Look at Arch Motorcycle Company's first ever slick production motorcycle designs. Who knew Keanu Reeves to be a motorcycle rider & enthusiast? Sharing the same passion with co-founder Gard Hollinger they both set out to combine retro styled designs with modern elements to create these aluminum beauties. The KRGT-1 is propelled by a 2,032cc (124 Cubic Inches) S&S v-twin engine, it also features billeted aluminum frame and body work and carbon fiber wheels to decrease weight and equipped with led lights.
I'm digging the clean retro modernistic cafe racer styling and aluminum finish, looks proportionally correct and I bet an awesome ride. I could stare at it for hours.. Too bad it cost's a whooping $78,000, I wonder if Keanu would give free KRGT-1 test rides.
For more info please head on to Arch Motorcycle's website and facebook page.
Way back in 2007 is when I decided to buy a motorcycle for my daily commute to our office at Anggono, Rizal. I needed a reliable bike that I could ride the 6 km trip to work daily and for long rides to Las pinas on the weekends. After a thorough search I came upon a 2005 Kymco Pulsar 125 basically a clone of the Honda CG125. The fella i bought it from and I were members of a popular local online motorcycle community so I was assured of his credibility as a seller. Pictured below is what the the stock form of the bike looks like, except mine was black.
Did some minor mods: removed the stickers and added reflectorized racing stripes, removed carrier rack too
And a diy fiberglass headlight cowl
The bike was awesome to say the least and frustratingly reliable. After a year of riding it, I wanted a fresh new look so I researched possible aesthetic customization's I could do with it. I was surprised to know that Kymco released pulsars with fairing's in Europe.
I thought this would be an easy bolt-on part that would make it look more unique on the road. Well that didn't happen after a disappointing conversation with a Kymco parts supervisor telling me that they cant import & sell me the part for numerous reasons...On to plan B.
Plan B was to try to copy the look of this sexy beast; the Triumph Speed Triple. I learned this style was called Streetfigher, a style that got its roots from the 60's Cafe Racers. I took a liking to the cafe racer design and delved deeper into its interesting culture.
Hirap pala mag-isip ng name para sa blog ko, tapos pag check ko me may-ari na pala. I ended up with Retromech kasi nagustuhan ko ang look ng vintage motorcycles, Cafe Racers in particular. And I also happen to love robots (mechs) Ano ang Cafe racers? di po sya karera ng kape, sa mga pilosopo. Ayon sa wikipedia;
A Café racer, originally pronounced "caff" (as in Kaff) racer, is a type of motorcycle as well as a type of motorcyclist. Both meanings have their roots in the 1960sBritish counterculture group the Rockers or the Ton Up Club, although they were also common in Italy and Germany and other European countries. Rockers were a young and rebellious Rock and Roll counterculture that wanted a fast, personalised and distinctive bike to travel between transport cafés along the newly built arterial motorways in and around British towns and cities. The goal of many was to be able to reach 100 miles per hour (called simply "the ton") along such a route where the rider would leave from a cafe, race to a predetermined point and back to the cafe before a single song could play on the jukebox, this was called record-racing. They are remembered as being especially fond of Rockabilly music and their image is now embedded in today's rockabilly culture.
Furthermore;
The cafe racer has a lot in common with the chopper or bobber scene in the USA and both have their roots with post-World War II veterans. Riders rejected the large transportation-oriented motorcycles of the time by taking these motorcycles and removing parts deemed unnecessary. While American GIs would take military-spec Harley Davidsons and "chop" off anything unnecessary to improve performance, European veterans took similar measures with their motorcycles. Both looked to make the standard factory motorcycles faster and lighter, although the difference between the nature of the US and European road systems led to somewhat different results. While the Americans favoured a low heavy cruiser style of motorcycle for straightline comfort, the Europeans preferred a higher, more nimble motorcycle better suited to the more twisting roads of their nations. In Britain, many roads can be traced to Roman origin and even older roads following terrain. There were no interstates/autobahn type roads until late 1950's. 'A' roads were(are) better surfaced and wider with multiple travel lanes in built-up areas or between urban areas but may be only two lane undivided highway in low traffic areas (such as the M1_motorway). It must be remembered that it was also a style born largely out of the poverty of Post-War Europe and so not given to the excesses of later Harley-Davidson Billet-Barge style customisation.
Get it now? Although me following na to worldwide http://www.cb750cafe.com/ mukhang mahihirapan pausuhin ito dito sa pinas, di sya kasing popular ng chopper design kasi mukha syang pantra short for pantrabahong motor, or pang tricycle, which is sort of demeaning sa lahat ng may-ari ng below 200cc na standard bike (including me!). Ang uso kasi dito eh mga
underbone or mopeds like honda wave, which i also like but not the modern ones but yung luma;
Meet the Honda Super Cub! Ang lolo ng mga modern underbones today! Ayon sa Discovery channel's top 10 motorcycles ever sya ang #1!
why? check nyo to
That's enough for now, next time i'll post more about Cafe Racers!
