Honda's future cafe racers ?

Honda is ready for the 40th Tokyo Motor Show, which will be held from the 27th of October till the 11th of November 2007. And right now, they're giving you a sneak preview of what you can perhaps expect from Honda in 2008! The prototypes you see above CB1100F and the CB1100R - stand a good chance of going into production next year.

The two bikes are powered by 1100cc inline-fours and while the CB1100F (above) seems to be a modern interpretation of a traditional 1980s UJM("universal japanese motorcycle"), the CB1100R (below) which looks totally brilliant- It has that 1980s, Freddie Spencer era Japanese cafe racer cool and we so love this bike. Awesome!

More details will follow as they become available. In the meanwhile, you can visit the Honda website here.

From Faster and Faster:

Vintage 1999: The Laverda Black Strike 668 Cafe Racer.

From the Laverda factory web site: March 1999.

"As any true Cafè Racer, the Laverda Black Strike 668 has a 650/668 has a non-conventional look. It is all black and the only other colours are the white background of the instruments and the silver grey. An elegant and sporty combination that highlights the uniqueness of the Laverda Black Strike 668 Cafè Racer. They were manufactured in an exclusive series of 50 numbered-distinguished by a special plate and certificate of originality, and was very well received and sold extremely quickly.

"The air and oil cooled Laverda 668 engine delivers 70 HP and has been submitted to a large variety of upgrading and improvements. It has a new engine head, the cylinder liners have a new grinding, the pistons and the piston rings are new as well, the oil circulation circuit has been redesigned to improve cooling and lubrication at the same time, the oil pump has a larger flow and the crankcases are the same of the 750 c.c. versions."

Lets go shopping: The Tank shop.

John Williams of the Tank Shop makes these superb
polished aluminium petrol tanks to spec order only
All tanks come with a baffle to stop the fuel moving
and filler cap i.e. Aero, Monza, Italian or alloy screw cap.

Rickman Z900 tank £350

T140 Triumph tank £350 Manx alloy seat £150

Flat Tracker Tank £450 Mudguard - (long pictured)

Unique seat with twin custom lights tunnelled into the back.
Cost depends on shape of lights and time involved.

A very special Vincent: the Vincati.

From Cycle World october 2006 by David Edwards

"What makes a custom a custom and a special a special? Hard to say for sure, but generally the latter involves an engine swap. We all know about “Tritons,” with their built Triumph Twins in the famously good-handling Norton Featherbed frame. And, of course, that rarer, costlier derivative, the “Norvin,” featuring a hulking Vincent V-Twin somehow shoehorned into the same cage (perhaps, as our own Allan Girdler has suggested, with a whip and a chair?). And who can forget the “Nortley-Fartster,” a Harley Sportster motor housed, again, in a Norton Featherbed?

To this convention of crossbreeds let's now add the “Vincati,” a 998cc Vincent Vee slotted into an early 1970s Ducati 750 GT frame. As you can read in the current October issue, we sent Peter Egan to ride a freshly cobbled Vincati, the creation of Vincent specialist (some would say legend) “Big Sid” Biberman and his college professor son Matthew.

The duo wants to build a limited run of Vincatis at (wait for it…) $100,000 a copy. For those kind of clams, you can buy a pristine stock Vincent and the best Ducati GT in the world, but, hey, nobody said building specials was an exercise in rationality."

Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar: The NSU Hammock.

From the amazing and really interesting FFMCC (feet first motorcycle club)

"NSU produced a couple of prototypes from 1954 to 1956 as part of a speed record breaking project designed and ridden by Gustav Baumm This was so succesfful that they started an exercise to turn it into both a road bike and a GP racer. Unfortunately, the FIM introduced some very restrictive fairing rules for racing and the progress of M/C deisgn took a very different turn. It's amazing to think that if this had not happened, we might all be riding this sort of thing today."

Gallery: Thruxton JP's "SR400 Sports M1 Road-Bomber Replica"

Ah, Italy in the spring: The Italjet Amarcord.

From Azzurrimoto.co.uk

"Gracefully retro: This is the best definition for the new incredible creation of Leopoldo Tartarini, founder, president, as well as inexhaustible source of creativity and innovation at the company.

Amarcord leaves you speechless right at first sight, thanks to its retro styling, its futuristic and timeless look, and its brand new technical solutions (rear suspension system).

Its intriguing look is paired up by its driving style: You drive an Amarcord as if you were in the 1920`s, but with the addition of excellent comfort and the guarantees of a state of the art 150cc 4T engine.

Scootering Nov 2001 said: "This motorcycle was styled to look like a single cylinder Italian motorcycle of the 1920's..." This machine is in the final stages of development at the Italjet factory and will be available in the spring.