racer of the week: Goffys '59 BSA A10.

This brilliant story (edited for space) is from Goffys Classic and modern bike parts website.

"I bought this A10 from a chap called Paul Philips in Chalfont St. Giles in 1977. She was dismantled then but in fairly large bits, so I reassembled her with a respray in something like Golden Flash beige. All the tin ware was there so it went back more or less original. The speedo was missing as was the carb., so I fitted a concentric that I had laying around and as it ran so well it was eventually replaced with another, although larger 30 mm version.

Common knowledge has it that cheap cars killed off outfits in the early 1960s but by the mid 70s cars were still too expensive for many impoverished youngsters so cheap old British bikes were the way to go with a second pulling a chair to carry the washing, shopping and broken-down or non-running bikes. I had a Dommie Café racer with a single seat so something to carry the girlfriend as well was needed. One of my friends had an Ariel outfit, another an A10 and another made a living as a window cleaner around Marlow with a double adult sidecar on an M21."

"After the first winter I had to have a rebore done, as she was becoming very oily and smoky. I was disappointed to have to have it taken out to +30 as it wouldn’t clear on any less. I had no idea of the mileage, as there was still no working speedo, but one winter didn’t seem enough to wear out a top end. A clue was a persistent freezing carburettor whenever it was cold and wet; eventually I discovered that the rear wheel was throwing water and muck through a hole in the mudguard, past where the battery would have originally been (now in the sidecar) and straight into the bellmouth on the carb.! A filter was fitted and I have so equipped every other bike I’ve owned. Fork bushes and wheel bearings were frequently needed so I had a spare set of forks and a rear wheel that I would rebuild ready for when they would be needed. Every fortnight or so I would have to reset all the sidecar mounts and chains and sprockets didn’t last too long either. If I had ridden around gently all this heavy maintenance wouldn’t have been necessary, but I was often having to keep up with solos so she given a bit of stick.

The Dustbin fairing I picked up at Kempton Park autojumble for £20 and, although it had no fittings, was in good condition apart from a hole in the front about big boot size. I’ve mounted it using bonded rubber mountings, which isolates it from the engine vibration so it isn’t at all noisy. The down side is that the mounts allow flexing that has caused the gel coat to crack. Really gusty side winds can be interesting but generally it is a great improvement on when the bike was unfaired. Prejudice against fairings I can’t understand. Fit a well-designed fairing and the bike will be faster, use less petrol, and you will stay warmer and dryer. Also every post 1950s racing bike I’ve seen has a fairing so they cannot be accused of having no macho appeal. It makes the bike much bigger so takes up more space in the garage and the lock has had to be reduced so manouevering is more difficult. But the advantages outweigh the disadvantages, particularly staying dry.

Josephine was featured on the cover of the March 2000 edition of Classic Bike Guide and given a glowing write up by staff writer Steve Wilson - I think he was particularly impressed/amused by the shark's tooth design copied from a photo of an American WW11 Curtiss P40 fighter plane. Pictures of it have been seen in Back Street Heroes and other sundry rally features but this was the only time it's had a full article written about it. Fame and Fortune beckons!

Josephine is the most reliable bike any one could ask for. She starts first or second kick, doesn’t use much oil, does 60 mpg, handles well, stops OK (Triumph 2LS front brake) comfortable on a long run and keeps me warm and dry. What more could one ask for?

Age is beginning to take its toll on Josephene as much as me, and apart from special events stays in the garage. I've got a new cluster for the gearbox, which is all it really needs. I think I'll go back to a 28MM carb as although she's got plenty of power at higher revs she's a bit flat lower down. This combined with lowering the gearing will make it more suitable for squrting around the lanes near where I live."

Cafe Racer of the week: Fiona Volpe and her BSA Lightning.

Fiona Volpe is a professional and deadly assassin in SPECTRE's execution branch. But in reality her 650 BSA Lightning was heavily modified for its appearance in the 1965 James Bond movie Thunderball.

