Café racers are lightweight motorcycles optimized for speed and handling rather than comfort. They have bodywork and controls resembling 1960s Grand Prix bikes, with low handlebars, prominent seat cowlings, and elongated fuel tanks. The term originated among British motorcycle enthusiasts in the 1960s who would ride their bikes quickly between cafes. Café racers were originally derisively called "café sitters" for those who owned racing bikes but just parked them at cafes without racing. Today the café racer style remains popular for stripped-down, customized bikes.

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3. A café racer or is a light-weight, lightly-powered motorcycle optimized for speed and handling
rather than comfort — and optimized for quick rides over short distances. With bodywork and
control layout recalling early 1960's Grand Prix road racing motorcycles, café racers are noted
for their low slung racing handlebars, prominent seat cowling and elongated fuel tanks, often
with indentations to allow the rider's knees to grip the tank.
The term itself developed among British motorcycle enthusiasts of the early 1960s, specifically
the Rocker or "Ton-Up Boys" subculture where the bikes were used for short, quick rides
between cafés — in other words, drinking establishments.
In 1973, US freelance writer Wallace Wyss, contributing to Popular Mechanics magazine, wrote
that the term café racer was originally used derogatorily in Europe to describe a "motorcyclist
who played at being an Isle of Man road racer" and was in fact "someone who owned a racy
machine but merely parked it near his table at the local outdoor cafe.
In 2014, journalist Ben Stewart described the café racer as a "look made popular when
European kids stripped down their small-displacement bikes to zip from one café hangout to
another."

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