Playing Fiona, actress Lucianna Paluzzi was seen on-screen driving the BSA in the movie, But a lot of special work took place on the bike before it took its brief moment on center-stage.

To begin with special-effects supervisor Bert Luxford took the bike to his workshop at Pinewood Studios. It was there that he and his team fitted a curvy Avon Avonaire fairing to be placed around the front of the bike. This was developed to both enhance the vehicles visual appeal, and also to disguise one of its more sinister features…

In the film a missile launcher is shown as an added feature to the 650cc motorcycle. Just like on-screen a real working missile-launch system was fitted. However, the explosion which destroyed the car of villian Count Lippe, was actually detonated remotely in a separate scene by stuntman Bob Simmons.

Sadly the in the movie Fiona rolls the bike into the sea after her gruesome task is complete and it was never to be seen again...."

Cafe racer of the week-and a little Lost in translation: Momo Guerrouaz's "Coffee Racer".

I was going to clean up this translated page, but I rather like the unedited form-its almost a little poetic, even romantic....so read on.

This sublimissime XRS (R for racing) is the work of Momo Guerrouaz, true Géo Trouvetou of mechanics and especially artist at his hours! And it took hours of them to arrive at such a result: not less than six months full-time were necessary to carry out this small jewel straight left the seventies. From 650 Cm3 in the beginning, the cubic capacity of the twin passes to 710 Cm3. Inter alia, this mechanics receives a kit of forged pistons high compression, a ACT raçing, two superb carburettors Dell' Orto of 40 mm, an oil radiator and a clutch reinforced to make pass the cavalry which posts from now on 72 nags. The exhausts stainless were made to measure just like the remarkable moved back orders. The framework remains of origin, but was reinforced on the level of the anchoring of the oscillating arm. Nickelled, this one comes from Yamaha 750 TX. The shock absorbers are of Hagon tracks and the fork before origin was modified by the adoption of new holds of 45 mm and new plungers. One will note the presence of superb radiated wheels, well in the spirit Café Racer. Side speed reducer, one finds with before two discs of Yamaha TDM provided with grips of Diversion. With the back, an enormous job was made to adapt a disc on the wheel of origin, of the great art! The unit saddle tank and bubble is a copy of Rickman in poly realized of all parts and avoided of a red painting candy, choice of the landlord. And the last not, this pistarde is not a motor bike of living room, since Christian his landlord often takes it along to use his gommards on the track. Better still, this machine is approved for a road use! A headlight, a plate of immat' and the turn are played! Momo (of MBS Momo) is thus funny of character: pilot and preparer of dragster signal fuel, our friend opened his workshop in Toulouse six years ago. True touch-with-all, Momo cut a solid reputation in the medium and works already on other projects. Special painting, transformation, welding or parts and even creation of motor bikes to the chart, attention, this guy can do everything!

Cafe Racer of the week: Seldon Deemer's Modial 5occ Cafe Racer

From Seldon Deemers Cyclography Website,

"1964. Mondial 50cc cafe racer, purchased in Genoa, Italy, where the spirited driving style provided my baptism in road riding. Big tank, small seat, low clipons, and a small handlebar fairing made the Mondial a young person's mount -- I'm sure my body couldn't long survive the uncompromising riding position at age 50. I crashed multiple times, mostly due to 2-stroke engine seizures, while covering nearly 1500 kilometers in August 1964, driving from Santa Margherita on the west coast, to Parma and Bologna, then down the Po River valley, and along the east coast to Ancona and Teramo, then back across the spine of the peninsula to Rome, Pisa, and finally Florence. Drafting behind buses and trucks helped me reach top speeds in excess of 40 mph... The Mondial wintered in Florence in 1965, while I attended college in Istanbul. The rider in the photo is Dennis Fonger, brother of Robert College's librarian, who bought it from the Mondial me in the spring of 1965, as I prepared to pick up my next motorcycle."